Hungary Outreach 2025: It Takes A Village

*Outreach Crew with loving supporters and hosts.*
Standing from left to right: Dubravka Karlovic-Babic, Stacey Huberman, Emilia and Mabel Toso, Balaicz Tibor (host), Adriana Bartoli, Dr. Don McKenzie, Eleonore Baball, Kristine Kunze, Ayela Goldman, Juliet Cruz,Allen, Carrie Carrie Huberman, Matthew and Lisa McLeod, Mirjana Jakupovic (supporter). Bottom from left: Carlos and José Jeison (supporters), Marta Jeison, Carole David, Karolina Bodó (host), Cyndie McQuat, Joy Valencerina (supporter), Rita Nagui, Dajana Banic.

It takes a village. Yes, it truly does.

Building teams in new countries is a true community effort. The paragraphs below share how that journey unfolded, supported by Dr. Don McKenzie’s Outreach Program.

The development of breast cancer dragon boat teams in Hungary started with the desire of an enthusiastic Hungarian dragon boat paddler, Karolina Bodó who as soon she knew about breast cancer dragon boat teams she felt the call to start them in her country. Although she herself had not experienced breast cancer, Karolina was determined to start this journey with the help of Dr. Don McKenzie. An outreach crew formed by experienced paddlers from around the world travelled to Szeged to help establish the first team in the country.

The outreach took place from September 17th to 21st, 2025 and was joined by about 25 novices.

This is how the outreach unfolded, as seen through the eyes of a member of the outreach crew.

Szeged novices joined us on Thursday and Friday after work and enjoyed paddling together at sunset, the “golden hour”, on the Tisza River with the city skyline in front of us. We deeply appreciated their effort after long workdays. They also participated over the weekend, joined by other novices from Budapest, Vecsés, Szolnok, Balatonszárszó, and Gyál. Some ACS (womb cancer) members joined us on Saturday evening.

Twelve novices were members of the Velünk Egyesület Gyógyulj, a cancer support association. This association supports persons with all cancers among them 50 BCS in the country. To our surprise these novices arrived wearing green (the colour of their association), but it took only a few minutes, the time needed to distribute the donated team shirts brought by the outreach crew, for the green to turn pink! After enjoying their first dragon boating experience, their smiles and happiness showed strong interest in continuing it further.

The youngest novice was in her mid thirties. Her hair showed how recently her treatment had been. The eldest was 91! Team leaders were identified, though no one was ready yet to take on drumming or steering; those roles will surely be filled in time.

One novice already had dragon boating experience before her breast cancer diagnosis. In fact, dragon boating was introduced in Hungary about 25 years ago, but the idea of forming the first breast cancer dragon boat team emerged only recently.

On Saturday, the breast cancer novices and outreach crew joined the Community Womb Cancer Outreach at Dugonics Square, a wonderful opportunity for breast cancer community engagement as well. Colour pink filled the square as survivors shared stories and experiences with locals on an extremely hot summer afternoon. Some women passing by, expressed their interest in joining Sunday’s activities and even registered on the spot. Another aspect of the community outreach was the presence of the local TV that covered the outreach.

Community outreach was vital, strengthened by Dr. Don McKenzie’s support. Dr. Don generously delivered three conferences: one at the Szeged Medical School for oncology doctors and students, another for the general public at the Szeged Somogyi Library (Somogyi Károly Városi és Megyei Könyvtár), and a third for nursing students at the Szeged Nursing School. Attendance varied, highest among the nursing students and lowest at the medical school. This does not suggest a lack of interest from doctors; rather, it reflects that engaging them fully may require time and sustained effort. Notably, two doctors expressed genuine interest and joined the paddling sessions. In addition, around seven nursing students signed up to paddle with us over the weekend.

The host kindly organized a music bath before paddling on Friday. This was appreciated by everyone. The refreshments offered after paddling were the perfect touch specially after the long days. On Sunday, after wrapping up the activities, everyone enjoyed a delicious traditional Hungarian fish soup.

The outreach crew was truly dedicated, passionate and awesome. A crew of 16 including experiences paddlers, coaches and steers from Argentina (Rosa Fenix Patagonia Argentina), Canada (Abreast In A Boat, Breast Friends, Sistership, and Woderbroads), Croatia (Dragonboat Klub Zadar , France (Dragon Ladies de Paris), Israel (Pink Lionesses Tel Aviv) and US (Dragon Divas) came together united with love for the sport and the mission. Each of us wore their home team shirt showing team sisterhood. With two Hungarian-Canadian of us it was possible to overcome language barriers. Luckily for the rest some novices could communicate in English. And how lovely it was the support of the outreach crew family members that accompanied us. Daughter, son, sister and husbands were beside us at every moment.

The outreach crew and supporters were invited for a paddle at the Szeged National Canoeing and Rowing Olympic Centre. Here we paddled together for the first time, check our strokes, unified the paddle technique to teach the novices and enjoyed the once in the lifetime opportunity to be at such beautiful venue.

The clinic began each day with on land activities to review the paddling technique and the commands in English, and then everyone headed out onto the water. The two coaches and two steers of the outreach crew and the boats availability allowed us to ride more that one boat at a time and give more time on the water to the novices. This also allowed for more stability to the boats as they were not fully loaded. Everyone enjoyed Dr. Don delightful coaching as well.

The coach boat was following the boats continuously for safety.

One surprising challenge was local resistance to wearing life jackets—it took some encouragement before everyone agreed to use them. The pink life jackets will surely inspire and motivate everyone to keep wearing them in the future.

The novices expressed their joy by singing a traditional Szegedi song while paddling. This was a true special and moving moment.

Sunday marked the symbolic regatta and Flower Ceremony, under a bright, sunny sky. Three boats raced and all three won first place!

For the Flower Ceremony, roses without thorns symbolizing thriving lives were waved at the rhythm of the music. Later, the participating medals were handed to everyone involved in the outreach as an expression of gratitude. Abreast In A Boat Certificates of Appreciation were presented to “Egymás mellett a mellrák után”, the forming team in Szeged, first in the country and to the individuals and organizations whose efforts made the dream of Hungary’s first breast cancer dragon boat team a reality.

When novices shared how amazing they felt after just a few days on the water, our hearts filled with joy. Their smiles, their energy, and the stories carried down the Tisza River proved that local motivation is alive and strong.

Prepared by Adriana Bartoli