October is Global Breast Cancer Awareness month. 
Towards spreading awareness individuals around the globe are being encouraged to wear lots of pink – the symbol for breast cancer survivors – during the month of October.
Therefore I challenge all of you and particularly those of you in Saudi Arabia to do your part and SHOW THE PINK! Come on… for the Saudi man who will even go out and wear a pink thobe in a show of solidarity I will take you to dinner (in your Pink Thobe) as my guest at The Globe restaurant in downtown Riyadh.
I believe it is especially important to aggressively promote awareness for breast cancer in Saudi Arabia due to a few harsh and glaring facts:
Breast cancer is the most treatable of all cancers if detected early enough…yet Saudi Arabia has the highest fatalities in the world due to breast cancer. Why? Because of a lack of awareness and cultural biases that are preventing women from being treated. This is a travesty! Let’s do our part to help stop this from continuing….NOW.
And for some of my earlier posts about breast cancer in Saudi Arabia, please see:
http://americanbedu.com/2008/07/07/ksa-ladies-get-your-mammogram/
http://americanbedu.com/2008/07/29/breast-cancer-%E2%80%93-who-should-treat-me-in-ksa/
http://americanbedu.com/2008/06/16/more-on-the-kingdom-breast-cancer/
http://americanbedu.com/2007/10/23/laura-bush-breast-cancer-awareness/
http://americanbedu.com/2007/10/18/cancer-in-the-kingdom/
Filed under: culture, gender, Health, Saudi Arabia, Saudi customs, Saudi education, Uncategorized, Women Issues
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That’s really a great cause, hope everybody will support it!!
I do wish all females especially Saudis since Breast Cancer is highly spread in the kingdom to keep an eye on their breats. Checking for breast cancer can be done at home and it takes no time at all.
This website ecplains it all:
http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/check-a-symptom.html
P.S. Don’t wait for a wakeup call and then laments over the tragedy you might be passing through!!
Thanks for your endorsement His Sweetheart! May I also suggest and encourage you to post this same message and information in Arabic as well — we need to reach ALL the Saudi women and their families!
Is there a pink thobe? I’ve never seen one at all. All I’ve seen and worn is the conservative white and black!
I have seen thobes made from blue denim which are very nice but no…I’ve not seen a pink one yet…but there’s nothing to stop a white one from being dyed a becoming pink in honor of solidarity in awareness of breast cancer! (smile)
ive seen some lovely lavender ones…does that count…lol.
I’d love to see those, coolred. Were those in Bahrain?
Yes…all though rumor has it that its the color gay bahrainis use to advertise so to speak…whatever the reason…they were very pretty.
I bet they were! How do we get men over this stigma that is really is OKAY to wear pastels…and NO, we won’t assume they are gay!
I always tell them it takes a REAL man to pull off pink
OK Bedu, i made it happen… My husband dyed one of his thobes pink and promises to wear it. it took alot of begging and promising him stuff, but i got him to do it. If your anywhere in the eastern region this month and expcially if your near a construction site near Al Jubail, keep your eyes open for that pink thobe!!! It is kinda a light pink, but hey, pink is pink!
Valerie – I’m waiting for the REAL Saudis then to come forward…
TPG – Tell your husband to come to Riyadh in his pink thobe and we’ll (me and my husband) take him to a solidarity dinner! (smile)
I work for a cruise line that has “Walk the Deck for the Cure” and even those of us that work in the offices are being challenged to walk a couple miles during our lunch to raise money. I love that I work for a company that does this!
That is fantastic Molly!
Last night I was in one of the ever so many make up stores here in the Kingdom and noticed that it had so many “pink” products. But when I made an effort to speak with the (male) clerk how a percentage of sales of just a few of the pink products should go towards breast cancer he was clueless.
It saddens me that in one of the countries with the highest rates of breast cancer, little is seen or heard about educating more on this issue.
This is Breast Cancer Awareness month and I’ve yet to see anything on Saudi TV or print media or any other capacity. That saddens me.
A high incidence of breast cancer is associated with low vitamin D levels which is associated with lack of sunshine.Saudi Arabia has plenty of sunshine but the women, being covered are being deprived of its benefits. Also some of thier children are being diagnosed with rickets due to the lack of Vitmain D which is normally passed on during pregnancy and in thier mothers’ milk.
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=31&set_id=1&art_id=nw20080516135117619C117915
http://www.ahdubai.com/newsletter/articledetails.aspx?id=102
http://blog.cleveland.com/health/2008/04/rickets_on_the_rise_as_breastf.html
http://www.rawcuisine.co.uk/ideas-about-food/here-comes-the-sun/
I’m concerned that the pink ribbon campaign does not do enough to PREVENT cancer and that many merchants are using it to promote their products. I am also concerned that the association of sun avoidance and breast cancer is not more widely known. There is a free therapy – sunshine.
Karen – thank you for your comments. Working in the health care sector I am so aware of the impediments that are placed in the way -culturally and traditionally – which in turn are creating too many deficiencies, problems and illnesses which SHOULD and COULD be avoided.
Even many of the traditional Saudi homes will have small or screen windows preventing sunshine from coming through because again to maintain the privacy. It is really a shame.