Breast Cancer Slowdown Campaign with Sofonie Dala - Angola. Part 1

 Breast Cancer Slowdown Campaign - Angola

Good evening ladies and gentlemen! 

We welcome everyone to the most coveted program by women in the world! 

"October is a very special month, because it is worldwide dedicated to the prevention and combat of breast cancer, a disease from which we can defend ourselves and fight early, in a very simple way, and which, if not identified early, kills about 2 million women around the world."

                         

The campaign, developed by Sofonie Dala in Angola, will offer hope to women "who are part of the risk group, and who otherwise would not have the means to resort to a specialized assessment. With this campaign we want girls and  women to "protect themselves and be ambassadors for the prevention of breast cancer with their families, friends and in their communities.

YOU DON`T HAVE TO FACE IT ALONE.

WE ARE STRONGER TOGETHER!

Greetings! 

My name is Sofonie Dala!

We are launching our campaign, Breast Cancer Slowdown. This campaign aims to honor women affected by breast cancer, raise awareness of prevention and early diagnosis, as well as support research in this area. With the motto "YOU DON´T HAVE TO FACE IT ALONE", this movement intends to "sensitize Angolan women to the importance of early diagnosis in breast cancer prevention".

Breast cancer is a type of cancer that starts in the breast. Cancer starts when cells begin to grow out of control. It can spread when cancer cells get into the blood or lymph system and are carried to other parts of the body.

What are the Symptoms of Breast Cancer?

- New lump in the breast or underarm (armpit).

- Thickening or swelling of part of the breast.

- Irritation or dimpling of breast skin.

- Redness or flaky skin in the nipple area or the breast.

- Pulling in of the nipple or pain in the nipple area.

Although breast cancer is often painless, it is important not to ignore any signs or symptoms that could be due to breast cancer. Some people may describe the pain as a burning sensation.

To do a breast self-examination:

- Remove all your clothes above the waist. Lie down. 

- Use the pads of your three middle fingers—not your fingertips. 

- Use the middle fingers of your left hand to check your right breast. 

- Use three different levels of pressure to feel all of your breast tissue.

Showcasing awareness interviews - Testimonial

Good afternoon!

How are you?

I'm fine thanks!

Please introduce yourself.

I am Josefa Pedro.

OK Josefa, thank you so much for being with us!

Could you tell us how breast cancer has affected your life and the life of your family?

It was a very difficult thing for us. My mother has always been a very dynamic woman, having to discover this disease at 41 years of age, as she was young, this was very difficult.

So I had to walk with her, follow the whole process, and it's something very exhausting, not only for the person who has the disease but for the people close to her as well.

How long did your mother carry this disease?

We had intensive treatment for a year. we did the consultations, then the medical operation was performed, and she spent 3 to 6 months undergoing chemotherapy.

When was breast cancer discovered in your mother?

This disease was discovered in 2019, between June - July. As soon as we discovered the cancer, we immediately went to the oncology center at the Maria Pia hospital, where we started the treatment.

How is her condition now?

She is currently doing well, she continues to undergo the treatment but on the basis of pills. Every 6 months she has a check up to ensure that no other abnormalities have developed in her body.

What is the appeal you would give to other girls facing this disease, and for those who are shy to ask for help?

First of all, women must self-examine themselves.

For those like me who already have a case of this in their family, from 25 years of age onwards, they should start having a mammogram, to find out if there is an indication. When the cancer is in the early stage it is still possible to treat, but unfortunately some women only discover it in the advanced stage when it is too late to do anything.

Was your mother's tumor removed?

Yes, thank God!

Preventing is the best way to fight breast cancer!

Breast Cancer Slowdown Campaign which takes place in Luanda and delivers not only education to raise awareness about the importance of screening but also information on early detection and self-examination. "We want to do a set of actions that would reach women who are real.

According to figures from the Angolan Institute for Cancer Control, about 300 new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed in Angola every year. "For lack of information, many women arrive at hospitals too late and most of the patients, in fertile age, end up dying with the disease, leaving the families destitute." 

Donate

There are a number of ways to support those affected by breast cancer. Whether helping the community as a whole or donating in honor of or in memory of a loved one, each donation helps sustain our mission to educate the community and fight to end breast cancer.

Your gift means we can bring hope to cancer patients. Together we are fighting cancer smarter, better and harder than we ever have before. Thank you for your support.

COVID-19: ANGOLA ANNOUNCES 499 RECOVERIES, 277 FRESH CASES

Luanda – Angola announced Thursday the recovery of 499 patients, 190 new cases and three deaths, in the last 24 hours.

Recoveries were announced in seven provinces, with Luanda standing at the top with 398 cases.

