Denise McArthur, Syria
19 October 2010
AVI volunteer Denise McArthur reflects on her volunteering
experience in Syria working on a breast cancer awareness program
for the Palestinian community.
Left: AVI volunteer Denise McArthur (L) and breast cancer
awareness presenter Noura (R).
After recently returning from a challenging and fulfilling
assignment with Australian Volunteers International (AVI), I have
had some time to reflect on my experience.
After taking leave from my position of teaching English to
refugees in Brisbane, I arrived to my new community, Yarmouk Camp
in Damascus, Syria in January 2009, where I was to live and work
for the next 18 months.
Syria hosts more than half a million Palestinian refugees, as
well as refugees from many other countries.
My role was to be an English Language Teacher Trainer with the
United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the branch of the
UN that supports Palestinian refugees.
At that point, I had no idea how my role was going to develop and
expand.
Learning about attitudes towards cancer in
Syria
During 2009 I worked with the UNRWA school English teachers, the
majority of whom are Palestinian refugees.
I organised workshops, seminars and discussion groups for the
teachers and during one of the discussion groups I started to learn
about awareness levels and attitudes towards cancer. As a breast
cancer survivor I was very interested.
Through conversations with doctors in Damascus, I also learnt more
about the community's awareness and attitude towards cancer.
Understandably, cancer was thought of in a very negative
way. A general lack of awareness had contributed to a level of
secrecy surrounding this disease, and 'death' was the first word
that most people associated with cancer.
As in Australia, breast cancer is the number one cancer for
women in Syria. In fact 70% of women with breast cancer in Syria
present at an advanced stage, compared to 70% of Australian women
presenting at an early stage, which means treatment is more
difficult.
The average age of breast cancer in Syria is younger, at an
average age of 47, compared to Australia's 63, and young women are
more heavily represented among patients, with 20% under 40,
compared to Australia's relatively low figure of 8%. The incidence
of breast cancer in Syria, while not as high as in Australia, is
increasing every year.
Community Grants Scheme
When I saw the possibility of some funding from Australia through
the Community Grants Scheme, via AVI and Planet Wheeler, I
submitted a proposal and was fortunate to get some funding that
enabled me to co-ordinate a Breast Cancer Awareness Program during
the last six months of my assignment.
The grant provided funding for printing brochures, posters and
invitations, and allowed us to make pink ribbons for distribution
to the twelve Palestinian refugee camps in Syria. The materials we
produced incorporated Palestinian women's embroidery designs.
The funding also allowed us to hold a community awareness
evening in the biggest refugee camp, Yarmouk, and gave us the
opportunity to provide a number of mammograms.
The program was also supported by UNRWA, who decided to include
Breast Cancer Awareness in their Human Resources Work Plan - an
incredible step.
This enabled me to utilise UNRWA funding to implement a 'Training
of Trainers' (ToT) program and Breast Cancer Awareness talks for
all the camps in Syria, thus ensuring sustainability of the
program.
My life became very busy co-ordinating, preparing materials,
including Powerpoint presentations, brochures and posters, and
implementing all the facets of the program with the support of
UNRWA staff, designers, translators, community workers and a team
of specialist doctors from the Syrian Senology (Breast Cancer)
Society.
I was thankful for my Community Liaison training with Breast
Cancer Network Australia (BCNA), which I had completed before I
knew I was going to Syria.
The awareness talks, ToT sessions and community evening, a total
of 14 sessions, enabled the provision of information about when and
how to check, changes to look for, the importance of early
detection, ways to reduce risk, and statistics.
The sessions proved to be very popular and were mainly attended by
women, and a few men, from the Palestinian community.
News of the program had spread via word of mouth through the
community and to other UN agencies, so women from the Syrian
community and other refugee communities, including the Iraqi and
Somalian communities, were also welcomed.
An emotional farewell
At the final event I took part in while I was still in Syria,
the Community Women's Committee hosted a Community Awareness
evening in Yarmouk, at which two trainees from the ToT program
spoke with the women, along with specialist doctors' support, and
input from another survivor.
We showed a 30 minute animation film, Fatenah, produced
in West Bank, a film based on the true story of a young Palestinian
woman's frustrated attempts to access treatment within Gaza and
better treatment beyond the checkpoints.
At the end of the evening, another survivor who had not identified
herself during the evening approached me and told me her story. It
was a very emotional end to the evening and the awareness program
for me.
Greater awareness of breast cancer
This was the beginning of a greater awareness and openness about
breast cancer, in a community that I had grown to understand and
love.
This was a project that crossed and linked four of the
departments of UNRWA; Education, Health, Relief and Social Services
and Administration, and other Syrian organisations.
Following and supporting my involvement with UNRWA's Breast Cancer
Awareness Program, the Chair of the Syrian Senology Society invited
me to the National Cancer Conference for NGOs, where positive
mention was made of the program that was being implemented by
UNRWA.
While I was in Syria I had friends visit me from Wales, and on
their return to Wales they attempted to source a mobile breast
screening clinic which an organisation has agreed to donate. When
it becomes available it will be donated to the Palestinian Red
Crescent Society to support UNRWA's Breast Cancer Awareness
Program.
Links with Australia have also been forged with the Breast Cancer
Network of Australia's (BCNA) recent publication of a story about
the program in their Spring 2010 issue of Beacon
magazine.
Since my return, UNRWA staff have kept me updated on the
continuation of the Breast Cancer Awareness Program, including
further well-attended community events in the camps in Jeramana
(Damascus) and Aleppo.
I have appreciated the support from Australia, UNRWA and the
people of Syria who have helped to make this program successful. I
believe this program will lead to a greater awareness which will
have positive outcomes for women's health, their families and
community.