Today after morning prayers we were really shown how grateful all the staff were of our work. They gave us small little traditional African craft along with a badge and T-shirt as well as a card signed by the staff. It was really great to see their appreciation towards everything we had done and it gave us a sense of achievement. We made our way over to the clinical block to the case conference, which is held every Thursday. The cases that are presented intrigue the medical staff and are brought up with the other medical teams for advice and a second opinion. The first case was about a 55 year old woman with breast cancer, which had spread to her spine, causing a few of the discs to collapse which in turn caused extreme back spine, immobility, night sweats and weight loss.

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By Niamh Blaine, Ciara Sexton & Sarah Redmond

Founded in 1993 by Dr. Anne Meriman, Hospice Africa introduced palliative care in Uganda and has spread to many other countries. Anne tirelessly and continuously aided and eased the final pain and suffering of many patients affected by Cancer and/or Aids and other terminal diseases. This very moving story has inspired the book “Audacity to Love” written by Merriman in 2010, it is an excellent read, a must for volunteers, donors and students of palliative care, proceeds going to Hospice. This is a handbook for any individuals or organizations who see a need for a hospice in their area and have apprehensions due to costs and structure.

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We arrived at the hospice at 8 am just in time for morning prayers where we met Sister Patricia part of the Franciscan Sisters in Africa who had arrived in Uganda after her 10-hour bus journey from Nakuru in Kenya, while speaking to her we discovered she too was Irish!! She told us that there has been an outburst of cancer in Kenya in the past year and about many of the moving cases she had come across whilst working in a center called Love & Hope, she also told us about recent violent break-in’s to priests and nuns houses around her area including where watch guards are shot, windows are smashed and money was stolen. What was most interesting were her stories about election time in Kenya and the inter tribal tensions and atrocities.

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