MAHAK charity Day 2015

 benefactors and supporters attended this ceremony and undertook the expenditures required for providing medicine and treating the children with cancer.

At the beginning, Dr. Javad Karbassizadeh, the spouse of the late Afsaneh Dabiri, the Chairman of MAHAK Board of Directors and also one of the key sponsors building the MAHAK hospital, welcomed the guests and explained the most crucial achievements of MAHAK within its plus 24 years of activity. These achievements mainly include: Being ranked in the top ten globally among over 260 non-governmental organizations benchmarked by the Société Generale de Surveillance (SGS) for NGO benchmarking, gaining the consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), receiving Quality Silver Trophy from GIC International Institute, the gold award from the International Project Management Association (IPMA) and also the silver plaque of GPM from the IGPMA in 2014.

In addition, Dr. Karbassizadeh stated: “the construction of MAHAK hospital was started 16 years ago in conjunction with a Sweet Dream of Ms. Afsaneh Dabiri and with the help of it supporters, it is about eight years that this hospital is providing the children with cancer with the most high-quality medical equipment in cooperation with a group of experienced specialists. Now, it is about eight years that this sweet dream has come true, and this has only been performed due to the great support and help of MAHAK supporters. By adhering to four crucial principles of MAHAK ‘Transparency, Appreciation, Accountability, and Integrity’ and counting on the continuous support of MAHAK benefactors, we always wish to be a pioneer organization in treating the children with cancer.”

Abbas Nassiri, the financial sponsor of the ceremony, stated that human beings could only reach to the pure happiness if they can show their affection and companionship to each other.

Moreover, he said: “MAHAK is a place to which we come by hearing our inner voice to seek the healthiness of the children with cancer, which helps us feel more contented. We should all collaborate to make MAHAK as strong as possible and make it a capable organization that can offer the most comprehensive services to children with cancer and empower them to fight against this disease heroically.”

The CEO of MAHAK, Arasb Ahmadian, welcomed the attendants and acknowledged the continuous presence of MAHAK supporters. Then he presented a report about MAHAK performance during 2014. The CEO started his report by explaining the worldwide and nationwide statistics on childhood cancer, and mentioned: “According to WHO statistics in 2006, 160,000 new cases of cancer occur yearly among people aged under 15. In the USA, the rate of cancer among the people aged under 15, is 14.9 cases per 100,000 people. Moreover, according to a paper published in the Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Journal, this rate is 32.2 cases per 100,000 people. According to MAHAK’s statistics, the average annual growth rate of cancer during the period of 2005 to 2014 is 9%, and the number of people newly diagnosed with cancer in 2014 is 2075. MAHAK’s statistics show that the total number of people under MAHAK’s coverage has reached to 13583 cases in 2014, which has the growth rate of 12%. In addition, the average treatment expense per child has increased from 4.4 million Rls in 2005 to 38.9 million Rls in 2014, which has the growth rate of 31%.

Furthermore, Arasb Ahmadian stated: “MAHAK as an NGO has mainly focused on three crucial areas of ‘Charity, Treatment, and Research’ in vein of its vision and mission statements. By relying on the voluntarily supports managed by a systematic approach, MAHAK has emphasized on producing added value for the donations with establishing MAHAK hospital with comprehensive supportive services and performing research projects related to pediatric cancer. In fact, MAHAK has had a systematic approach in performing these activities and it has always avoided the philosophy of helping the people by merely donating money to them. The total amount of donations to MAHAK in 2014 was approximately 127 billion tomans. These donations are spent for different purposes and they are allocated as follows:

 – 53 billion tomans for treatment of children with cancer in 32 university hospitals nationwide in addition to MAHAK hospital

 -13.5 billion tomans for providing the facilities and infrastructures required for interacting with the donors and increasing the social participation

 – 7 billion tomans for operational expenses of MAHAK

 – 10 billion tomans for constructing Building No. 2 of MAHAK

In addition to the above expenses, 44 billion tomans were designated for equalizing the nationwide supporting services of MAHAK and geographical expansion of MAHAK activities for covering the needs of all children with cancer. These services are based on the 10-year development plan of MAHAK, which is currently being developed. Indeed, after operating for about a quarter of a century, the progress and expansion of MAHAK does still require social participation, similar to the beginning years of its activity.”

During the ceremony, Dr. Mohammad Ali Goudarzi, the consultant of the CEO of National Petrochemical Company (NPC) and the chief of the CSR Strategic Council, contributed a precious Shahnameh to MAHAK and mentioned that Iranians have the culture of beneficence and charity from the very ancient time and its examples can be obviously observed in the ancient books such as Shahnameh.

Also, Ms. Saideh Ghods, the founder of MAHAK, said: “the presence of the supporters of the children with cancer makes a very beautiful story for the future generations which could be indeed a tangible Shahnameh that contains the goodness of the people in this era”.

Loris Tjeknavorian, Mohammad Sarir, Majid Derakhshani, Fatemeh Motamed-Arya, Pouri Banayi and some other artists attended this ceremony. Moreover, the volunteer art therapy group of MAHAK performed some pieces of music for the attendees. This group plays music for the psychology division of MAHAK regularly, which is a supplemental psychological treatment for the children.

With your kindness and support, our children will be able to say goodbye to cancer and continue on with their sweet childhood days.