When Simar Amad was diagnosed with breast cancer, she didn't tell her family back in Lebanon. She didn't want them to worry.
“It's a taboo. We don't even say the name 'cancer',” she said.
She was 29, a mother of three young children, when she was told she needed a mastectomy.
Fortunately, her cancer was caught early.
However, the taboo in her community prevents others from even getting a check-up, she said.
“They don't want to know, they just don't want to know about it."
“They wait 'til the last stage, that's why it's associated with death.”
That's where a new campaign designed to help break down that stigma come in.
Community development worker Simar Amad from the Arabic Welfare Council and her team have partnered with the Victorian Cancer Council to create a cartoon, narrated in Arabic, to increase awareness about the disease and encourage the Arabic-speaking community to have themselves screened.
“It's a taboo. We don't even say the name 'cancer'.”
The rather unconventional campaign links bowel, breast and cervical cancer screening, with a visit to the mechanic.
“I've got a lot in common with my car,” the cartoon starts.
“We're both getting on in years. We make strange sounds that we never used to make.”
It's narrated by Egyptian-born comedian Akmal Saleh, who, it seems, is well-versed on cars.
“People freak out, they get a little scratch on their car and they can't wait to get to the detailer and fix it,” he told SBS.
And he knows all about the stigma around cancer.
“You know, when I was growing up, that disease, that we don't talk about, you know, the "c" word, it was a death sentence,” he said.
“They’re superstitious, you see. They believe that if they actually utter the word, they’re going to get it. Of course, there’s no logic to that.”
The key is getting checked early. The Victorian Cancer Council’s Cancer Screening Manager, Kate Broun, said a lack of information among newly-arrived migrants, has led to poorer cancer outcomes.
“Cancer screening is relevant for everybody, but particularly for newly arrived and diverse cultural groups. Cancer screening may not be available in the country where they were born,” she said.
“Coming to Australia, we have three national cancer screening programs which are free and available to eligible people.”
The cartoon provides information for 50 to 74-year-olds, about the importance of visiting their doctor and recognising the symptoms.
“You relate to the voice, to the language, the Arabic language,” said Ms Amad.
“Doing it in a light, funny way, people are more likely to watch it, and listen to it.”
Already, it’s having an impact she said.
“The group that we’ve worked it, they’ve never been screened before. And some of them, they did go and screen.”
“And their husbands, they’ve never done the bowel test; they used to throw it in the rubbish. Now, they encourage their husbands to do it.”
