Mindanao Breast Cancer Support & Empowerment
Association (MBCSEA) has always been in collaboration with the Silsilah
Dialogue Movement during the Celebration of World Interfaith Harmony Week
through the years. The group decided to conduct a FORUM ON EARLY DETECTION OF
BREAST CANCER for this year’s WIHW and choose the Padayon Center as their
venue.

Silsilah helped the group in preparing this
activity by inviting the people in the community, especially women to attend
the said forum. Atleast 60 participants attended the special activity where
Silsilah provided the snacks and food for all the participants.

After the lectures and several prevention’s of
the certain disease, the speaker encouraged the participants to raise their
clarifications. The participants are very interested with the topic especially
most of them have fears of having diagnosed with breast cancer and considering
that the medical cure of this disease is uncertain and very expensive.

The main concerns of the participants are the
symptoms of this certain disease and where must they go for cure if once they
are diagnosed with breast cancer.

The speaker answered them by basic
recommendations like to know your body and self better. It is very important to
know how to self-check the breast for possible symptoms of breast cancer. Also,
the speaker advice to have a proper lifestyle: eating nutritious foods, avoid
processed foods, water therapy to have a proper sleep and to have a regular
self-check. If an individual found symptoms of the disease, it would be better
to go to the hospital or contact the family doctor for thorough checking and
immediate treatment.

With the spirit of the World Interfaith Harmony
Week 2020 “Celebrating Dialogue towards Harmony”, this activity is very
significant. We faced different battles in life and we know that health is the
most difficult battle, that if not properly prevented and if taken for granted,
we might lose our life.

This activity to raise awareness of the growing
risk of the Breast Cancer disease is a good opportunity, especially to the poor
community who can’t afford to consult a doctor.

With the efforts of MBCSEA and Silsilah the women in the community learned something about the
importance of their health and knowing one’s self. May we continue to give
compassion to our fellow people regardless of their beliefs and culture and
that we may do special things for them for commitment. The spirit of World
Interfaith Harmony week will journey throughout the year with the hope to have
dialogue with people towards harmony and peace.