Mother defies all odds
A CANCER survivor and single mother defied all odds as she graduated with her certificate in hydroponics from the Makoi Women’s Vocational Training Centre (MWVTC) on Thursday.
Speaking during the graduation ceremony, Irene Hamidullah emotionally shared her painful journey.
“I had biopsies done in September 2015, got my results late January of 2016. During that waiting period I was stressing myself out.
“The year 2016 was bad for me, my husband walked out on us. The biopsy result being positive, I was stressed, going into depression and even thought of suicide,” she said.
Ms Hamidullah shared that even though she had double mastectomy done, she is thankful that God had other plans for her.
“During my treatment I couldn’t sleep at night. The longest time of sleep would be 30 to 40 minutes. I would pray myself to sleep and seek comfort by reading the Bible.”
She later registered with the Fiji Cancer Society and joined the survivors’ group where she got to find out about the MWVTC.
“I’m always looking for ways to improve my health and that of my children. One of my hobbies is gardening hence, my interest in hydroponics.”
She said in the eight weeks training, she had learnt the correct ways of germinating seeds, taking care of seedlings and the different types of systems to place seedlings.
Ms Hamidullah plans to share her knowledge to the survivors’ group and give back to the Fiji Cancer Society.
“My goal is to give back to the Fiji Cancer Society by teaching my group of survivors the things I have learnt from here.
“We will be planting vegetables which we would sell to the public and oncology nurses who will provide these healthy vegetables to those palliative care patients.”
Ms Hamidullah advises all women not to be afraid to learn and to venture into learning experiences which will enable women to acquire skills and make a living for their families.