Sorry for the delay on this blog - I've been moving into university! Yes, you heard me, moving. I've moved all my stuff in, and then I leave on Saturday - not what normally happens, but hey ho, I'm looking forward to it! (Also there's lots of exciting CoppaFeel! things happening, so I'll update you on that soon!)
As you might have read in a previous blog post, I was in America working at a summer camp. For eight weeks I lived and taught music in the state of Maryland, and I loved it! (Tweet me @Cakey_Cait for more info, I'm a campus manager for AmeriCamp and I could help you work the American dream too!) BUT ANYWAY. This blog is boob related, promise!
Whilst I was there, I was lucky enough to make lots of friends, both American and international (Scottish, Israeli, Irish!), and I learnt a lot about their cultures and what they were taught in school. In turn, they learnt a lot about me, including my passion and future involvement with the charity CoppaFeel!
A few of the British councillors had heard of CoppaFeel! and the work they do, but none of the Americans had. This is, of course, completely understandable - CoppaFeel! was set up in Britain by British people (Kris and Maren Hallenga) in 2009, and as of yet their work has not travelled over the pond.
When I explained to my new American friends what CoppaFeel! was all about, and why I liked the charity, I realised that I hadn't heard of any American organisations or charities that were similar - none were suggested to me by my friends, and from the research I did afterwards, I didn't find anything quite like CoppaFeel!
Of course, America is a big place. There may very well be charities that do work just like CoppaFeel!, who get young women to check their boobs on a regular basis. But, so far, I haven't found any. This got me thinking about how much my American friends knew about breast cancer. Knowledge on the subject is patchy amongst people my age, some know far more than others, and it is the same in America as it is over here. We are not overly educated on cancer in school, and for me personally I was not told at school that I should check myself or what I should be looking out for. My mum did a good job of teaching me about that, but not everyone is so lucky. There are still young women all over the world who don't know their boobs or bodies - so how can they know if the changes they are going through are normal or not?
What I would like to see in the future, a new dream if you will, would be:
1) the education system incorporating more boob and body chat into the curriculum (blogs on this in the future)
and
2) CoppaFeel!'s messages being spread in other countries! This is a big ask, I know. I don't expect it to be any time soon - America is a huge place, and CoppaFeel! isn't the largest charity out there. But, what they do is so important, and one day it'd be great to know my American friends have the same access to their info/advice as I do.
As I said earlier, there are lots of CoppaFeel! things happening really soon - still so excited and happy to be a Uni Boob Team Leader! Find out more about those here: http://uniboobteam.com
Ta ta for now, speak to you soon!
Caitlin xxx
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