I’ve been meaning to write about this for some time. A couple of weeks ago I attended a charity bazaar and fashion show in support of breast cancer awareness. It was organised by Maxnetic and held at Marmalade.
Me and Belinda Bateman.
Belinda is a single mother diagnosed with fourth stage breast cancer in January while working in the Philippines. Already suffering from congenital multiple arthogryposis, which causes bone deformity, the diagnosis was akin to rubbing salt to an open wound. As if these were not horrible enough, Belinda is caught in a tight financial situation due to government bureaucracies.
Here’s the story. After her cancer diagnosis, her employer paid for her lumpectomy. Shortly after that, she was forced to resign as they were obviously unwilling to foot anymore forthcoming medical bills. As she had exhausted her funds while moving to Philippines, Belinda return to Malaysia to seek aid from the government, namely the Social Security Organisation (Socso), Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and Social Welfare Department. Everytime she sought help from these government departments, she was turned away on the basis of “investigation”, which could range from 2 to 7 months.
Tell me, how ridiculous is that? You can read more about Belinda at The Star.
Among the merchants involved in the bazaar were Shoes Shoes Shoes, Tres Chic, Sew & Soul, MUSSE & popUP Retail. Lovely, lovely stuff. Got myself a pair of heels (which I will never wear again).
The fashion show was interesting because the models were made up of real women, non professional models. Many of them looked like they should have dabbled in professional modelling.
Joyce strutting her stuff.
Some of the models.
It was also Belinda’s birthday so Maria got her a pink birthday cupcake.
Birthday girl.
Maria and I.
And finally met Joanna. She’s a riot!!! :)
Joanna.
Breast Cancer Welfare Association Malaysia.
Lastly, a picture of Alex’s cuff, which I was rather fascinated with.
The battle of Waterloo was won on the fields of Eton.
For more information about breast cancer and how to contribute please go to:
BREAST CANCER WELFARE ASSOCIATION
OMG! You are so fat…yuck!!
Oh.. Belinda was working at my previous company. We knew that she got to work in Phillipines, but never knew about her present condition.
That obviously sucks, and its hard nowadays to get a good benefits from company or even the one that we paid insurance for sometimes. The various government agencies who ‘potong’ our gaji,i.e. SOCSO and EPF for our so called benefits, prove again, that the money they taken from us is not for our benefits.
Sorry for her and hope she get the help she needed ASAP. Sigh.