La Cala de Mijas has been witness to five walks against diabetes. The last one, on Sunday 5th of November, and, like the previous ones, organised by the diabetes group of the Lions Club of La Cala, whose founder, Anne Bowles, has dedicated more than 20 years of effort so that "people become aware of diabetes, because half of the people who suffer from it don't know it; it is very serious and can be fatal. For example, we have an 18-month-old child with diabetes and also a man with diabetes who has lost a leg at the age of 54.

For this reason, the need to raise awareness about diabetes has become a prevention strategy against this ailment, which is a major problem in Spain. In fact, Spain is the country with the second highest prevalence of this disease in Europe. The diabetes group of the Lions Club of La Cala already have great experience organising this awareness walk and offering, for example, "free glucose tests for all the people who want to check their health", as the volunteer of the Lions, Mercy Chapman, recalled.

This 2023 meeting was held for the fifth consecutive year and each time as part of International Diabetes Day, which is celebrated on November 14th. In addition to the walk, which had the collaboration of the Foreigners and Sports areas of the Town Hall, numerous stands were set up by other associations, such as the Fencing Club of La Cala, Espacio Drang, Mijas Felina, among others, who participated and even offered  shows.

As the councillor for Foreigners, Mario Bravo (PP), present at the meeting, recalled, this "group is doing a lot to make people aware that diabetes is a silent and very dangerous disease and that the sooner you are diagnosed, the sooner you start to treat it". As for the associative fabric of Mijas, Bravo affirmed that "we are very grateful for the work that all the associations do and, above all, this group for the fight against diabetes in particular". 

Activities
The event started at ten o'clock in the morning and throughout the day included zumba, fencing demonstrations, batucada, piñatas, flamenco, live music and many more surprises. One of the attendees, Maira Gómez, whose father suffers from the disease, said that "diabetes is a complicated illness because you don't see it and it goes very slowly, so it is very necessary to make it visible in order to fight it".

Another of the people who attended was Susan Cheers, a neighbour who wanted to support the event "because of the good that the Lions Club does for society and, in this case, for diabetics, so I wanted to do my bit by sponsoring the walk so that they can raise more money for their cause".

This walk by the diabetes group is doubly healthy: on the one hand, the physical exercise that is carried out and which is an essential part of the prevention of diabetes and other diseases and, on the other hand, the visibility of this disease that in Spain alone affects more than five million people and, more seriously, of these, 1.5 million are unaware that they suffer from it.

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