Many people from the older generation in the Chinese community either can’t speak English, or they have limited English. And they feel isolated, because they want to talk to somebody, but there is nobody they can talk to. We train a group of Chinese speaking volunteers to have a good listen to people, and to be able to provide support. The volunteers provide emotional and practical support for people who are affected by cancer. We can help to lift people up. We do many things – for instance: cleaning in the house; we can cook a Chinese meal for them; if they’ve got a garden and they want it tidied up, then we can help them in this way; we do some shopping for them. Or you could have a dog, we can take a dog out and walk with the dog. This sort of thing. People feel less isolated, and they feel that they are being supported and valued.
Cancer Champions is a great, great idea. It is really, really good. It is involving people from all different communities. As soon as I heard about it, I thought we should definitely get involved. Most people will hear the word cancer and think it is a death sentence, But in reality nowadays, if you detect it earlier, it can be prevented. Cancer Champions is a jolly good idea – we can bring awareness to people that really don’t know a lot about cancer and Cancer Champions can help the prevention of cancer.
We train a group of Chinese speaking volunteers to have a good listen to people, and to be able to provide support.