In a society where women are rarely seen or heard, she brought 4,000 Saudi Arabian women together to make history.  Here, Princess Reema Bandar Al Saud talks about being committed to a cause that’s cost women their lives.

It was always going to be a tough battle.  Even as the niece of King Abdullah, the ruler of Saudi Arabia, royal sway was only ever going to get Princes Reema Bandar Al Saud so far.

The issue revolved around Saudi women.  She needed to find a way to boost their body awareness, strengthen their voice and encourage them to step forward.  But in a country where women are rarely seen or heard, this task was not just daunting, it had life-and-death implications.

Yet not for the reasons you might think.  Because, while the western world continues to concentrate on women’s rights in the Middle Eastern, Princess Reema is fighting another urgent issue.  She’s tackling the growing prevalence of breast cancer in her country, and trying to cut the number of unnecessary deaths due to it each year.

Even five years ago, the Princess wouldn’t have foreseen this vocation.  The daughter of Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, Saudi ambassador to the US for over 20 years, life before this had revolved mainly around motherhood and business.  Today, she continues to be president and CEO of the retail groups ALFA and AL HAMA, which incorporates Harvey Nichols Riyadh and the Donna Karan franchises in Saudi Arabia.  But, in 2007, something changed.

Approached to become a founding member of Zahra Breast Cancer Association, and raise awareness of the disease in her country, she admits: “I am ashamed to say I truly had not thought of [breast cancer] before.”

A call she received shortly afterwards would change this – her friend had been diagnosed with the disease.  “It was shocking because you always think that things go wrong in far away places to people you don’t know.  She and I were the same age, married days apart and with children the same age.  Since that day, without fail, almost annually I find someone in my intimate circle is affected by it.”

Frustrated she couldn’t do anything medically, Princess Reema put her all her energy into Zahra and preventing the disease from claiming the lives of others.  But finding concrete information to work from was the first problem the Zahra Association faced.  Until the Kingdom’s new Census is completed shortly, they continue to work from 2007 statistics, which revealed 12.5 per cent of the 10,513 reported cancers were breast-related.  And that’s just the reported ones.

“It has been difficult to confirm specific numbers due to the fact that many women in villages and rural areas are unaccounted for.  This further highlights the importance of our job to spread awareness,” the Princess insists.

Alongside a lack of information, Zahra was facing an even bigger issue.  While women in western society have admitted experiencing shame and embarrassment at being diagnosed with such an intimate disease, in Saudi Arabia, that feeling is heightened.  And in a country where women’s bodies are not often spoken of, trying to talk about it isn’t just an emotional subject but a political one also.

“One of the biggest challenges we face is discussing such a private part of the body in public,” Princess Reema admits, adding that creating ‘material’ which is ‘effective yet acceptable’ is similarly difficult.

Yet Zahra has found creative ways of doing so.  They started by visiting schools, universities, shopping malls and mosques, talking about the disease, explaining the symptoms, and showing women how to detect it early.  Because early detection is the key.

As Dr Muna Baslaim, a female breast surgeon and head of the breast cancer unit at King Fahd General Hospital in Jeddah, explains: “Approximately 70 per cent of breast cancer cases in Saudi Arabia are diagnosed when victims are in the advanced stage of the disease which means the survival rate is lower than in nations where cases are diagnosed early.”

Zahra has since gone on to develop many more breast cancer services for Saudi women.  They host workshops and lectures run by certified counselors and therapists to educate people.  They have support groups for women diagnosed with the disease, with the Princess admitting: “The concept of talking openly about such a private matter is new to us in Saudi.”

Meanwhile, their ‘Bayt Zahra’ project (House of Zahra) uses a mobile ‘kiosk’ to travel from mall to mall helping thousands more.  It allows them to invite women into their ‘house’ where they can talk to a nutritionist and health professional about their wellbeing, learn how to perform a self examination and discuss any personal issues in private.

Then, last year, Zahra’s work became famous.  To celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, they brought nearly 4,000 Saudi women and expatriates together to make history by creating the world’s largest human ‘pink ribbon’ (it made The Guinness Book of Records).

“It was possibly the largest gathering at a women-only event in the kingdom, and formed an opportunity for Saudi women to support one another,” says the princess proudly.  “It’s an event that will go down in history not only in terms of awareness of breast cancer, but how Saudi women joined together for a common cause.”

Together with raising awareness, their human ribbon sent out a message to the world.  It not only showed what Saudi women could achieve together but that their collective voices packed a powerful punch.  And there are plans to use that power again.

“I hope to be of the generation that witness the active progress of women in Saudi Arabia,” admits Princess Reema.  Until the time is right though, she is asking two things of women worldwide – patience and support.

“Allow us the time to move forward on our own terms, maintaining our culture but allowing us to learn from your experiences,” she appeals.  “Those experiences cannot be carbon copied into our part of the world but they allow us to see how, what, why and when things can be done.  And how we can do them better.”