ART for CANCER is a social enterprise that promotes the quality of life for cancer patients in Thailand. It is presented through products, services, activities and projects using art and creativity as a medium. Art of Life Co., Ltd. is a company that operates a social enterprise business to promote the quality of life of cancer patients by using art and creativity as a medium for treatment, creating inspiration, building physical and mental strength to face cancer, including generating income to collect as a fund to help poor cancer patients.
Now, I will introduce you to a very interesting social enterprise. Because solving this social problem starts from experiencing the problem directly. We will get to know the art of living with cancer in the style of Ms. Oil Ireel Traisarnsri, founder of Art of Life Co., Ltd.
“Cancer, if you don’t experience it yourself, you won’t understand it.”
Khun Oil said that if she herself did not have cancer, today there might not be Art for Cancer by Ireal because cancer is a disease that no matter how much you try to understand it, it is not as good as experiencing it yourself. Khun Oil found out she had stage 2 breast cancer at the age of 27, which at that time she was about to study abroad. When she encountered cancer herself, she was inspired to do something while she was still alive.
beginning
Ms. Oil said that she herself loves art, plus she was treated for cancer and met poor cancer patients. Many of them lacked the funds for treatment. Ms. Oil thought of helping with the financial aspect. The method Ms. Oil used was to open a platform to sell the artwork that she and her friends had drawn since they were students. In addition, there were also works from a group of volunteer artists. The income from the sale of the paintings will be donated to a fund to help poor cancer patients.
The role of Art for Cancer
The company has 3 missions in total to provide assistance to cancer patients and their relatives as follows:
- Inspiring, encouraging, having a way to communicate with patients, having art therapy.
- Provide funds for treatment, travel expenses, and unclaimed medicine. This money will come from the fund that you, Oi, set up.
- Providing knowledge from medical assistants who are experts in various aspects of self-care.
All missions are done to promote cancer patients to have a higher chance of being cured of cancer or to be a companion in the journey of cancer treatment, even if they have to live with the disease until the last day of their lives. We want every patient to be able to live with cancer and still have a valuable life, discover the meaning of life, and have a happy life.
“We are already living like we are counting down the time.”
It is not only cancer patients who need to see the value of life. Even without cancer, all of us are already living our lives counting down time. Our time is getting shorter every day. But having cancer is like a stimulus that makes us think about how we will live our lives. Although cancer may shorten the life span, the length of time does not indicate how much quality of life we live. What we do while we are alive does indicate.
“Dare to face whatever comes your way.”
The scary thing about cancer is confronting it. Even though it sounds easy, knowing how long you have left to live or what kind of treatment you need to undergo is not easy. It takes a lot of mindfulness, physical and mental strength to push yourself to keep going. Another important thing that has helped you fight until today is the encouragement from your family. These things have made you dare to face it, accept that it is incurable, and move forward to do your best today.
“Confront, accept, learn”
Khun Oil said that she has to face the spread of cancer every year. Everything is out of control. Cancer is like something that tells Khun Oil that our lives cannot control anything, which is the same as the name of the company Art of life. It is the art of living or how you will live in this world with understanding, ready to adjust no matter what happens, face, accept what happens, learn to move forward to live happily.
Art for Cancer activities
In fact, all of Art for Cancer’s activities are activities for the general public. It is not necessary to have cancer to participate. For example, the activity “Opening the Box of Art to Take Care of Your Heart: How to Fight Stress Without Stress Fighting Back” is an activity that uses art to help relieve stress from the rapid changes occurring during this time. Everyone can participate, whether or not they have cancer.
The next step is to be sustainable.
Khun Oil said that from the beginning of Art for Cancer until today, everything that Khun Oil has done, Khun Oil has tried to pass on, disseminate, and make everyone who joins understand the goals and benefits so that everyone can drive Art for Cancer forward sustainably. Especially this area is an area for helping cancer patients that truly creates benefits. Khun Oil therefore thinks that it would be good if any agency or organization sees this and comes to support Art for Cancer in the future.
How can you support Art for Cancer?
Art for Cancer is like a medium to create the value of art in the form of products, services and activities. For example, you can buy products such as paintings from volunteer artists, buy equipment for painting by yourself to join various activities or buy services such as joining workshops that teach art. Importantly, Art of Life Co., Ltd. is registered as a social enterprise that does not pay dividends to shareholders. Therefore, no matter what, all income from products and services will definitely be returned to help society to improve their quality of life sustainably.
Conclusion
Before we think about doing social enterprise, what we need is to really understand what we want to solve. We need to know the problem well. And then, after we really know the depth behind the problem, we need to have enough heart to drive to solve the problem successfully.
In doing social enterprise, it is not easy. There are things that we do not know, do not know how to do, or do not want to do. For example, Ms. Oil herself has an artistic personality. She told us that before, she was someone who had a hard time making others understand. But she had to adjust, learn, and practice. These things come from her heart that truly wants to help society. That is what drove Ms. Oil to be who she is today.
“We don’t know when we will die, so even if we fail, we just face it, accept it, and try again.”
“Art” for cancer patients with Art of Life Social Enterprise Co., Ltd. | The Practical Sustainability “Friend” Enterprise for Society
Or you can choose to listen to the program in Podcast format at:
Contact channels
Art of Life Co., Ltd. Website: https://artforcancerbyireal.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/artforcancerbyireal
Supported by the Office of Social Enterprise Promotion (OSEP)
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