Peter Tanyanyiwa
KidzCan Zimbabwe is spearheading a cancer awareness this September, focusing on cancer in children.
As part of their awareness program, they donated to the A4 children’s cancer ward at Parirenyatwa which they adopted years back. KidzCan Zimbabwe on Thursday made a USD$10 000 donation with the main focus on sanitation.
They also donated an assortment of goods worth thousands of dollars to assist children with cancer at Parirenyatwa Hospital.
The donation comprised Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), food and toiletries.
KidzCan Zimbabwe Advocacy and Fundraising officer Mrs Maureen Maradzika said they donated sanitation equipment for cancer patients because they want to shield the children who have cancer in the A4 ward at Parirenyatwa.
“We have always been supporting children who are affected by Cancer. So here we have put posters everywhere in the ward to show everyone how to use the equipment we brought in today. The posters are educating people how to use the automatic sanitizers dispensers, how to wash their hands,” she said.
The donation is worth USD$10 000, as they also installed the automatic sanitizers dispensers on the hospital corridors.
This donations comprises of the installed automatic sanitizers dispensers, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) including shield masks, and the gowns for the workforce and the children themselves, these were donated by Jet, the patients and the medical staff also received hand sanitizers and soaps, these were donated by Delta.
KidzCan is also helping with the fumigation of the ward.
The KidzCan Zimbabwe Executive director Mr Daniel McKenzie said September has has always been a special month for them as they raise awareness of cancer. He said they did this project for their A4 ward to shield them, which is their adopting ward.
“The main thing for us was the sanitization project, we looked at all the entrance points at the KidzCan Zimbabwe adopted ward, which is the A4 cancer’s children ward, we installed auto sanitization machines, for the staff, parents and the children,” he said.
“There is lack of awareness in Zimbabwe concerning cancer in children, no child should die, all the children have a chance to survive. This is what many people don’t know, if detected early, children’s bodies can accept and tolerate chemotherapy, this is the amazing thing.
“If you see anything you don’t understand in your children have them checked out, especially the cancer of the eye, the pupil should be black, it starts off with a white dot, immediately sent the child to the hospital,” added McKenzie.
Parirenyatwa Public Relations officer Mr Linos Dhire thanked KidzCan Zimbabwe and urged other organisations to follow suit.
“We would want to thank KidzCan Zimbabwe for their donations in our oncology department, where we have children who are suffering from cancer.
They have donated PPE, they have also donated goodies and clothing, these are vulnerable children and in these difficult Covid-19 pandemic environment they need all the help they can get. We hope other organizations follow suit,” said Dhire.
KidzCan Zimbabwe appealed to all stakeholders to help in educating the peopled on the cancer that affects children and the fact that if detected early all children can survive.
They said September is a special month for their awareness program and they will be wearing gold ribbons symbolising that the children are precious as children who suffer from cancer are the strongest considering the fact that cancer is very painful.