Sweet Movember

Movember was an unknown thing to me before coming down to Australia. As I first started hearing this term tossed around the office toward the end of October, I thought it was just another Australian pronunciation I was unaware of ;) Then someone sat me down and explained to me what Movember was.

Movember, the month formerly known as November, began in Australia and New Zealand in 2004 "by a group of young Adelaide men" who wanted to raise funds and awareness for men's prostate cancer and depression. The charity foundation "snowballed into a Mo-phenomenom," and in 2007 spread its fundraising efforts to the US, the UK, Canada, and Spain. Money is raised by guys who pledge to grow a moustache ("Mo".... + November = Movember) continuously throughout the month.

So, a group of Amdocs guys teamed up to be sponsored in this year's Movember. And, yours truly volunteered to be their honorary "Mo Sista" - some of you might recall the email I spammed you with for sponsorship :) To spice things up even more, the month was turned into a team contest for Best Mo, to be voted on by the rest of the office. As the month progressed, the Mo's grew longer (and itchier most claimed), the fundraising efforts grew more creative, and the team grew more competitive with their Mo trash talking. Toward the end, arrangements had been made to hijack the weekly Amdocs Ugot Shabot Friday afternoon Cakes for the purpose of announcing Best Mo contest winner. We were even able to snag some snazzy "Moughnuts" for the occasion.

The votes were in, the tallies were counted, and I was set to announce the Best Mo come Friday. It was the largest gathering I had seen on a Friday afternoon in the common room. The Amdocs Movember team - "Moustachio Fantastico" - was ushered to the front of the room, and the drumroll was sounded. Ironically enough, the winner, a guy named Shane who received a women's razor as his prize, had already mistakenly shaved his moustache the night before and had been close to an unofficial Amdocs disqualification.

There was still Friday night and the Mo Gala party. The last week leading up to Friday was spent deciding on a team costume theme for that night, and it was finally decided that we would dress 70s style and make shirts with "Mogan" on the front. A bogan in Aussie slang is a term for an Aboriginal native, so "Mo" + "Bogan" = "Mogan".

The Gala was like nothing I had ever before experienced. Imagine a warehouse filled with 5,000 people dressed in the most ridiculous outfits you've ever seen. Add a disco ball, some 70s music, and alcohol, and it was a party like no other. And check out the overall winning team costume, the Harlem Globetrotters. It was a great month, capped off by a great day, all for a good cause.