ENTERTAINMENT Breast Cancer Foundation Thrills Audience With “Beyond the Taboo” Posted by on Apr 3, 2008, 01:39

An anti-breast cancer non-governmental organization, Thinking Pink Breast Cancer Foundation (TPBCF) has Tuesday 1^st April 2008 staged a play titled Beyond the Taboo at the British Council Auditorium Tower Hill Freetown.

The drama which portrayed the menace of breast cancer, started with a drum beat followed by a Krio song by casts; Thinking Pink don cam for help don borbi cancer meaning; “Thinking Pink Breast Cancer Foundation has come to salvage breast cancer illness in Sierra Leone”.

Breast cancer which is no respecter of human life regardless of social status, race and creed, is rated among the most dangerous diseases that kill female folk in Sierra Leone, which is why the foundation is in the country to raise awareness on the illness and conduct test as the only way of eliminating the cancer. 

The play opens with an ailing breast cancer woman called Ose whose husband Ayo could not stand the responsibilities of curing the sickness and later ended losing his wife, whiles suffering with the pain, in-laws ranging from the mother of her husband and one of the sisters stormed their home and tagged the latter as wizard.

The mother-in-law even pronounced that she had earlier warned her son not marry Ose for she is an evil woman.    

With the death of Ose, stigma befalls her two daughters Sally and Ayo and the elder daughter fled from the Waterloo community, where the family live and fend for herself in the street. But was later entrapped in a relationship with one poor Mount Everest Security, Alie Fornah, with whom they gave birth to a child called Neneh, following which Ose died of breast cancer.

Following the death Ose, her husband abandoned the children and fetched another from elsewhere which disintegrated the whole family, except a family friend called Mammy Conteh who came to the rescue of the single-orphans.  

As the disease continues killing the family, Nenneh the granddaughter was the next victim targeted by cancer but was later saved by Thinking Pink Breast Cancer Foundation’s surgical operation though it resulted to the cutting of one of her breast.

Speaking to audience shortly after the closed last scene of the play, Nenneh survivor breast cancer, cautioned all breast diseases suffers not to apply any traditional medicines on their breast whenever they are infected or attacked by breast sickness but to seek professional medical attention through TPBCF affordable medication and treatment.

She used the forum to implore government through President Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma, Vice President San Sumana and the Minister of Health and Sanitation to use their good save lives of women from breast cancer.

For her part, founder of TPBCF, Madam Cremelda Parkinson Pratt appealed to all for funding while stating that Beyond the Taboo was purely staged to with a vision to raise awareness of Breast Cancer hence encouraged women to show up for regular breast checkups.