Dubai: A clean-shaven head is likely to turn several heads when it is that of a young woman.
But Dubai resident Reeba Grace Thomas took the bold decision to go bald and ignore the stares in support of all the women who hesitate to step out of their houses because of their loss of hair after cancer treatment.
A B.Com graduate, Reeba shaved off her hair on her 22nd birthday on July 9.
“I went bald to make all the bald women out there feel beautiful because bald is beautiful. I went bald to empower every person out there fighting cancer,” said Reeba who donated her hair for making wigs for cancer patients.
“I did this so that I could be an inspiration to all those around me the way one of my peers in India was a motivation for me,” she told Gulf News.
Several younger students also made their summer vacation more meaningful by doing their bit to make a difference in the lives of cancer patients whom they do not even know.
Mihika Punjabi, a grade three student at The Indian International School, earlier fancied having hair like her favourite fairy character Rapunzel.
But when her mother Nisha showed her some videos about people donating hair to support hairless cancer patients, the eight-year-old was more than happy to chop her flowing locks of hair for the cause.
Sporting a short hair style when getting back to school after vacation is another student Bhavana Balakrishnan, a ninth grader from Ambassador School. “She grew hair for over a year specifically for donating it. It grew below her waist and she donated 15 inches of her hair at a cancer awareness campaign organised in our hometown in Kerala when we went there for this vacation,” said Bhavana’s mother Vineetha.
Bhavana is an ambassador of the Protect Your Mom campaign organised by the Hair for Hope India group founded by Dubai resident Premi Mathew.
The campaign encourages women to do regular self-examination for early detection and treatment of cancer and encourages people to donate hair for cancer patients losing hair after chemotherapy.
Bhavana started speaking at awareness campaigns back home since last year when she sponsored three wigs. She also inspired many other students and older women to donate hair and spread the word about it, her mom said.
Mathew said it was heartening to see students from here going to different countries across the world and spreading awareness about prevention of cancer and hair donation for chemo patients.
“The beauty of it is that it all started here with our PYM and Hair for Hope campaigns. While the world runs after Pokemon, we have such young children here who can set an example for adults in this world plagued by terrorism and hatred,” she said.
Inspiring stories
She said six PYM campaign brand ambassadors have made it to be featured in a book called 45 Inspiring Stories by Khalifa Student Empowerment Programme.
These include Indian sisters Divyashree, 12, and Harishree Suresh Babu, nine, who donated their hair last year, and went on to donate 10 wigs to chemo patients back home in Chennai during this vacation.
Brent D’Souza from Kindergarten Starters, who holds the record for being the youngest PYM ambassador by doing a campaign in Udupi in India in 2014, chose to spread breast cancer awareness among schoolchildren in Kenya when he went over there for a week-long trip with his parents this summer.
“I motivated nearly 500 children from Grades 4 to 12 of St Joseph of Tarbes School in Embu, Kenya and urged them to further spread this awareness in Kenya. They tied pink ribbons and listened to me attentively, joined me in taking an oath and took part in walkathon shouting slogans. I had an interactive session with them. The event was a wonderful experience especially for the pupils who were hearing it for the first time,” said the nine-year-old boy.
Siblings Aaditya, 10, and Aditi Gandhi, eight, conducted a similar campaign in Russia where they were expected to have fun during their holiday trip with their parents.
Another PYM ambassador, Aaditya Singh, who started off donating his gifts and cash awards to the campaign and has so far donated Dh34,000 for needy people, is another student to be featured in the book which is scheduled to be released on the 45th UAE National Day.
