On Saturday afternoon, the Humanitarians sought out to engage and spend time at the CANSA Eikehof Cancer Home in Athlone. The aim of this day was to spent time with cancer patients that are away from their homes receiving cancer treatment in Cape Town. The facility is run by Wendy whom greeted us on the day with such passion that we could see she loves what she does bearing in mind that she does not get paid for this work.
In conjunction with engagement we were looking to assess and educate the facilitator and patients around eating correctly. We were shocked to find that their meal plans consisted of refined and processed carbohydrates as well as heavily focused on sugar. Research has shown that sugar fuels cancer cells and our aim was to educate them surrounding this vital fact. Consequently after chatting and getting to know the 7 individuals we served tea advocating for the no sugar campaign. In addition, we educated and provided fruits that were high in anti-oxidants with a lesser natural sugar content.
It was a thought provoking day for the team listening to the individuals far away from their families and homes far as Knysa and Bloemfontein. We hoped to engage and discuss what we could bring to them in a sustainable way to assist and support them during this challenging time of their lives. After productive engagement we were able to establish that these individuals only have their meals, go for their treatment and then either sleep or watch television which was sad to hear. As Humanitarians sustainable ways of living is our motto and we were able to find out that the home would love to be more active and explore Cape Town as well engage via board games.
Each and every individual touched each Humanitarian’s heart from the lovely ladies and their love for baking to a teenager far away from home but having a love for the cinema. This was the first campaign of many whereby we will be visiting the home monthly bearing in mind that there will be different faces each time but the aim is to provide skills and make their stay much more comfortable and beneficial. Our main aim will be to educate around eating healthy which we believe needs to be addressed as having cancer treatment to eradicate the cancer is needed but eating better to prevent the cancer is also key.
Overall it was a beautiful day and returning home we should remember to not take for granted the importance of engagement as well as just the act of listening. Cancer can be prevented, eating correctly is key!
Humanitarians in Action!