The daily bulletin also announced 51 recoveries in Uíge, 34 in Benguela, 6 in Namibe, Cabinda and Huíla 4 each and two in Cunene, aged between 1 and 97 years.

The new cases were diagnosed in the provinces of Luanda, with 190, Cabinda with 18, Huíla (8), Huambo with 5, Benguela with 3, Lunda Norte, Malanje and Namibe with one each.

With ages ranging from 3 to 88 years, the list includes 140 male and 87 female patients.

Deaths occurred in the provinces of Luanda and Benguela, respectively 3 and 1.

Angola has a total of 63,567 positive cases, of which 1,685 deaths, 52,390 recoveries and 9,392 active patients.

Squid Game: Crawley to host game for Christmas appeal

Fans of the Netflix series Squid Game are getting the chance to play their own version, to help raise money for children’s gifts at Christmas.

The South Korean drama sees 456 people competing in a series of games, with fatal consequences for the losers.

Community group Spotted: Crawley is running a series of activities based on British children’s games.

Dan Armstrong, who runs the Facebook group, said there would be no “life or death situations” in the Crawley game.

IMAGE SOURCE,NETFLIX

Image caption ,Players in the Crawley version will not be facing the same outcome as those in the Netflix series

The nine-part series, which was watched by 111 million Netflix users in its first 28 days, tells the story of a group of people taking part in a series of children’s playground games.

They are playing to walk away with 45.6 billion Korean won (£29m) if they win the series of six games.

If they lose, they die.

Mr Armstrong told BBC Radio Sussex said the interest in the Crawley version had been “amazing”.

“We had to limit the entries, unfortunately. There are certainly not going to be 456 players in this one,” he said.

Those who have registered to play will be told where the first game is to take place via a WhatsApp chat group.

“There will be no violence whatsoever. It will be adults playing children’s games, but our version of British games. “

‘Not life or death’

Mr Armstrong said those running the game would be dressed in Squid Game costumes, with the first event taking place on Sunday.

He said half of the money raised would go to the group’s charity. The other half will go to the winners of the game.

“This year we are taking Santa and his elves around the town offering children the opportunity to meet them, and to take a gift away with them,” Mr Armstrong said.

“Our take on it is going to be very fun, it’s light-hearted. No-one is in debt trying to raise millions of pounds.

“It’s really not a life or death situation.”

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Mozambique: Tuskless elephant evolution linked to Ivory hunting

A new study suggests that severe ivory poaching in parts of Mozambique has led to the evolution of tuskless elephants.

The study published in Science magazine found that in Gorongosa National Park a previously rare genetic condition had became more common as ivory poaching used to finance a civil war pushed the species to the brink of extinction.

Before the war, about 18.5% of females were naturally tuskless.

But that figure has risen to 33% among elephants born since the early 1990s.

Some 90% of Mozambique’s elephant population was slaughtered by fighters on both sides of the civil war that lasted from 1977 to 1992. Poachers sold the ivory to finance the vicious conflict between government forces and anti-communist insurgents.

As in eye colour and blood type in humans, genes are responsible for whether elephants inherit tusks from their parents.

Elephants without tusks were left alone by hunters, leading to an increased likelihood they would breed and pass on the tuskless trait to their offspring.

Researchers have long suspected that the trait, only seen in females, was linked to the sex of the elephant. After the genomes of tusked and tuskless elephants were sequenced, analysis revealed that the trend was linked to a mutation on the X chromosome that was fatal to males, which did not develop properly in the womb, and dominant in females.

The study’s co-author, Professor Robert Pringle of Princeton University, pointed out that the discovery could have a number of long-term effects for the species.

He noted that because the tuskless trait was fatal to male offspring, it was possible that fewer elephants would be born overall. This could slow the recovery of the species, which now stands at just over 700 in the park.

“Tusklessness might be advantageous during a war,” Professor Pringle said. “But that comes at a cost.”

Another potential knock-on is changes to the broader landscape, as the study has revealed that tusked and tuskless animals eat different plants.

But Professor Pringle emphasized that the trait was reversible over time as populations recovered from the brink of elimination.

“So we actually expect that this syndrome will decrease in frequency in our study population, provided that the conservation picture continues to stay as positive as it has been recently,” he said.

“There’s such a blizzard of depressing news about biodiversity and humans in the environment and I think it’s important to emphasize that there are some bright spots in that picture.”

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Students sue Texas school district for banning long hair on boys

Seven students are suing a Texas school district over its dress-code policy banning boys from having long hair.

According to the suit, school officials suspended a 9-year-old boy for a month, barred him from recess and normal lunch breaks as punishment for long hair.

He and the other students, aged 7 to 17, say the policy violates the constitution and Title IX – a federal law prohibiting sex discrimination.

