Movember
To: All Network Users
Subject: Movember needs you!!
The money raised by Movember ($15.3 million in 2007) is donated to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia (PCFA) and 'beyondblue - the national depression initiative' to fund research, increase support networks and raise awareness of men's health issues especially prostate cancer and depression.
Let's help change the face of men’s health by becoming a Mo Bro and growing a mo! Yes, if you can produce something on your top lip that can be seen with the naked eye from 3 paces, then Movember needs you!
And, it's not just for the guys! Women can register as Mo Sistas to help in recruiting Mo Bros, attracting sponsors and participating in end of Movember celebrations.
Movember culminates in a 'Grand Parte' at Fox Studios on 28 November where the Mo Bros and Sistas parade in their finest fancy dress and hopefully one of our Mo Bros will be crowned 'Man of Movember' and maybe this year we'll take out best team!
If you're interested in being part of this great fund raising event click on the Mo Bro or Mo Sista button asap and I'll put you in the team. You will then be invited to sign up sponsors.
This email dropped into my inbox last week and it certainly made me laugh. Marcus told me about this particular fundraising event, and I happen to love that it's a nation-wide organic sort of dressing up in order to raise awareness for prostate cancer and depression (random combination, but we'll go with it!). This country seems to be much more aware on a few counts. One of them is the way the country seems to accept the world of people
First let me reflect on my current workplace (the Audit office of New South Wales--who would have guessed I'd be working for the government). On my first day of work, I had a chat with one of the receptionists who is either super-chatty to the point where she almost has no awareness of the person she's chatting with or she has some sort of developmental disability. Then the person who did my "induction" came out to the waiting area--on crutches, with his feet (that appeared to never have had much use) dragging behind him. He was quite wily and able, opening all of my doors for me and pulling out my chairs. (He was my only "inductor" but for some reason he kept on saying my name and the word "actually" in his cute little Filipino accent. "Okay, Tina, turn to page 23, Tina." "Actually, Tina, our Auditor-General is actually quite friendly, Tina." I could have seen this as extremely annoying, but I chose to view it as humorous. Anyhew...) Then while I was touring around the office I overheard a woman who sounded like she had cerebral palsy speaking. Later that afternoon, I discovered another young lady, very chatty, with Downs, so high functioning and aware of things that were it not for the fact that she doesn't look at you when she speaks and for the facial indicators, you wouldn't particularly think she was disabled. Now,this is the highest percentage of disabled people that I have ever seen in one office, so it definitely made me think.Then I started noticing a lot of developmentally disabled people out and about town, at events and functions... almost as if it were normal, when in fact it is a normal thing. It makes me wonder if Australia isn't more embracing of the people who most of America would usually view as "off" and "odd". When I used to talk to people about being a care provider for three developmentally disabled guys, I would often get a , "Oh, good for you! That's so sweet of you. I couldn't do something like that," and so on and so forth. When really, people are just too frightened to find out that these people are more intelligent than "normal" people are in ways they wouldn't anticipate. I have found a higher degree of friendliness and a bigger capacity to love, to forgive and to be more transparent about their true nature. These people deserve a lot more respect than we usually show them, and I'd like to believe that this country is onto something.
One of the other things I love about this place is their eco-friendliness. Maybe it has something to do with being in the biggest city where perhaps the greatest amount of development, technology and education is to be found, but thus far I have found Australia to be a much more environmentally-conscientious country. In all of my workplaces, recycling is rampant. I got a reprimand at one office for not printing out double-sided copies. That same office used one-sided papers from the recycling box for fax print outs. Only one out of my three different desks has had a regular garbage can while all three had recycling boxes. Flyers asking people to recycle and be conscious are to be found all over. People try to avoid paper-waste and I love this. Another eco-friendly example? Marcus and I were strolling down to Darling Harbour last weekend and passed a building construction site covered whose walls described the green building currently being built with all the latest eco-friendly advances. Elementary schools collect rainwater and grow their own gardens. Sometimes I want to squeak with excitement! (I also want to go steal some passion fruit from that school...)
Yes, certain things in this country just feel better.
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