Even in Afghanistan! A group of Movember participants and supporters show off their pre-Movember faces at the New Zealand Defence Force base in Bamyan province, Afghanistan.
5 November 2007
Movember, the charity moustache growing event that has sprouted across faces all over New Zealand, has even spread to our Kiwi troops in Afghanistan and Timor-Leste.
The Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Bamyan province, Afghanistan, join a significant number of New Zealand Defence Force personnel from Devonport to Dunedin who are taking part in Movember.
“Almost every male member of our group in Afghanistan is participating in Movember, that’s almost 100 men. A number of them even shaved off their existing mo’s to participate. It’s great that there is such strong support for this worthwhile activity,” said PRT Contingent Commander Colonel Brendon Fraher.
The campaign has been embraced by Navy, Air Force and Army personnel as well as civilian staff across New Zealand with members of many bases, squadrons and units taking part.
ENDS
Background
Movember, which runs through the month of November, involves men being sponsored for growing a moustache to raise funds for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of New Zealand (PCFNZ). The event also aims to raise awareness of the disease which claims around 600 New Zealand men each year, about the same number of women who die from breast cancer.
About 3,000 new cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed each year mostly in men over the age of 55.
The event has been a runaway success for the PCFNZ. “When the PCFNZ became the official beneficiary partner of Movember in 2006 we had $30,000 in the bank and we were wondering how on earth we would create a programme to change men’s health outcomes. $30,000 does not go a long way towards saving thousands of lives by warning men of the dangers of prostate cancer. For the PCFNZ and more importantly for the men whose lives are claimed by this disease, Movember has been a life saver,” said Barry Young President and CEO of the Prostate Cancer Foundation of New Zealand.
Note to editors: Currently 619 New Zealand Defence Force personnel are deployed on peacekeeping operations, UN missions, and Defence Force exercises in 17 missions across 16 countries.
For further information please contact Ally Clelland, Defence Public Relations
04 496 0273 or 021 569 130