An exhibition opened in Ferizaj aims to raise awareness among local women in the fight against breast cancer.
“I’m Jeta (Life in Albanian), the definition of what I’ve been fighting for. When they told me the diagnosis, I felt a cold wind through my whole body…,” Jeta said.
Jeta was one of the seven students who recited stories written by professor Emine Berisha about activists and women who fought against breast cancer. Some of the surviving women were in front of the school of arts and music ‘Çesk Zadeja’ in Ferizaj on the evening of October 22, where the exhibition Thirrëm edhe mua (Call me, too) took place.
The exhibition is a powerful artistic expression of 43 female painters. Their artistic work was part of the Muaji Rozë (Pink Month) activities, aiming to support women affected by breast cancer.
“I don’t know how I stood on my own feet”
Photo courtesy of ‘Thirrem edhe mua’ exhibition.
Jalldëze Mustafa, Thirrëm edhe mua’s curator, has thanked all artists who expressed their emotions and inspiration for the same cause.
“And they made this exhibition a call for awareness, dedicated to all women and to show to all women that they are not alone,” Mustafa said, thanking Pranvera Sylejmani, a local artist who was part of the exhibition in Gjilan, before she helped Mustafa to open the same exhibition at the school where she does work as an art teacher.
Among the dozens of paintings showcased in the building of the first Albanian school and the first gymnasium in Ferizaj, built in 1928, artists have supported women suffering from breast cancer. Through paintings, such as the one where one of the painters has depicted a tumor in a woman’s breast, women have been called upon to become aware of the preventive measures’ importance against cancerous diseases.
“A woman must dedicate herself to love. When she has love for herself, then she can have love to give to everyone; to family, to society, to everyone,” Mustafa said.
Their predicament was previously summarized by Jeta’s recital.
“I don’t know how I stood on my own feet, believe me,” Jeta says through her part of the recital. “I didn’t want to meet anyone, I didn’t want to talk to anyone. It seemed to me that everything was over for me.”
Appeals for more health visits
Photo courtesy of ‘Thirrem edhe mua’ exhibition.
Pranvera Sylejmani said that she insisted to bring Thirrëm edhe mua in Ferizaj because of the powerful messages that 42 participating colleagues has expressed.
“We as artists, considering how easy it is to convey the message through beauty, such as art, decided to bring you together tonight,” said Sylejmani, adding that women affected by cancer need everyone’s help and support.
Through the different colors of the paintings, the message of hope and recovery of women fighting against breast cancer has been expressed.
The director of the municipal health directorate, Kemajl Emini, said that until the end of the year, all women can have free check-ups and mammograms at the Main Center of Family Medicine (QKMF) in Ferizaj.
“It is good that this month is used for awareness and sensitization of our women, our mothers and our sisters” to visit health institutions for various check-ups, Emini said, adding that the prevention measures are crucial against breast cancer. The exhibition message was Zbulimi i hershëm – mbijetesë (Early detection – survival).
“I started all over again”
Photo courtesy of ‘Thirrem edhe mua’ exhibition.
Afërdita Muharremi, from the Main Center of Family Medicine in Ferizaj, said that awareness activities should not be limited to the month of October.
“There are three weapons, which are very important. The first is to become aware, the second weapon, to self-check, or self-examine, and finally there is the third weapon…,” she emphasized, pausing to have attendees’ attention, mostly women, then continued: “…mammography.”
“Since all wars are fought with weaponry, but if that war was not won, the fight continues for life, because life is very important,” Muharremi said. She works with women fighting cancer diseases for more than two decades. She appealed to all women to take care about the preventive measures against the breast cancer.
“There were days when my body made me feel helpless. Days, weeks, months passed. Then I began to feel the smell of bread again, the smell of life, which I had not felt for a long time,” Jeta would recite in front of the audience. Despite many challenges, Jeta never gave up.
“I started all over again. I opened the window of the future since I would never give up again,” was her message at the end of her artistic piece, supported with an applause from the audience, where there were cancer survivors, too. After the recitation of the seven students, who performed in front of the main school door, the artists and public went up to see Thirrëm edhe mua’s colorful paintings, focused on the women’s fight against breast cancer.