The Honeydew Police Station’s support services along with the Cancer Association of South Africa (Cansa) and Reach for Recovery Breast Cancer Support hosted an awareness initiative at the police station for the officers.
The initiative focused on prostate and breast cancer and the station’s social worker, Lydia Mmola, said they realised that many staff members are directly or indirectly affected by the disease.
Cansa representatives sprayed some of the police station members’ hair in different colours to show their support for the initiative. While members could spray their hair, they could also purchase goodies such as ribbons and wristbands from Reach for Recovery.
“We have realised that a few members and their families deal with cancer and we need to increase cancer awareness as well as answer any questions they might have,” said Mmola. “We also want to show our support to the members and their families by doing this awareness initiative. Cancer is a real disease and it does not discriminate based on race or culture.”
The support services department also handed over a monetary donation of more than R1 000 to Reach for Recovery, which was collected by police station members.
Mmola added that it is important to support such organisations that play an important role in the community.
As a social worker, she assists the Honeydew Police Station and organises regular awareness campaigns. She has been working with the station for five years and wants to give officers hope and a reason to continue their job with vigour.
“I am at the station to motivate officers and handle events, workshops and campaigns. It’s my responsibility to ensure that the officers enjoy their work and get to know and spend time with each other.
“I love what I do, if a make a difference in somebody’s life then I’m happy. Officers deal mostly with crime-related issues so it is not always easy to motivate them when a negative incident occurs.”
Photo: Sonwabile Antonie
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