“We are gathered today for a noble cause: to provide support for people with cancer”. Introductory remarks, from the translator of the Grand Cadi, who did not fail to recall the objective of signing the agreement with the Association of Caregivers against Cancer (ASCA) and the Mahoran Association for the Fight Against Cancer (AMALCA): pooling the respective resources of the various actors and acting according to their skills.
Increase patient resilience to cancer
Admittedly, if the population of the island is Muslim for a very large majority, the Grand Cadi underlined in his speech that all confessions would be taken into consideration from the moment a patient suffering from the disease made the request. . The regional chaplain Said Ali Mondroba, in his speech, thus explained his role as an interface between the medical profession and patients suffering from the disease and who would like to appeal to spirituality. Thanks to the partnership with the Cadial Council, the presidents of the two associations hope to improve the relay with patients.
“When the patient is listened to and has the opportunity to speak, this improves acceptance of the disease while also allowing them to be reassured about the treatment methods”, explains Nadjilat Attoumani, president of AMALCA. Indeed, according to her, “there can be a discrepancy between the words used by doctors and the reality experienced by patients”. Demystifying chemotherapy, providing answers to fears and anxieties but also fighting against patients’ depression are all actions carried out by the two signatory associations knowing that for many of these people, “religion becomes a refuge”. The families of the sick, very often helpless or at a loss when faced with the disease, also benefit from listening, where empathy is at the heart of the process.
Fighting patients’ depression
Regarding the fight against depression, Anrifia Ali Hamadi president of ASCA agrees: “we distribute travel kits for patients going on MEDEVAC consisting of toiletries but also clothes and books”. A comfort, according to her, for people who have to leave their families often in a hurry and without necessarily knowing their return date. With this agreement, the Cadial Council has undertaken to provide assistance for the acquisition and storage of the equipment making up these travel kits; significant logistical reinforcement.
This convention contributes to revealing a large field of hope. “With this agreement, we expect better support for patients, a release from speaking out in order to break the taboos linked to the disease”, discounts Nadjilat Attoumani. As such, pedagogy holds a prominent place, particularly in the rationalization of cancer. “Some patients go to see the marabouts because they think the disease is the result of bad luck,” notes Anrifia Ali Hamadi, president of ASCA. A practice that can divert patients from specialists who can truly cure them. On this point, the Grand Cadi Mahamoudou Hamada Saanda insisted, as his translator reports, on the need “for cancer patients to go to specialists for treatment” and “not to go see the marabouts”.
Pierre Mouyset