Dubai: A group of Dubai residents has raised more than Dh1,000 for men's health charities by growing and sporting moustaches for the duration of November.
Team Bu Shanab, which translates as "the daddy of all moustaches", has embraced social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter to spread awareness of Movember, an annual global initiative that highlights medical problems facing males such as prostate cancer and depression.
Unfortunately, none of the money raised by Bu Shanab will go to local causes; it will instead go to a charity in New Zealand because there are no men's health groups in the UAE. The approximately 15-strong team has already raised NZ$500 (Dh1,375) for the cause. They are also one of the top 100 fundraising teams within the New Zealand category of the event.
Taking part
Mohammad Parham Al Awadi, captain of Team Bu Shanab, said: "Movember is not a registered charity in the UAE so that is why the money raised is going to a charity abroad. The UAE has a large expat population and when residents take part in Movember here they tend to represent charities based in their home countries. At the moment the event doesn't have a big local following but hopefully that will change in the coming years.
"I've been keen to get involved with Movember for years. But the large multinational company that I worked for wasn't really interested in taking part. Soon after starting my own company I contacted the head office of the Movember initiative in Australia and found it was pretty easy to take part.
"It really is for a terrific cause; I mean why can't men's health be a prominent issue. There are no symptoms for prostate cancer so it's very important for men, especially those in their mid-30s, to get checked regularly. I am particularly keen to raise as much awareness as possible among the Arab community. We have utilised social networking websites such as Twitter to raise as much awareness as possible."
Participants in Movember start the month clean shaven and then have 30 days to grow and groom their moustache.
Nicole Betts, the organiser of all the UAE's official Movember activities, said: "Basically the idea behind Movember is that it is changing the face of men's health. People begin to ask why you are growing a moustache and that gives you the chance to explain it is for charity.
"Men don't tend to go and get check-ups at doctors of their own accord; sometimes they need a woman to give them a push. Movember has escalated into a global event and is a great way of raising awareness of men's health issues."
The event is primarily male-focused with the symbolic growing of facial hair but women are actively encouraged to join in and lend their support to the cause.
Naseem Faqihi, a 24-year-old media manager of Emirati-Iranian descent, said: "I got involved because it seemed like a fun thing to do. Men don't tend to talk about health issues. But that's perhaps one of the reasons why detection rates of prostate cancer are so low. It's important to get the message out that it's ok for men to talk about health matters and that women won't think they are weak or laugh at them for doing so."
Scary statistic
Mita Srinivasan, a 53-year-old media director from India, added: "One in six men are diagnosed every year with prostate cancer, which is a really scary statistic. If we can help even two of those six then we will have done our job."
Al Awadi, who is also the co-founder of a new restaurant in Dubai called Wild Peeta, posts daily pictures of his moustache's progress on his Twitter account, which has more than 2,000 followers.
One of those followers is fellow Bu Shanab member Paul Castle, a 46-year-old magazine editor from the United States. He said: "Twitter is an excellent platform for generating conversation and making people aware of activities such as Movember. The network allows you to hashtag specific topics, which in turn makes the dialogue and information about the issue easy to access.
"Twitter also adopt a pretty conversational tone so people don't have to in depth about how their feeling. It is a convenient service and great for spreading awareness of events such as this."
What is Movember?
Movember is an annual event whereby people highlight men's health issues, such as prostate cancer and depression, by growing and sporting a moustache throughout the duration of November,
The charity initiative began in Australia in 2003 when a group of male friends, inspired by the women's health movement, decided the moustache was the perfect image to raise awareness of men's health issues.
The event is now in its sixth consecutive year and is celebrated in countries across the world including the US, Britain, New Zealand and Canada. This year, 160 UAE residents have registered their support for the campaign.
