7 October 2016
Some twelve women are meeting at a municipality hall not far from the Dunya Women’s Cancer Centre in the old centre of the West Bank city of Ramallah. Each of them has been through a painful journey recovering from breast cancer.
Around the world the ordeals common for those being treated for the disease include surgery, lengthy courses of chemo and radiotherapy, and sometimes disheartening relapses. But as women in Palestine also face the additional challenges posed by a life under military occupation; contending with a permit regime and Israeli checkpoints which restrict access to critically needed treatment in East Jerusalem.
The women greet each other with warm hugs and shoulder squeezes, and the room buzzes with jokes and compliments. It has been a while since they have last seen each other. Ramadan kept them busy with fasting and planning for the Eid celebrations, which was followed by the school summer holidays which many of them spent looking after their children.
“This morning when I left my youngest was still sleeping and my oldest daughter was already up,” Fatme, a housewife, tells the group. “Usually I would stay home and take care of them, but today I told my oldest daughter to look after her sister because it is my free day and I was coming to meet my friends at Dunya.”
These breast cancer survivors meet every two months to share their experiences and socialise, but also to relax and forget their worries. With the support of Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), Dunya has hired two psychologists, Marah and Afaf. One works in the Ramallah area, and the other covers the southern governorate of Hebron.
The session begins with some physical warm-up exercises, after which the women are asked to share something nice that happened in the past few months.
I feel like my life has returned to normal. I don’t have so many negative thoughts anymore
“I started to do sports again,” says one woman. “I feel like my life has returned to normal. I don’t have so many negative thoughts anymore,” says another.
Shifa, who lives in the Jalazoun refugee camp, shares that she has just found her first job. “I got the great news after doing blood tests that my cancer is not genetic” she says. “So I don’t have to fear any longer for my daughters.”
Meanwhile another woman, Huda, has just decided to quit her job of 15 years in order to spend more time with her children: “I realized how precious my time with them is.”
Today the group is joined by a supervisor, Louma, who lays out the purpose of today’s meeting. The assembled women are being trained to become peer supporters for other women diagnosed with breast cancer.
“We realized that we could use these survivors’ collective strength to help other women who are still in treatment,” Louma tells MAP “The group is very diverse. Some of them are logical, while others are more emotionally sensitive. They come from all walks of life.”
With the support of MAP, the Dunya centre is set to run weekly individual and group sessions for breast cancer patients, where they can talk to some of these survivors. Today, Louma is training the women on how to set their own emotions aside when counselling others. “I want to help them turn their own difficult journeys into something positive.”
We realized that we could use these survivors’ collective strength to help other women who are still in treatment
Louma has found that many women with breast cancer express fears about the wellbeing of their children, and frustration and guilt over moving from the role of care giver to receiver. “They often end up providing more comfort to their families than they receive,” she explains. “Women really are the cornerstone of every family in our society. They care for the children, sick and elderly, and everyone depends on them. Almost all women who have breast cancer go through some form of depression because they feel disabled and unable to fulfil their roles as a wife and mother.”
“At the Dunya centre we try to break through feelings of guilt, and to convince patients to accept the treatment and continue to fight,” says Louma.
The importance of caring for patients’ mental health as they are treated for cancer is only just starting to be acknowledged, and for women with breast cancer in the West Bank there is little to no such support available other than that which Dunya provides.
Louma believes that speaking to survivors is key to such care: “A psychologist can say to a patient that they understand what they are going through, but they will never be able to form a connection like a survivor can. A peer can empathise with the patient’s fear and anger, and help them to be optimistic about recovery.”
You can support MAP's work with Palestinian women affected by breast cancer by donating today.