The Sunday Mail
Charles Mushinga
LITTLEROCK International School recently embarked on a cancer awareness campaign dubbed “Orange Week”.
For the entire week, the whole school — both in Harare and Norton boarding campuses — wore orange bandanas after attending lessons dressed in orange for the first day.
Head teacher for the LIS Harare campus Rumbidzai Mangwende-Mutengezanwa said they recognised February 4 as Cancer Awareness Day before embarking on the week-long campaign.
“We dedicated February 4 as a day to remember those whose lives were snatched by the scourge of cancer. We were remembering those young boys and girls who are living with cancer, too. On this day all the children and teaching staff wore orange clothing and bandanas. What a colourful day it was. The theme of the day was cancer awareness.
“Dr Mutata was our invited guest. He gave a vivid presentation on types of cancer, causes and prevention methods. He stressed that our lifestyle can lead to cancer. He also pointed out that hereditary factors can determine who gets cancer,” she said.
“The children enjoyed his presentation and came up with good questions, which were clearly answered by the physician. The whole school showed an appreciation of this day by donating cash to the Kidzcan.”
The teacher in charge of the commemoration week, Mrs Zingoni, added that orange is a colour that has been used to symbolise childhood cancer.
“Parents need to be aware of how they can detect cancer on their child. We also used the week to destigmatise cancer because young victims are often subjected to stigma from the other kids. But we used the week to teach children all about cancer,” she said.
The head teacher said the doctor was on hand to explain to all pupils the symptoms, causes and effects of cancer. He also answered questions from pupils and told them how they can prevent cancer or ensure there is early detection when affected.
She said it was their wish to have pupils learning through their co-curricular activities and they were looking forward to a trip to Italy this year.
“Our pupils are travelling to Italy this May. The trip is part of our instruments to help us in our quest of grooming international students.”
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