The daring stand against cancer

_ By Rekha Baala _

‘I am not sure if poetry is a sensible way to fight cancer. Still I keep pouring words into poetic thoughts, hoping they can bring the weakest breath of relief for those who are suffering with
cancer or have a loved one suffering with this disease’


When she was a child, Nasra al Adawi had a dream. To stand up on stage and read a poem for underprivileged children. The small dream has grown to embrace new and far-reaching dimensions. Nasra today has two books of poems to her credit and her third one entitled Brave Faces: The Daring Stand Against Cancer will be launched today.

Nasra’s oeuvre is both poignant and thought-provoking. Her first attempt, Collective Thoughts published in 2002 is a book of poems interspersed with paintings made by children afflicted with cancer. Two years later, Nasra came out with a second title Within Myself: The Willpower to Live Beyond Cancer, in collaboration with the Oman National Association for Cancer Awareness.

Brave Faces: The Daring Stand Against Cancer, Nasra’s latest effort also centres on cancer. Here, she goes back to her roots in Africa and captures the powerful voices of women battling cancer in Tanzania and their triumph against the odds. Nasra was born in Zanzibar, brought up in Dubai and came to live in Oman in 1997.

The Omani poet began writing poetry as a child and later used her verse to draw attention to social and humanitarian concerns and donating the proceeds from the sales of her books to charity. The dreaded
‘C’ word, cancer has greatly influenced and brought many changes in Nasra’s life. “The death of my father from cancer removed the initial fear and shyness and created a bold poet within me,” she says in the introduction to the book. “I am not sure if poetry is a sensible way to fight cancer. Still I keep pouring words into poetic thoughts, hoping they can bring the weakest breath of relief for those who are suffering with cancer or have a loved one suffering with this disease,” she adds.

Nasra’s strong links to the country of her birth had her itching to ‘bring poetry to Tanzania because it is there that my father’s soul is buried in the soil of Zanzibar’. But she was still unsure how she could reach out, being thousands of miles away from Africa. The making of Brave Faces is strong testimony of the fact that ‘where there is a will, there will always be someone to lead the way’. Help came in the form of Hamoud al Jabry who shared her vision and introduced her to the Collective Development Corporation (CDC) in Tanzania who would put her in touch with women fighting cancer.

“In the beginning, I began getting summaries of each woman’s story. As I pored over them, I realised that the emotions were missing. If I had to understand what they were going through, I had to be with them and talk to them,” she says. Soon, she was on a plane to Tanzania to visit the Ocean Road Cancer Research Institute, the only oncology centre in Tanzania. And discovered courage, strength, determination and faith. In first-hand accounts of women bravely fighting breast and cervical cancer. The outpourings of emotion are evident in Nasra’s verse through and through.

Whether it is the voice of faith in Hear Your Voice, the healing touch in Touch Me Love or the spirit of survival in A New Dawn Begins, Nasra clearly has the ability to tug at the heart-strings. It is not easy to write about cancer or someone undergoing the ordeal. Nasra admits that she went through many emotional ups and downs while doing the book. There were some stories she could not finish because the women she had spoken to had succumbed to the disease. But the women at the Ocean Road Cancer Institute had one thing in common which inspired Nasra a great deal.

“The women I met were firm in their realisation that God doesn’t take away everything. He gives you the illness but also gives you the courage to face it. The women wanted to share their stories with me because they felt that they could help other women who have cancer. ‘We can fight it’ was the motto ruling their lives at every stage,” she says. The conditions in which these women were undergoing their ordeals were not easy. Nasra was amazed to find more than 40 women in one ward. But that did not dampen the spirits of these women in any way. “We had taken many gift bags from Oman but these were not enough to go around.

We also had a lot of pink ribbons but didn’t think that they would be of any value. But a nurse at the hospital insisted we distribute them. The women accepted them with love and pinned them on. I was touched when they told me that the pink ribbon would give them the extra strength to fight cancer. They also happily posed for photographs.” The poet wants to continue with her voluntary work despite her hectic schedule as co-coordinator at the Omani Friendship Association. Right now, she is involved in a calendar project with children at SQU Hospital.

“I want to promote art by children in a big way. I am also looking for sponsors to aid my project.” Brave Faces also carries a Swahili translation. Distributed by SJS Oman, the book will be available at major bookshops in Oman from November 3. It will also be launched in Tanzania later this year.


(Brave Faces: The Daring Stand Against Cancer, a book of poems by Nasra al Adawi is being launched today (October 30) by Dr Sharifa bint Khalfan al Yahya’eeya, Minister of Social Development at InterContinental Muscat at a function organised by The Embassy of the United Republic of Tanzania. Proceeds of the sale of this book will exclusively be used for cancer awareness campaigns in Tanzania.)