When Councillor Henna Chowdhury pours a cup of pink chai, she sees more than tradition. She sees a safe space where women can gather, talk openly and crucially say words that are still hushed in South Asian families: breast, cancer, lump, screening.
“Pink chai is comfort, togetherness,” she told Asian Standard. “But it can also break barriers. Too many women sit in silence, feeling shame even to say the word breast. We want them to know there is no judgment here, you can talk, you can ask, you can learn.”
For Cllr Chowdhury, a community interpreter, the silence has been painfully real. She has lost friends to breast cancer, including one woman just 34 years old who only discovered her diagnosis at stage four. “She was gone within four months,” Chowdhury recalled. “She never even had the chance to talk about it. That silence cost her life. I don’t want another woman to go through that.”
Fighting stigma, and superstition
Alongside shame, there is stigma. Henna speaks candidly about a toxic belief still common among older generations: that a woman with cancer must have done something to deserve it.
“In our communities, you still hear aunties say, ‘She must have done something bad to be cursed with this,’” she said. “It’s heart-breaking. Cancer is not a punishment. You haven’t done anything wrong. Your body is your body, and it deserves care, not blame.”
This belief, Henna says, traps women in silence. “They think, I can’t let neighbours or family know, or they’ll shame me. So, they hide symptoms, they avoid screening, and by the time they act, it’s too late. We have to break that barrier.”
A campaign born from chai
Inspired partly by Macmillan’s Coffee Mornings, Henna wanted something that felt deeply South Asian. “Our families associate chai with hospitality and warmth,” she explained. “So why not use that same cup of tea to open conversations about our health? Pink Chai Day is about using what’s familiar to challenge what’s taboo.”
From Bradford to Birmingham, mosques, women’s groups, cafés and universities have already pledged to host Pink Chai gatherings this October. The idea is simple: gather, drink tea, and talk about breast health in an environment where no question is too embarrassing.
Muzahid Khan, supporting Henna through the Henna Foundation, said the response has been “incredibly positive.” He told Asian Standard: “It’s grown so quickly, we expect 50 or 60 Pink Chai events across the country in October. But this is only the start. We want to see this ripple all year round.”
More than October
While October is recognised globally as Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Chowdhury insists Pink Chai Day cannot be a one-off. “I don’t want this to be just in October,” she said. “Breast cancer doesn’t wait for one month of the year. Women need to feel they can talk about their bodies all year round.”
Her dream is bigger still: to take the campaign international. Earlier this year, she helped run an awareness drive in Bangladesh, and she hopes Pakistan and other South Asian countries will follow. “We’re privileged in the UK to have free screening and services. But awareness is lacking, especially among migrant women with language barriers. Globally, it’s even worse. Pink Chai Day can change that.”
The personal message
At its heart, Pink Chai Day is not about campaigns or numbers. It is about saving women’s lives.
For Henna, it all comes down to this one truth: “To every woman, South Asian or not, it’s not too late. If you feel something isn’t right, go to your GP. Get screened. Early detection saves lives. You are not cursed. You are not to blame. You are worth care.”
