Making good on its promise, the Rotary Club of Adliya tonight presented
Think Pink Bahrain a cheque for BD1,677 toward their MRI fund.

The first Rotary Club of Adliya’s RCA Pink Walkathon was a resounding success with over 500 individuals participating and with a total of BD3,604 raised from participation fees and donations received on the RCA Pink Walkathon day on the 1st of October, 2010 as well as post-event donations received from corporates, schools and individuals. The costs associated with the event were successfully kept to an absolute minimum. The net proceeds were equally shared between the Rotary Club of Adliya’s Gift of Life Bahrain initiative to purchase medical equipment in the aid of Congenital Heart Diseased children and Think Pink Bahrain’s MRI fund.
Mahmood Al-Yousif, the president of the Rotary Club of Adliya expressed his delight at this occasion, stating, “the RCA Pink Walkathon’s success allowed us to hit several birds with the proverbial single stone: through this event – which we hope to make an annual fixture in our Rotary calendar – we allowed people to interact and enjoy themselves, we got them to participate in an excellent low-impact sporting activity in one of the most beautiful areas of the kingdom, they helped us raise both awareness of both CHD and Breast Cancer and raise funds for two very worthy projects!”
“We cannot have hoped for a better partner for this event than Think Pink Bahrain. Their drive and enthusiasm merged excellently with our own and together we created an event that Bahrain can justifiably be proud of. Through this partnership, we proved that cooperation in philanthropic endeavors is much more conducive than competition and we now look forward as the Rotary Club of Adliya to partner with more local charities to help them benefit from our endeavours and expertise, all for the good of the community in this great nation,” Mahmood Al-Yousif continued.
“Tonight, we at the Rotary Club of Adliya are thrilled to make good on our word. A cheque for BD1,677 has been presented to Think Pink Bahrain’s Ms. Julie Sprakel which will go directly to their MRI fund,” concluded Mahmood Al-Yousif.
“Think Pink Bahrain is driving inexorably toward its declared mission with not only raising funds, as is the case with this particular exemplary relationship with the Rotary Club of Adliya, but by holding the RCA Pink Walkathon in such a high profile area of the Kingdom, we were able to broadcast our message of support for women in Bahrain and elsewhere and encourage them to to take breast cancer examinations seriously,” said Julie Sprakel, the founder of Think Pink Bahrain.
“Our iCheck campaign,” Ms. Sprakel continued, “gained good exposure, especially that October is internationally celebrated as Breast Cancer awareness month. Being able to hold this activity on the very first day of October positioned us very well to launch into a month-long busy schedule of events and activities all of which are designed to highlight our messages.”
“We are very proud of this exemplary relationship with the Rotary Club of Adliya, and through them we hope to continue our relationship to achieve our objectives,” said Ms Sprakel.
Bahrain suffers from a very high CHD incidence rate which is four times that of international averages – almost 16 for every 1,000 live births in the country. The main factors behind CHD are mostly attributed to consanguinity – marrying one’s close relative – and other sociological and demographical reasons as concluded by leading experts in the field. The other important issue brought to light at the event was breast cancer which recently claimed its youngest victim in Bahrain: a 19-year-old young woman. Both health issues require concerted exposure and education in order to remove cultural taboos and encourage people to be better equipped to deal with them.
The Rotary Club of Adliya [RCA] and Think Pink Bahrain jointly participated in organising the event. The net funds raised will be equally divided between their two worthy initiatives: the RCA’s “Gift of Life Bahrain” through which necessary congenital heart disease diagnostic and treatment equipment will be purchased for use at the Salmaniya Medical Centre. The other half of the funds will go toward Think Pink Bahrain’s initiative to purchase a much needed high fidelity MRI machine to screen women of all ages for breast cancer.
Mahmood Al-Yousif, the current president of the Rotary Club of Adliya and the instigator of the Walkathon, and Julie Sprakel, the founder of Think Pink Bahrain inaugurated the walkathon and led the procession on the first of October.
People from all over the kingdom and of all ages and ethnicities participated in the 5.6km route which started at the Al-Ghous Corniche onto the Shaikh Hamad Old Muharraq bridge, down to the Diplomat intersection thence onto the new Shaikh Isa bridge and back to the starting point. While some participants opted to run the course, others jogged, walked and some even danced and hopped their way along route. Much fun was had by everyone done full in the knowledge that they were helping their fellow human beings. The colour pink was certainly predominant through which participants expressed their solidarity with both CHD and breast cancer sufferers.
Several entities contributed to the success of this event, the organisers recognise the help and support received from many individuals, officials, commercial and government organisations. In particular the organisers wish to extend their sincere thanks and appreciation to the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Social Development, the Ministry of Works, the Muharraq Governate, the Muharraq Municipality, the Traffic Department, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Manhal Water Company, Red Bull, BMMI, Little Gems, Bahrain Blinds and Gulf Broadcast.