When Mount Pleasant woman Nyan Thit Tieu was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013, she quickly realised how difficult it was for the Illawarra's migrant women to access information and support about cancer.
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Ms Tieu arrived in the Illawarra from Burma in 1977 and spent more than thirty years teaching English as a second language before her cancer diagnosis.
"I had stage three breast cancer, and I realised that the multicultural women I saw at the hospital were not accessing any of the other services available from the government for their health and wellbeing," she said.
"I saw it as a real access and equity issue, so I did something about it."
With help from the council, MCCI and Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District, Ms Tieu founded the Sisters Cancer Support Group for women of culturally diverse backgrounds.
For eight years, she has held regular meetings and events to help migrant women in the Illawarra stay in touch with others with cancer.
On Friday, the group will hold a cancer screening education event linked to Multicultural Health Week, which was earlier this month.
"Women in CALD communities face many barriers in accessing cancer screening due to their language and cultural issues and poor health education," Ms Tieu said.
"We are inviting any women, but particularly looking at the Turkish, Macedonian and Arabic community which are bigger communities in the Wollongong area. There is also an emerging group of refugees from Burma that we are inviting."
"There are a lot of people who are not aware of how important screening is, and sometimes people in the multicultural community need to be shown, hands-on how to do these things."
"This approach, from a cancer survivor like me, means we can really share our stories and because we have been through the same journey, people trust us."
The event - on Friday September 30 at Ribbonwood Centre in Dapto from 10am-2pm - will feature talks and discussions, hands-on demonstrations, stories from survivors and fun exercise activities like Qigong and Zumba.
Kate McIlwain
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
