December 22nd, 2014: A team of students from Canadian University Dubai (CUD) recently joined forces with local charity, Friends of Cancer Patients (FoCP), to help launch a new initiative to raise awareness of male cancers.
The 'Shanab' ('moustache' in Arabic) Campaign is part of FoCP's early detection program, which aims to promote a culture of open dialogue around male-specific cancers, and to build awareness about its early signs and symptoms.
The team of CUD students took part in a public engagement event at this year's DP World European Golf Tournament at Jumeirah Golf Estate, meeting members of the public attending the event and encouraging them to find out more about the campaign.
Student volunteer Dino Skikic said, "Our mission on the day was to engage as many people as possible in the crowd, making sure they received and read the leaflets, and encouraging them to routinely examine themselves.
"Thanks to all the materials I read from FoCP, I was able to get really well acquainted with the symptoms and provide more information to the public about early detection."
Fellow volunteer, Ache Hamid Moussa, stressed the importance of targeting women as well as men in the campaign. She said, "Male cancer was something I knew little about before volunteering to help out with this initiative. I learnt a great deal myself and so I made sure that I spoke to a lot of women during the event as well as men."
The collaboration with FoCP was facilitated by CUD's Student Services team, which organizes a range of employment, internship and volunteering opportunities for students across the University.
Speaking about the opportunity, Dino continued, "The experience I gained goes much deeper than just work experience, it has helped me to understand a disease that could potentially influence my life, and now I know what to look for. I also saw that people really took notice, wanted to know more and took away our message."
Ache concluded, "I feel that as responsible citizens it's important that we give something back. I enjoy meeting new people and this experience allowed me to do this, while learning a lot in the process."
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