- Donates one million rupees to the Indira Cancer Trust
By Venessa Anthony
Hameedia, a recognised menswear brand in Sri Lanka, recently donated Rs. 1 million to the Indira Cancer Trust (ICT), continuing the strong partnership built in recent years between the two organisations.
The donation was the latest sales proceeds from Hameedia’s “Pink Collection” range, a special all-pink clothing collection for ladies and gents specially designed and marketed by Hameedia to support the ICT. This was an initiative under the social responsibility promise of the Hameedia Group’s “My Friend Foundation”, an organisation focused on improving the lives of children in underprivileged communities.
The Chief Guest at the ceremony was celebrated cricketing personality Roshan Mahanama, while the event was also graced by the presence of ICT Foundation Chairperson/Trustee Dr. Lanka Jayasuriya Dissanayake together with Hameedia Managing Director and Certified Menswear Image Consultant (USA) Fouzul Hameed, and several other invitees along with Hameedia team members.
Mahanama’s efforts
Opening his speech, Mahanama commented: “Cancer is a cause that is very close to me; my father was my hero, my mentor, but died of prostate cancer about six years ago. Until then, I would tell Dr. Lanka that I wanted to remain behind the scenes for this cause, and not give speeches, but my father told me that sometimes, it’s an obligation. It’s because of him that today, I’m on this stage, raising awareness for this cause.”
On the topic of how the initiative “On Wednesdays, we wear pink”, came about, Mahanama said that as men, they have a responsibility towards the female members of the household. “To demonstrate my love and care for the women in my life, I began wearing my limited number of pink shirts on Wednesdays to remind women to get tested (for breast cancer). Soon after, many men’s brands joined hands with our cause and we have come such a long way since our first campaign was launched.”
On a conclusive note, Mahanama affirmed that he had no ulterior motives for this campaign; he simply wished to help raise awareness for the cause. “It is not how much we give, but how much we love giving – that is the motto for my life.”
Hameedia’s efforts
Last year, Hameedia commemorated International Women’s Day with a number of educational and interesting events, one of which focused on ensuring the health and wellbeing of the staff by creating awareness about breast cancer and was organised in collaboration with the ICT. This awareness programme shed light on this often unspoken disease that affects millions of women across the world.
Since early last year, Hameedia has also participated in ICT’s “On Wednesdays, we wear pink” campaign, where the purpose of wearing pink every Wednesday was to raise awareness about breast cancer as well as the lifesaving “touch, look, check” (TLC) method which can help women in detecting abnormalities through self-examinations.
Pink Wednesday
Commenting on the campaign, Dr. Lanka noted: “When we launched the ‘Pink Wednesday’ campaign, we aimed to remind everyone to wear pink with a distinct message, which is to raise awareness for breast cancer specifically in order to ask all women above the age of 20 years to examine themselves.”
She noted that although it is a life-saving measure, only 2% of women in Sri Lanka actually perform this self-test, which is a concerningly low number and more women need to be taught the importance of checking for early symptoms.
Dr. Lanka stated that they are currently working on an all-island survey to assess the knowledge on breast self-examination among Sri Lankan women, adding that she is certain they will come up with the same statistics as they did with the rapid assessment estimate that showed only 2% of women in Sri Lanka perform the breast self-examination. “So out of 100 women, only two women examine themselves. This is a habit we need to improve because it doesn’t cost any money; it is just a matter of spending about two to three minutes, once a month, on yourself,” she stated.
Addressing the partnership with Hameedia, Dr. Lanka stated: “We are eternally grateful for your support and your advocacy efforts and we will continue to do what we do; your blessings and support will no doubt take us a long way, so, thank you so much.”
Raising awareness
This simple but powerful message of the ICT’s campaign, in partnership with the National Cancer Control Programme of the Ministry of Health, has raised awareness about breast cancer. It was a continuation of ICT’s breast cancer awareness month campaign, “TLC: Touch, Look, Check” of October 2020.
Sharing his views, Fouzul Hameed commented: “At Hameedia, we value our female workforce and believe in providing them with equal opportunities to progress in their career and succeed in life. One of the key elements of doing so is by ensuring that they are in good health. The Indira Cancer Trust Foundation’s impactful ‘TLC: Touch, Look, Check’ and the subsequent ‘On Wednesdays, we wear pink’ have been instrumental in raising awareness and triggering meaningful conversations about breast cancer. We are proud to have been a part of these incredible campaigns and will continue to work with the Indira Cancer Trust Foundation into the future.”