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Held from 15 – 21 March, Harmony Week celebrates inclusiveness, respect and belonging for all Australians, regardless of cultural or linguistic backgrounds, united by a set of core Australian values.

Cancer Council SA works with a number of different South Australian cultural organisations to support people within their communities to achieve a cancer free future.

To mark Harmony Week, we spoke with Sidique Bah from the Fullah Friends of South Australia about how Cancer Council SA has supported him and his community.

Tell us a bit about the Fullah Friends of South Australia

The Fullah Friends of South Australia are a community organisation for friends and family of the Fullah culture living in South Australia. The Fullah people or Fulani or Fulɓe, numbering between 20 and 25 million people in total, are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa, widely dispersed across the region.

We all share the same language, culture, traditions and experiences so it’s a chance for us to connect people from the same African backgrounds and look after each other.

What does the Harmony Week Theme ‘Everyone Belongs’ mean to you?

For me, Harmony Week is a chance for people come together to celebrate oneness and togetherness. It’s an opportunity for people from all cultures to come together to celebrate our diversity.

How are you working with Cancer Council SA to support your community?

Originally, we reached out to Cancer Council SA CALD Officer Shahla to speak to the women in our group about breast cancer awareness and screening and they all really enjoyed it.

Education is really important for our group, as most of our members don’t have a chance to have a conversation about things like cancer when they are at home with their family. These sessions were a wonderful chance for our members to have a one on one conversation with Cancer Council SA on what we need to look out for. I think that the women got alot out of it and we look forward to having more sessions.

Cancer Council SA offers a range of different activities to promote important cancer prevention messages to culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities, service providers, sporting or special interest groups.

For more information or to book a session, visit the Cancer Council SA website here.

You can also view Cancer Council’s full list of translated resources here.