Internationally Renowned Art to be Auctioned for Women in Gaza

An event to be held in Chagford, Dartmoor, will raise funds and awareness for Women in Gaza who endure unbearable challenges in getting treatment for breast cancer.

The event, the Women4Women Art Auction and Tea Party, will be held on Saturday 18th November in the Chagford Jubilee Hall from 2-5 p.m.

For women with breast cancer in Gaza, Israel’s and Egypt’s near-total closure affects nearly every stage of their diagnosis and treatment. Doctors in clinics and hospitals say that vital medicines, including chemotherapy drugs, are hard to procure. Patients have reported having had their chemotherapy course interrupted when drugs could not be supplied, or simply having been unable to complete the course at all.

Radio isotopes used in bone scans or for guided biopsy of axillary lymph nodes are forbidden entry into Gaza despite having no potentially dangerous application. Gaza’s surgeons are prevented from travelling out to attend conferences or further develop their skills, freezing surgical practice many years behind the rest of the world. A Harvard Medical School study has shown that five-year survival rates for breast cancer patients are as low as 30-40%, compared with around 85% in England.

Organiser Susan Harley said; “This event is free to attend and we hope that it not only raises some vital funds, but also makes people more aware of the terrible challenges women in Gaza endure. Having breast cancer is bad enough - but having it in Gaza is unimaginable. We hope that visitors and residents around Devon and Chagford will look at this as of part of a good day out in a town that was recently voted as Britain’s best place to live in the countryside!”

The event, will see work from artists that include Susan Derges, an English photographic artist that specialises in a cameraless photographic processes, Terri Windling, an American editor, artist, essayist, and the author of books for both children and adults, Devon’s own Deborah Baker with her unique photographic images and painter and paint effect expert, Mary Ann Mackenzie.

There will also be original art from local enthusiasts, pre-loved pictures and prints, home made crafts and beautiful accessories - as well as tea and cake. Entrance is FREE.

All funds will go to the http://www.amostrust.org/ who run community outreach programmes. For more information please email artandteaparty@gmail.com or tel 01647 432309