The school district said on Thursday it was reviewing the suit.

Magnolia Independent School District “respects varying viewpoints, and we respect the rights of citizens to advocate for change,” spokeswoman Denise Meyers said in an email to US media.

The district, which serves roughly 13,000 students about 40 miles (64km) northwest of Houston, did not return a request for comment from the BBC.

According to its dress code policy, boys cannot wear their hair over their eyes, past the bottom of their ears, or past the bottom of a dress shirt collar. Facing backlash this summer, Magnolia defended the policy, saying it “reflects the values of our community at large”.

The suit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas (ACLU) on Thursday on behalf of the students, argues the school district “imposed immense and irreparable harm… solely because of these students’ gender”.

It details a number of punishments given to the students – six boys and one non-binary child – for wearing long hair.

One, a nine-year-old identified as AC, is Latino, and wears his hair long like his father and uncle as a part of his family’s heritage, the suit says. Another, an 11-year-old identified as TM, is non-binary and has worn long hair as a “critical component” of their gender expression.

Both have been subjected to punishments including suspension, denial of extracurricular activities and separation from their peers.

“This rule is a complete and utter dinosaur,” said parent Stanley Burkhead, whose son has long hair, at a school board meeting in August.

“Who are we to tell him who he can’t be? Who are we to tell him what a boy should look like?” he said. A survey by the ACLU of Texas last year found that nearly 500 public school districts in the state have some type of a hair-length policy only for boys.

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Halyna Hutchins: Rising star of film industry was ‘an incredible artist’

Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer who died when actor Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun on a film set, has been remembered as “an incredible artist”.

Hutchins had been working as director of photography on the set of Rust.

American Cinematographer magazine had named her one of its rising stars in 2019, and she previously worked on 2020 independent superhero film Archenemy.

Archenemy director Adam Egypt Mortimer told BBC News the fact she had died on a set was “really unbelievable”.

He said: “Halyna was an incredible artist who was just starting a career I think people were really starting to notice.

“The fact that she would be killed on a set in an accident like this is unfathomable. It just seems inconceivable.”

Hutchins’ most recent post on Instagram, from Tuesday, showed her riding horses on set.

Mortimer added: “The level of protocol and safety that we tend to have on any production of any size, when you get down to handling weapons, guns, it’s so involved that the fact that a gun went off and killed Halyna is both shocking from an industry point of view and just absolutely tragic from the point of view of knowing this amazing artist who suddenly not with us.”

He talked about her “integrity of wanting to make cinema” and that he had loved seeing her “grow as an artist”.

Fellow cinematographer Catherine Goldschmidt described Hutchins as “lovely, warm, funny, charming, outgoing”, and praised her for being “so talented”.

“What’s so tragic is she’s made beautiful films already but when you think about what was ahead of her, that is also so sad,” she told BBC News.

• Alec Baldwin fatally shoots woman with prop gun
• What are prop guns and why are they dangerous?

“She was also a mum, which I think is very difficult,” Goldschmidt added. “When I first met her I remember being really impressed, shocked even that this beautiful, creative, outgoing, enthusiastic talented cinematographer also is raising the child.

“I think for women in this industry it is very difficult. So I was very impressed that she was able to do that.”

IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES

Image caption, Hutchins was described by a friend as a “rockstar cinematographer”

Alex Fedosov, another Ukrainian film-maker working Hollywood, said Hutchins was “rising fast in her career” and was “an artist and a visionary”.

“She was so talented, a photography director with her own vision, her own strong ideas,” he told BBC News Ukrainian.

“When we worked together on set, I was assistant director, I would rush her and say, ‘Hurry up, we need to film this’. She would smile calmly but carry on in her own rhythm because she knew what she wanted to achieve.”

Standards of safety

Fedosov added Hutchins was a “wonderful mother, first and foremost”.

He also questioned how her death could have happened, saying: “Standards of safety in the US are very high. There is always an expert on set. There are always checks ahead of filming. Blanks are used sometimes to achieve a better effect on camera but it is always done with high degree of safety.”

James Gunn, director of The Suicide Squad and Guardians of the Galaxy, said: “My greatest fear is that someone will be fatally hurt on one of my sets. I pray this will never happen. My heart goes out to all of those affected by the tragedy today on Rust, especially Halyna Hutchins and her family.”

Director and cinematographer Elle Schneider wrote a thread on Twitter about the death of her “friend and Rockstar cinematographer”.

‘Horrific loss’

“I don’t have words to describe this tragedy. I want answers. I want her family to somehow find peace among this horrific, horrific loss,” she said.

“Women cinematographers have historically been kept from genre film, and it seems especially cruel that one of the rising stars who was able to break through had her life cut short on the kind of project we’ve been fighting for.”

