In the quest to raise awareness about organ donation and becoming an organ donor, Stained Ink tattoo parlour and Transplant Education for Living Legacies (TELL) have partnered on the #MakeItKnown initiative by offering free organ donor tattoos on Saturday June 29.
The initiative is aimed at raising awareness for the cause in a unique way. The design of the tattoo is a simple quotation mark, with the purpose of sparking curiosity around the meaning of the tattoo. The tattoo is valued at R350 but Stained Ink will be doing it for free, on a first come, first served basis.
Chantelle du Preez and Priscilla Gordon run Stained Ink and are both avid organ donation activists.
“Stained Ink believes and lives by visible declaration, this means an organ donor tattoo serves as a declaration of the wearer’s possible intention to donate their organs after death.
By wearing an organ donor tattoo, individuals can educate others about the facts and myths surrounding organ donation.
This might include misconceptions about the donation processes, explaining the impact of organ donation on recipient’ lives, and highlighting the importance of registering as a donor,” Du Preez said.
TELL first started the #MakeItKnown campaign on April 15 2019 and has had numerous tattoo studios around the country involved in running the campaign and tattooing the quotation marks on individuals.
Since then, more than 3,000 individuals have inked themselves with the quotation marks to symbolise their wishes to become organ donors.
TELL project manager Coreen Walstra said the need to raise awareness for organ donation was high because not enough people understood how important it was.
“Organ donation is important because it helps save lives. People are afforded a second chance at life. Some people have been waiting for a kidney donor for 11 years.
“The most important thing is to have the conversation around organ donation.
“The information in the database is not always enough.
“It is usually the family that makes the decision, so they need to know what your thoughts are. That is why it is so important to open the conversation as much as possible,” Walstra said.
