october walk 2008

Embassy Pristina’s Balkans Breast Cancer Initiative (BBCI), a broad association of 5 regional U.S. Embassies, USAID, WHO, Kosovo’s National Institute for Public Health, the Ministry of Health, the NGO Jeta/Vita  (the only breast cancer organization in the country) and medical personnel, sponsored Kosovo’s First Annual Walk for Breast Cancer Awareness on Sunday, October 19 along the new pedestrian zone of Mother Teresa Boulevard.  Fortunately, the weather was really spectacular and helped bring out an estimated 1200-1300 people who came to support the Initiative.  There were T-shirts, pink loop pins, pink bracelets saying: “BBCI = Hope” and replica pins of Kosovo’s Breast Cancer Stamp, which had been issued just 4 days earlier. The real Stamps were for sale along the route, as well, including first day covers. Several very well-known actresses performed a very touching play about how breast cancer can affect the family, and RTK’s Combo Band kept the public interested in between speeches.

a broad association of 5 regional U.S. Embassies, USAID, WHO, Kosovo’s National Institute for Public Health, the Ministry of Health, the NGO Jeta/Vita  (the only breast cancer organization in the country) and medical personnel, sponsored Kosovo’s First Annual Walk for Breast Cancer Awareness on Sunday, October 19 along the new pedestrian zone of Mother Teresa Boulevard.  Fortunately, the weather was really spectacular and helped bring out an estimated 1200-1300 people who came to support the Initiative.  There were T-shirts, pink loop pins, pink bracelets saying: “BBCI = Hope” and replica pins of Kosovo’s Breast Cancer Stamp, which had been issued just 4 days earlier. The real Stamps were for sale along the route, as well, including first day covers. Several very well-known actresses performed a very touching play about how breast cancer can affect the family, and RTK’s Combo Band kept the public interested in between speeches.

The Walk, including a speech by Ambassador Kaidanow and other important Kosovo Government officials and the presence of the President’s wife, Mrs. Sejdiu, and the wife of the Speaker of the Assembly, Mrs. Krasniqi, was the culmination of the Embassy’s participation in October’s “Breast Cancer Awareness Month,”  which included the visit of “Public Diplomacy Envoy for Women’s Health Issues,” Fran Drescher, whose billboard urging “Early Detection = Survival” was up in six locations around the city, and who discussed cancer awareness and the BBCI with many women of all ethnicities while she was here.  The night before the Walk, RTK – Kosovo’s national television station - aired a 30-minute special it had put together about her, and reminded people to join the Walk the next day. Moreover, all of the three major television stations had played PSAs throughout the two weeks before the Walk, urging Kosovo citizens to join in the effort.  RTK televised the whole event and then aired it later that night.