October 24, 2017 By Joseph S. Margai
FBNBank’s Head of Human Resource Brima Ronnie Kargbo (right) and his colleagues at the event last Saturday
One of the financial institutions in Sierra Leone, First Bank of Nigeria (FBNBank), has on last Saturday (21st October 2017), supported the Well Woman Clinic in raising awareness on the eradication of breast cancer in the country.
The FBNBank supported event saw a wide range of institutions, organizations, agencies and individuals coming together to walk from the Lumley Beach to Quincy’s Bar and Restaurant in Aberdeen, Freetown. While they were walking and dancing, the public address (P.A.) system rents the air with messages telling the listening public about the dangers of breast cancer and how it could be eradicated.
Brima Ronnie Kargbo, Head of Human Resource at FBNBank (SL) Limited, told pressmen at Quincy’s Bar and Restaurant that FBNBank is part of a group called First Bank of Nigeria and they are not only in the country to take money from people and make profit but to give back to the communities where the bank’s branches operate.
“The bank made a personal financial donation to the Well Woman Clinic in Freetown as part of its support to reducing or eliminating breast cancer. We did not only give financial support, we also took part in the exercise which was tagged “Walk for Life-Early Detection Saves Lives”. We are very much committed to seeing that breast cancer is eradicated,” he said. He noted that he was in the company of the Operations Coordinator, Kingsley Ferdinand and two others on behalf of the bank to support Well Woman Clinic to raise awareness on the danger of breast cancer.
He said the exercise was important because in as much as they wanted to raise awareness on eradication of breast cancer, they wanted to also show their colleague female counterparts at FBNBank that they care about their wellness.
“By raising this awareness, we would encourage the women working at FBNBank to do test on their breast as the saying goes ‘early detection saves lives’. The bank wants to continuously work with Well Woman Clinic to raise awareness about breast cancer until the general public is fully aware about its danger,” he said.
Besides the support to Well Woman Clinic, FBNBank has also been supporting various institutions in Sierra Leone as a means of corporate social responsibilities. The FBNBank head of human resource cited that last month, in its corporate social responsibility week, FBNBank identified organizations and schools that were in dire need of help. He noted that the SOS Children’s Home and Secondary School were visited by the bank and books, among other items, were donated.
He recalled that food and non-food items were also donated at the Don Bosco Fambul, adding that they also counselled school going pupils on how they should prepare themselves for university education.
Adijatu Salam, Health Sister at Well Woman Clinic, while educating the listening crowd at Quincy’s Bar and Restaurant, said women must be doing regular breast test in order to detect the disease early.
“Women should not test their breast one week before their menstrual period until seven days after that period. In doing self-examination, a woman could lie on a bed, stand in front of a mirror and if she notices that one breast is bigger or red than the other, she must immediately go to the Well Woman Clinic,” she explained.
She urged women to be doing self-breast examination every month and always report to the nearest health centre when there are anomalies.