#MakeItKnown campaign launched in Pta to create organ donation awareness
"The most important part of organ donation, is conversation."
Only 0.2% of South Africans are registered organ donors, according to Transplant Education for Living Legacies (Tell).
And the lack of education around the issue was making matters more difficult.
“But even then, there’s no guarantee that they will be able to make the difference they intended to,” said managing director, Alice Vogt.
“While becoming an organ donor is the start of an extraordinary commitment, it only happens when you have the necessary conversations with your friends and family to make your wishes known.”
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She said family and friends were the ones who had to make the final decision, adding that it won’t be an easy one.
“Be brave enough to start the conversation that matters most. Tell them,” she said.
“In person, on social media, via WhatsApp, however you choose. As long as you make it known.”
Vogt said the most important part of organ donation, was conversation.
Tell launched an awareness campaign in April asking tattoo studies to offer the quotation mark tattoo for free to organ donors.
On the first day, 85 people received the tattoo at Sally Mustang tattoo studio in Kramerville.
“Why quotation marks? Because they’re more than a brandmark, they’re the start of the most important conversation you’ll ever have,” she said.
Vogt said tattoo studios in Cape Town, Pretoria, Soweto and Sunninghill have joined the campaign and would be giving free tattoos in the upcoming months.
In Pretoria, Vain Venom Ink in Deerness is giving #makeitknown tattoo for free on Saturdays for the month of June from 10:00 -14:00.
“We are actively looking for studios across the nation to get involved in this campaign as we have had dozens of requests from across the country,” she said.
Vogt said two of the three founders of Tell were speaking from first-hand experience, having received life-saving lung transplants.
“This not only gives them a second chance at life, but it places them in the unique position to make a difference in the transplant community,” she said.
“Their experience allows them to identify various barriers to organ transplantation and it is their mission to solve as many of these obstacles as possible.”
She said one of the biggest problems they faced in South Africa was identifying and referring potential donors.
“South Africa already has a shortage of organ donors, and the lack of education around the situation is only making matters more difficult,” she said.
“In South Africa, the donor’s family is approached to confirm your wishes to donate your organs.”
She said Tell’s goal was first, to help educate both potential donors as well as medical healthcare professionals and break the stigma and misinformation around organ and tissue donation.
Second, they want to encourage anyone who wants to donate their organs to do so.
“Awareness is key, and we firmly believe that the most important part of improving organ donation environment is conversation.”
For more information, an email can be sent to Alice.vogt@tell.org.za .
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