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Al Zain - a leading Bahraini jewellery house - will launch a limited edition of a bracelet this week to show their support and solidarity with the Think Pink breast cancer awareness campaign.
The 'Hope' bracelet is an 18-carat handcrafted gold piece with two 'evil eyes' and the charity's iconic pink ribbon charm attached to it.
"It is a simple bracelet which can be worn all the time. We wanted to create a piece that was light, wearable, affordable and invokes feelings of happiness in the wearer and I think we have achieved that," said Ghassan Khouri, deputy general manager at Al Zain.
This is the first time that Al Zain has collaborated with a charitable organisation and launched a piece of jewellery dedicated solely to its cause.
The idea germinated when one of the owners, Samar Al Gosaibi, decided to help Think Pink in its efforts to create awareness and garner funds to support the breast cancer campaign.
"It took us two months to develop the piece. We briefed everyone in our organisation about our vision for the bracelet, right from the designers to our factory workers. The passion and dedication that started from the top has trickled down to all the people involved in producing it which is apparent in the Hope bracelet," added Mr Khouri.
The bracelet is modern with elements of Arabian culture in the form of 'evil eyes' - which are symbols used to ward off negative energy - infused in the piece.
The jewellery house has produced 300 bracelets priced at BD100 each which will be available at all Al Zain outlets in the kingdom and 20 per cent of the entire bracelet sales will go to Think Pink.
"We plan to produce more Hope bracelets throughout the year depending on the response. Ninety-nine per cent of our clientele are women, and working hand-in-hand with Think Pink is our way of giving back to all our female clients," said Mohammed Saidi, marketing and PR manager at Al Zain.
With every purchase of the Hope bracelet, buyers will receive an information leaflet about Think Pink's breast cancer awareness drive. The jewellery house which has been in the kingdom for more than seven decades has branches all over the region. Al Zain sales team across the kingdom will wear pink ties and scarves during the month of October to show support to the organisation.
The jewellery has been modelled for GulfWeekly by reader Sumer Syedain, from Pakistan, who now lives in Saar.
She discovered a lump in her breast last year in October. The mother-of-three has fought the disease with determination and does not hesitate to say that she is a survivor of breast cancer - a disease that strikes one out of very eight to 10 women in their lifetime.
She said: "When you find out that you have breast cancer your world falls apart. It is devastating. But, as time passes, you come to terms with it and see that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
"Chemotherapy is very difficult, but then at the end of the day it is over. You HAVE to fight the disease and you HAVE to bounce back to normal because there are many other things that are going on in your life that you have to be grateful for.
"Although information about the initial stages of the disease is readily available, there still appears to be a lack of information on what to expect during the treatment, post care, nutritional and lifestyle changes for the survivor. For me the best thing that came out of this was the support that I got from the people around me."
