Story by Abigirl Tembo, Health Editor
THE growing number of cancer cases in the country has jolted various organisations into action amid calls for Zimbabweans to go for regular cancer screening to save lives.
A breast cancer survivor, Makosi Musambasi through her foundation, Sister’s Keeper has embarked on a breast cancer awareness drive using golf as the medium of communication.
This Thursday, Musambasi and her team were at the Royal Harare Golf Course.
Musambasi said, “The Sister’s Keeper Kitty Tournament started in Nigeria, so we did the first one in 2021, we did another one last year and this is the third one. I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I had a mastectomy, I had chemotherapy and I had radiotherapy but I was very lucky because I was diagnosed at stage two which is very early. So, that’s why I survived, I had a 50-50 chance of either surviving or dying.”
“Playing gold for cancer is raising awareness, if it is caught early it saves lives. It’s only when it is caught late that people are dying of cancer so, the purpose of this tournament is to say, if you are a woman, even men are getting breast cancer, check yourself every morning in the shower, go for mammograms. There is no age when it comes to cancer so, as long as you have breasts, start checking yourself. I was diagnosed at 35 and some people are dying even younger, eat healthy and exercise,” said Musambasi.
Golf coach, Mr Simon Murungweni said, “On the golf course people are relaxed and also the news spreads fast because it’s a clean sport to raise awareness with and a lot of programmes happen through the golf course, so golf is a good medium to spread to the cancer awareness message.”
Proceeds from the event which attracted golf enthusiasts, policy makers, leaders in society, and businesses will go towards funding breast cancer awareness programmes.
