youth skip day’s classes to become piNk kNights
Inspired by their families, students advocate regular screenings to prevent cancer
On Tuesday, the Pink Caravan riders took a 14.3-km ride in Umm Al Quwain, starting at Marvelous Workshop and concluding at Umm Al Quwain Museum. The 11 Pink Knights, who marched around the emirate garnering attention and distributing leaflets to the curious onlookers, were mostly college students and many of them had taken special permissions to skip their classes for the day to support the cause of spreading breast cancer awareness.
Emirati student Saif Ramadan, 22, who is studying mechanical engineering, said: “Today was an important day at our college as we were holding an innovation challenge, but I took a special exemption because this cause of spreading awareness is close to my heart as I have lost a loved one to this deadly disease.”
Saif lost his cousin sister to cancer a few years ago and he felt that she could have survived if only it was detected earlier.
“My sister died young and no one could do anything about it, but I believe it is my duty to do what I can to spread this message of getting early screenings. I urge men to join and support this cause because cancer doesn’t affect only women, even men can be diagnosed with it. Moreover, men should support it for their mothers, sisters, wives or daughters. This ride is to show our solidarity with the cause, and all should take an active part in it.”
Saif was the only male horse rider in the UAQ Pink Caravan Ride squad on Tuesday.
A team of four sisters along with their sisterin-law, all in the age group of 20-25, was also part of the UAQ ride. They had taken a leave from their universities just to support this campaign. They thanked their parents, especially their mother, for motivating them to support the nationwide breast cancer awareness.
This was the third time the girls had volunteered to take part in the campaign, as they said “it is an honour for us to ride for the cause associated with the Pink Caravan Ride”.
“We are trying to remove the stigma related to breast cancer and its screening by volunteering for this ride and distributing leaflets to people. We are smiling at people and creating a comfortable and fun environment so that everyone can learn and avail of the free breast cancer screenings here. They can also get their blood tests done,” they said.
The eldest among the sisters, Alyazia, 24, said: “In our years of growing up, our mother educated us about breast cancer and told us about the Pink Caravan Ride. She is a passionate supporter of the cause and has always spoken to us about how important it is to detect the disease early. Our parents never forced us to go for it but waited for us to show interest. When we mentioned it to them, they were more than happy to allow us to participate in it.”
The Pink Caravan Ride will march in Fujairah today, and its nationwide journey will continue until March 1.