We painting de town pink

Dis Friday October fifth is “Pink Day,” specially dedicated to Breast Cancer Awareness all over de world. Here at home, de SVG Medical Association will be holding a “Pink Sales” under Singer gallery – pink caps, pink T-shirts, pink cake even pink lemonade will be sold to raise much needed funds, to assist persons afflicted with Breast Cancer wishing to travel abroad for Cancer Treatment.{{more}} And next Fry-dey, October 12, de Association will in ah big way take to de streets of Kingstown at 3:30 p.m. in dey annual “Pink Cap City Walk,” ah march and Rally at Heritage Square. Interestingly, dis Sat-dey, October sixth is my personal “Pink Day” anniversary; dat’s when ah began my Radiation Treatment foh Pass-straight Cancer in Canada ah year ago.

God was extremely good to me all de way, firstly my condition was detected in time, and secondly my treatment was at Princess Margaret Hospital, ranked among de top five Cancer Centres in de world.

Today I am ah grateful Cancer Survivor, committed to share de Good News. Yes, ah survived because ah my faith in de Lord Jesus Christ.

From de time ah was diagnosed, verse 4 of chapter 11 in de Gospel of John flashed thru me: “Jesus told His disciples dat Lazarus’ sickness will not end in death, but was foh God’s glory and dat God’s son, Jesus may be glorified through it.” So My survival is not about me, “One Love Bassy,” my primary purpose is to glorify God, share dat Good News and be an inspiration to others; reach out to men and women alike to seek God first, den do de required basic medical preliminaries. In de case ah de men over forty years ole, don’t pro-cast-de-net and play cat and mouse games wid yuh Pass-straight, dat fellah is ah master at playing games. So visit de grand-master, de doctor and do de simple test and examination if it is necessary. And de same thing holds foh our woe-men too; have your regular breast examination and your Pap Smear! And ah want to appeal to our young teenage daughters in particular, foh God sake, nah get into sex yet, tek yuh time and ley yuh body and Vee-join-her develop; it is now accepted dat ah lot ah cervical cancer patients are mothers who had babies in de teens; dey experimented too young. Don’t tek my word foh gospel check out any doctor.

Pre-vent-shun better dan cure, Exercise cuts de odds of getting Cancer or ah recurrence; so daily or regular Exercise is ah must foh everybody, victim or not. Ah would add, eat lots ah fresh fruits and vegetables; if necessary avoid animal fats. Drink sour sop tea made from leaves steeped in boiling water; and plain lemon juice, not de local lime which is very acidic; use de large, coarse lemons which is alkaline. Dis however, is not ah replacement foh ah visit to de doctor’s clinic. And what else can we do to help in de fight against Cancer? Well last year, ah spent ah weekend in Ottawa and ah witnessed “Pink Day,” one massive march, “Run foh de Cure” sponsored by FCIB in aid of Breast Cancer Research; over 9000 persons dressed in Pink Hats, Pink Capes, Pink T-shirts marched; it was like an ocean of Pink.

Canadians, relatives and friend of victims alive or dead turned out in support. Cancer has no friends, no preference, one beaytiful young lady said she was marching foh her deceased mother and two sisters who were victims. But de march raised one point five million dollars.

My belief is dat in every family dey is either ah potential Cancer Victim or ah victim already; so we need to come out next Fry-dey afternoon and march in support ah Breast Cancer Awareness, and all other forms ah Cancer. Whenever dey’s ah pull-it-to-kill march or rally, Vincentians will put on de Red or Yellow T-shirt and journey from all parts ah SVG, overcrowding de vans and buses to show solidarity foh nex nutten, can yuh imagine party supporters in de thousands participating in ah Rape Rally in defence ah dey leader.

We now have an opportunity to show solidarity wid a worthy cause, Pink or no Pink, come ley we march, walk wid ah donation, any amount, ah $1.00, ah $5.00 squeeze ah $20.00 or more if yuh can, give way it hurts, so dat when yuh hear pon de Radio, dat de Medical Association was able to assist ah Cancer Victim to travel abroad foh treatment and it was ah successful venture, yuh could smile and say “Yes, ah made ah contribution to dat!”

So Radio Announcers, Talk Show hosts, hey’s something to talk about, keep reminding listeners, adults and school children bout de march next Fry-dey.

Even Lie-Za will be dey, she thinks it hard to purchase one ah de Pink items from de sale, she saying how she wearing ah Pink top and bottom, but she ain’t meking nobody see; den in de same breath, she asking me if is O.K to wear Pink under-way!

And wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy

Bassy Alexander is a land surveyor, folklorist and social commentator.