October: Female Journalists paints Brafoyaw pink

The Female  Journalists for Women and Rural Development In Africa in the Central Region of Ghana held a medical outreach in a farming community near Cape Coast to create awareness and to screen women for the disease 

So our outreach to the Brafoyaw community near Cape Coast in the Central Region of Ghana became a reality on October 11, 2022.

We were excited as the people we reached out to.

Nana is 92. She walked with her wooden walking stick to the community durbar grounds where the exercise was being held.

She was the fourth to arrive, early, long before the exercise itself begun.

Soon the information centre announcement blared for the last time.

The outreach had begun and the announcer urged all to join.

The young and not so young including Nana came to be screened. 

The outreach was organized by Female Journalists for Women and Rural Development in Africa to create awareness on breast cancer.

We wore our bright pink breast brooches to indicate the disease was real.

Health personnel were invited from the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital came to conduct the exercise.

They examined the breast, checked blood pressure and sugar level and made referrals where necessary.

Ms Ursula Adadzewa Fynn of the B4 Foundation our collaborating organization urged the women to consciously work on adopting healthier eating habits and seek prompt medical care when the detect Amy usual change with the breast.

The faces of the beneficiaries were intense and they listened to every talk with rapt attention.

SGBV

Mr Richard Twum Boadi from the Central Regional Office of the Domestic Violence and Victim Unit to the women and men seat through what constitutes domestic violence.

He urged the beneficiary participants to educate the boys on responsible relationships with girls and avoid sexual crimes.

Mr Boadi also urged them to educate their children on right and age appropriate sexual lessons.

The Central Regional Director of the Department of Gender Ms Richlove Amamoo also educate the women to improve communication with their adolescent to help them answer questions bothering them on sexuality.

Why we do this

Myself  Shirley Asiedu-Addo, Founder and Executive Director of FJ-WoRDA, had this to say:

“Across the world breast cancer continue to wreck great havoc on families and communities.

Many families face great distress because mothers, aunts, sisters and children and even some men are affected by breast cancer.

We are journalists. But we are not just writers and broadcasters. We are humans.

We are also mothers, sisters wives,  children and neighbors.

And the problems of society affect as too.

We want to make our communities better places.

While the mass media is important in disseminating and creating awareness on pertinent issues affecting our communities, the effects of getting your hands to the plough and reaching to the communities physically can also not be underestimated.

We as female journalists want to be part of the change that we want to see.

We know that many families are in distress because of breast cancer but we also know that the prompt detection of the situation help make a big difference.

The health exercise is therefore to create awareness about breast cancer and to get women to seek early treatment in anything is detected

There life beyond breast cancer if it is detected early and treated promptly.

Women must understand to take care of themselves first before taking care of others.

Women should live to be able to take care of their families and contribute their quota to society.

We believe that women will seek regular checkups and to seek prompt health care to avert disastrous consequences,” 

SGBV

Women are also great teachers and understanding sexual and gender based violence and how to seek redress will also help to reduce the incidence of SGBV in the homes and communities.

We urge all meaning organizations to support efforts at reaching out to communities with awareness.

In the end, our smiles were genuine as they were are satisfaction with what we achieved with the women and the community.

Some of the participants expressed their joy for the insight and knowledge they had received and for the breast examination.

They said the would be happy we come back.

Knowledge is important to stay healthy. And all that we have learnt on breast cancer has been enlightening. I feel so refreshed and excited about what I learnt today,” Aunt Vivian, one of the beneficiaries said.

Some of them who needed further investigations and were therefore referred to the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital.

The anxiety that had built up some days before the programme melted away with smiles of satisfaction.

We loved it, they appreciated it. 

Then it was time to go but before members of FJWoRDA were encouraged and helped to join World Pulse. What a day it was.

It was indeed a touch of love from we the female journalists.

We are energized and set on fire to go and do more. Watch out for the next stop.