South African cancer warriors share their stories in a stunning new coffee table book that is available for free to the public – the stories are inspiring!
South Africa (05 November 2021) – Ramzi and Nicole Mansour have created a South African-based coffee table book project that celebrates women and their cancer battles. The book showcases 42 stories and has already been downloaded over 5000 times.
Ramzi and Nicole spent 2000 hours working on this non-profit project which launched in late October 2021. The book documents 42 women’s personal journeys with cancer, filled with striking photographic portraits and raw, honest stories in their own words.
Resilience has launched as a free-to-download ebook and pdf, as well as an online digital publication. It is being distributed in hardcover to oncologists’ offices across South Africa, Nigeria, Beirut, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States, where it can be accessed by those who will be most inspired and touched by its contents.
The book is the brainchild and heart project of businessman and photographer Ramzi Mansour, collaborating with his wife, integral coach Nicole Mansour.
“I wanted the book to make a difference,” Ramzi says. “My father had cancer, and I went through it with him, so the subject matter really resonated with me. “Originally, as a photographer, I had intended this to be photographic book with a little bit of text, but after hearing these women’s stories, I realised how important it was that we tell their stories in their entirety, supported by beautiful pictures.”
While Ramzi lends his exceptional skills in high-end portrait photography to the astounding black-and-white portraits, Nicole excavates the stories of each woman who has endured cancer. This she does with sensitivity and compassion, giving the women a platform to voice their journeys of strength and fortitude and fear and fight against sometimes desperate odds.
“Inside the moment there is nothing more sacred than holding space for someone’s intimate truth, and I took the job very seriously” Nicole says. “These women’s stories really took me aback. They inspired me with their resilience and what they had been through. I ended up learning so much from their different perspectives, too.”
The result is an exquisite resource for those who have received their own cancer diagnosis, or who have been touched by cancer in their lives. This book serves as a reminder that one is never alone on the longest, darkest journey imaginable and that there is always hope.
You can download the book in pdf or epub format here.
“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow'” – Mary Anne Radmacher