Julina Kaakunga
Medical doctor Latoya Mwoombola, popularly known as Lioness, says her career took an unexpected direction after losing her mother to cancer three months after the diagnosis.
“I never imagined losing her in just three months, and that marked the start of the end. Everything collapsed. She was my pillar of strength – the most significant person in my life,” said Mwoombola.
She said she found solace in singing, which propelled her to become a singer while she was studying medicine.
Her first song, titled ‘Meme’, was inspired by her late mother.
Mwoombola shared her story on Saturday at the gathering of the ‘Tea Party 4 Hope’ at Olympia’s Doc Jubber Hockey Fields.
The event is a fundraising programme, established in 2016 in the Parliament Gardens to teach people about cancer, its impact and how to support someone who is impacted by the condition.
The initiative’s creator, Violet Mureko, revealed it all began with a personal narrative.
“We struggled as a family to try and understand the disease as well as to comfort her, as we did not have information about it. I lost a sister-in-law to cancer, and I was quite young and didn’t understand the disease,” she said.
Mureko’s experience inspired her to launch an initiative within her community to educate others about the disease and assist families with cancer patients on how to provide care and support.
“We donate our money to the Cancer Association because we know many people cannot afford to get screened, especially in remote places like Havana, where the Cancer Association team will take them and provide free screening,” she said.
According to her, they have since collected over N$2 000 for the initiative.
“We always receive a letter, showing us what they have mobilised in the community, containing all information,” said Mureko.
She further said that based on the number of attendees, it is clear that people need more programmes such as this, where information is readily made available.
Speaking at the event, Sarah Amukwa, a broker consultant for Old Mutual, said the event was informative.
“It is a very sentimental event; a lot of the information that we hear from the professionals is always an eye-opener because we don’t really take the advice that we are given seriously,” said Amukwa.
In attendance were doctors Pueya Rashid, Josef Mufenda and Pegg Emvula, who gave their professional opinions about the disease.
The initiative will, in the future, assist selected cancer patients nearing the end of their lives by integrating them into the Palliative Care Unit at the Cancer Association.
The unit offers accommodation to patients so they can live a dignified life, receive treatment appropriate to their type of cancer and receive all medical resources necessary to make the process easier and less stressful.
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