The Pink Day celebration at The Millennium School (TMS) was a huge success where staff, students, parents and even former students came in to support the Breast Cancer Awareness Drive, particularly the hair donation drive.
The event saw a record number of participants – 44 in all, including members of the senior management team like principal Ambika Gulati and registrar Sunila Shetty – who willingly parted with their locks, which will be used for making wigs for cancer patients. Also the school nurse was among those from the administration team who donated hair along with the other staff, students, ex-students and parents.
“There are so many people dear to us who suffer from breast cancer and lose their hair to the disease. This was a great opportunity for me to give to the community in my own way,” Gulati said.
Among the 44 donors, the youngest was five-year-old Sanjana Jeevendran, who said she is “happy to be able to give her hair to help bring a smile on someone’s face”.
Another 10-year-old student Sasha D’Souza was donating her locks for the fourth time. She started donating when she was in KG2. Sana Feroz of grade 7G1 led the group of donors who took a pledge to take steps to beat this disease. The hair will be sent to Friends of Cancer Patients to assist children who have lost their hair, locally as well as in the UK and the US.
Michael Guzder, executive Principal of TMS and vice-president (GEMS Indian Schools), told Khaleej Times: “It’s in the very DNA of The Millennium School to give back to society and live up to our motto ‘we choose to care.’ It’s inspiring to see so many people from our school community volunteer to give their hair to help someone somewhere they don’t even know.”
Students came dressed in pink and gathered on the turf to form the pink ribbon – the classic symbol of spreading awareness about breast cancer worldwide. They also carried placards with slogans and walked around the sports field to spread the message of early detection and protection to carry home to their mothers.
Dr Jasbir Chhattwal, a parent and head of gynaecology and obstetrics at Zulekha Hospital, Dubai, also gave a talk to the senior school girls on various aspects of the disease and expelled some of the myths surrounding it.
Another student’s parent supported the event by giving candles to all the donors as a memento along with a bookmark that read: ‘How far that little candle throws its beams, so shines a good deed in this world. A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.’
TMS athletics coach Selvarani Afsal has been running the Pink Day programme and specifically the hair donation drive for the fourth year in a row. Afsal said: “The school has seen the number of donors increase every year – from students, teachers, parents, ex-students and even support staff who come forward to do what they can to give back.
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