The Transplant Education for Living Legacies (Tell) has launched a new campaign to raise awareness about organ donation called the #makeitknown campaign. On 15 April, Sally Mustang Tattoos in Sandton offered free tattoos of the Tell quotation marks.
In South Africa, the donor’s family has the final say whether or not organs are permitted to be donated. The quotation marks will then be used to grant permission to donate the organs as signed by the deceased.
“I had a liver transplant done in 2013, and a stranger, whom I’ll probably never meet, has saved my life,” said Tell’s brand ambassador, Mimo Mokgosi.
“Since then, I saw the importance of organ donation and encourage everyone to sign up and join us in our journey of saving lives,” Mokgosi added.
A lot of the attendees were inspired by two of three of Tell’s founders, Fawn Rogers and Alice Vogt who both had double-lung transplants. One such attendee was Catia Lubbe, “I was inspired by Fawn’s story and have also registered as an organ donor two years ago. I also go a tattoo, because I want to make it known, and this a great way to show it.”
Some of the attendees got inked prior to registering to become organ donors, “I am a blood donor and will soon register to become an organ donor because I feel it’s important to try by all means possible to save lives,” said Sean Burgess.
The event was a success and even first-timers in the ‘ink world’ did not hesitate to get quotation marks as their first tattoos, one of them was Chantelle Pieterse. “This is all for a good cause. I am 100 per cent behind the initiative and I am happy that my first tatt has this amazing story behind it.”
The event organisers were happy with the turnout and hope that many people will get inspired, “We are so thankful to everyone that came through today,” said Rogers.
Related articles:
SA inventions and achievements that are utilized across the globe
