MIT STUDENTS RAZOR TO RAISE AWARENESS For the second year in a row the students at Manukau Institute of Technology (MIT) will shave their
hair in support of the Leukaemia & Blood Foundation’s (LBF) Shave campaign. On 19-20 May the MIT campus is hosting a two-day Shave for a Cure event featuring guests DJ Peter De Palagi of Flava Radio and special guest speaker Rachel Sharma. The event is organised by MIT students Crystal Sami and Lovejit Kaur who recruited lecturers and classmates to lose their locks for the charity. “We are thankful to those who volunteered to shave,” said Crystal. “For women especially, long hair is treasured. For some, lengthy locks are tied to culture and oftentimes religion, especially in the Indian community.” Crystal and Lovejit invited special guest speaker twenty-one year old Rachel Sharma to share her story with those who might hesitate for beauty’s sake. At the age of eleven Rachel was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia. As a survivor, Rachel is now urging people of Indian descent, and other ethnic minorities, to join the New Zealand Bone Marrow Donor Registry to help other patients with ancestors from the Indian subcontinent. “When you shave you have a choice. Shave 09 is a great way of showing support to those who often don’t have a choice,” Leola stated.
The Leukaemia & Blood Foundation is aiming to get 10,000 people – the number of New Zealanders who are living with a blood cancer – to shave their hair to help raise money for its work.