The American Film Institute Conservatory also paid tribute.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. View original tweet on Twitter

Hutchins was born in Ukraine in 1979 and grew up on a Soviet military base in the Arctic Circle.

Her website said she spent her upbringing “surrounded by reindeer and nuclear submarines”.

She entered the film industry after gaining a degree in international journalism from Kiev State University. After working on documentaries in the UK, she moved to Los Angeles, where she graduated from the American Film Institute conservatory in 2015.

She began working her way up in Hollywood, with credits on films including Blindfire, which she described as a “racially charged cop drama” written and directed by Mike Nell.

She also worked on horror feature Darlin’, directed by Pollyanna McIntosh, which debuted at the SXSW film festival 2019.

American Cinematographer, a monthly magazine published by the American Society of Cinematographers, interviewed Hutchins in 2019.

Work on British productions

She explained to them why she moved from journalism to cinematography, saying: “My transition from journalism began when I was working on British film productions in eastern Europe, travelling with crews to remote locations and seeing how the cinematographer worked.

“I was fascinated with storytelling based on real characters.”

Her early life as a self-described “army brat” meant she was “already a movie fan because ‘there wasn’t that much to do outside'”, the magazine added.

It said she gained “hands-on shooting experience from documenting her forays into such extreme sports as parachuting and cave exploration”.

After her death, the magazine paid tribute to the film-maker, saying: “We’re deeply saddened by the news from Santa Fe regarding the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Safety on the set should always be of paramount concern to everyone, especially when working with firearms.”

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EU leaders give Merkel an ovation at final summit

Last week I waited in a packed press pen for German Chancellor Angela Merkel to descend the stairs at the Egmont Palace in Brussels.

She’d already had lunch with King Philippe and later would go to a farewell concert featuring the works of Mozart and Beethoven. In other words, they were laying it on for her.

“You’ve always kept your cool,” she was told by Belgium’s Prime Minister Alexander de Croo as they prepared to face the media.

And she certainly appeared calm, even poker-faced, despite the heavy outpouring of warm words. Others might have blushed, maybe even visibly enjoyed it.

After 16 years as chancellor she’s been to many European Council (EUCO) summits – 107 is the popular number floating around.

Frankly after all those emergency EU summits and the odd “virtual” event, I’ve been advised that it’s hard to be entirely sure. But we’re talking big numbers.

IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES

Image caption ,EU leader Charles Michel gave Mrs. Merkel a model symbolizing the summit venue

On Friday she took her seat at the table to deliberate for the last time. Also to absorb more compliments, some of them slightly unusual.

Council President Charles Michel declared her a “monument” and said summits without the long-time chancellor was like Paris without the Eiffel Tower.

He praised her “extreme sobriety and simplicity”, which he said was “a very powerful seduction weapon”.

“You are a compass,” he said, “a shining light of our European project”.

IMAGE SOURCE,EUROPEAN COUNCIL

Image caption ,Mrs Merkel received one of these models of the Council building’s “space egg” interior shell

She has tried hard, in her own way, to keep the European project on course. To keep the family together.

This week, for example, she was promoting dialogue with Poland, rather than confrontation and big legal battles.

Germany’s view, in this instance, is that you can try the court route – or withholding EU cash – but that the problem is ultimately political. Therefore, so is the solution.

After all, the Law and Justice Party (PiS) is in power and the next Polish election isn’t until 2023.

But there is frustration here, among some, about Angela Merkel’s watchful patience.

The Polish rule of law row with the EU is a prime example where some feel that approach just hasn’t worked.

I’ve heard diplomats express impatience at all the talking on this issue, with a feeling or fear that it’s going nowhere – even backwards.

The European federalist and former British MEP Andrew Duff said he actually felt “sad” for Angela Markel.

“She prioritized EU unity over reform – and she leaves the Union more disunited than ever, with one man overboard.”

That, of course, is a reference to Brexit. The UK’s departure from the EU, Mrs Merkel said at the Egmont Palace, had “saddened her deeply”.

Read more on Chancellor Merkel:

• EU’s queen with a tarnished crown
• How Germans will look back on Angela Merkel

So, taking on Charles Michel’s words, pick your monument.

Angela Merkel: a steady, unshakeable figure who has been that beacon of light keeping the EU building blocks largely in place, even during the toughest of times.

Or a cautious – even indecisive – overseer of European affairs; so determined to maintain the peace that problems, not confronted, are left to fester.

In politics it isn’t easy to draw comparisons with that mysterious concept of what might have been. Counterfactual history is a blank page.

But her signature is all over the last period of European history.

In December, at the next European Council in Brussels, we’ll begin to learn how things could be different.

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