Teenagers hold open day to support young cancer patients

AMMAN — High school students organised an open day on Friday to raise awareness about cancer and “draw a smile” on the faces of young cancer patients to “remind them to keep hope alive”.

Mohammad Dada and Mohammad Samman worked together to organise the event, held at the King Hussein Business Park (KHBP) and featuring booths selling accessories and food to raise money for the King Hussein Cancer Foundation.

Dada said he thought about organising the event after he saw a picture of a young cancer patient shared by many Facebook users.

“We thought of a way to ease their pain,” the 15-year-old added.

Events at the open day also included entertainment activities for children.

Samman noted that even though they are teenagers, they can still make a difference. 

“You don’t have to be in your twenties to organise such events; you have to have the will and consistency to advertise and cooperate with sponsors in order to make it work and promote a good cause,” he said.

Ibrahim Shamaileh, from KHBP’s administration, told The Jordan Times that cancer patients need events like these to know that they are not alone in their journey to fight the disease. 

“We have to encourage young people and promote charity and voluntary work… The fact that these two young Jordanians organised this open day is a sign that this generation is on the right track,” Shamaileh said.

Touline Dada, Mohammad’s mother, said the feedback from the initiative was positive and many companies were cooperative and supported it “to provide children suffering from cancer with anything that would draw a smile on their faces”.

Lama Samman said she wasn’t sure at first about the festival until the teenagers collected money and contacted sponsors to cooperate with them and make it happen.

“The organisers are all between the ages of 15 and 16; it’s good to see young people getting involved in such initiatives, waking up really early on a weekend to draw a smile on the children’s faces,” she told The Jordan Times.