The sun shone on this annual event on Sunday 4th September, and we were delighted to see many supporters at the event. Our bottle Tombola raised £259 which will again be sent to Addis Adaba to help fund care for Hospice Ethiopia’s patients in their own homes. Many thanks to our trustee Marion and her volunteers who organised this fundraiser.
Calendars and Christmas Cards 2022
We have 2 beautiful designs for Christmas cards for 2022, including a new design showing an Africa-focussed Christmas bauble, and a popular design from a previous year. Both designs are exclusive to Hospice Ethiopia by linocut printmaker and artist Alice Roberts. Cards in packs of 10 are priced at £5 per pack (+postage if applicable) and are available from Marion (celia.bryce@btinternet.com), Sue (info@hospiceethiopia.org.uk) or the pop-up Christmas card shop at St Peter Mancroft church, Norwich (from 19/10/21).
We also have a new calendar for 2023, featuring amazing photos from around Ethiopia -these make ideal Christmas presents! Calendars are £10 each (+ postage if applicable) and are available from Sue (info@hospiceethiopia.org.uk).
Brighton fundraising swim 24th August
Very many congratulations and thanks go to Dr Freddie Collins for her amazing fundraising swim between the 2 piers in Brighton. She raised a staggering £1,375 from 44 supporters. Thank you so very much to all those who donated to this valiant effort. This money will go to Hospice Ethiopia to provide care for people desperately in need. Dr Freddie Collins has now arrived in Addis Adaba taking with her much-needed medical supplies for Hospice Ethiopia for example stoma bags. She is volunteering at Hospice Ethiopia and we look forward to hearing about her experiences.
Abena’s Story
Abena (not her real name) is a 38-year-old married lady with breast cancer. On her first visit Nurse Filagot from Hospice Ethiopia carried out a full assessment of her needs. She had been seen by her local health centre several months ago when the diagnosis had been made but had declined further investigations and treatment. She returned to the health centre when the cancer spread to become an open wound, and was referred to the regional hospital and then on to St Paul’s hospital in Addis Adaba for treatment. This meant she had to travel by bus for over 24 hours to the capital, leaving behind her husband and 3 children, aged 15 (with autism), 10 and 6. She was able to stay with her sister but this involved sleeping on the floor of the sitting room.
The assessment was difficult as she only spoke a regional language (there are over 80 in Ethiopia) and was illiterate, but with her sister’s help Nurse Filagot was able to establish her symptoms. She had suffered for at least 50 days with extensive ‘burning’ pain across her body; the cause of which was unknown. She had local spread of her cancer creating an open wound across her breast. She had received one cycle of chemotherapy at St Paul’s Hospital, leaving her feeling exhausted and nauseous. She was also suffering from a low mood which was evident by her lack of eye contact and general demeanour.
Nurse Filagot established a plan for her care. She gave her a course of amitriptyline 12.5mg daily for her pain and metoclopramide for her nausea. She provided dressings and topical metronidazole for the breast wound. She then explained the risks of neutropenic sepsis (which can be caused by chemotherapy) and spent time listening to her concerns and anxieties. She plans to visit again in a week to monitor her symptoms.
Welcome to Dr Fredrika Collins
Hospice Ethiopia is delighted to be welcoming Dr Fredrika Collins to work as a volunteer for the next few months. Before she leaves the England’s shores, she is raising money for the Hospice by swimming between the 2 piers at Brighton – a distance of about 1km. Please support this valiant effort by donating via JustGiving.
Fredrika is an internal medicine trainee in Brighton, exploring a career in palliative care. In September 2022 she is moving to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to work for a year as a teaching fellow within the internal medicine department of Addis Ababa University. During this time she will also be volunteering for Hospice Ethiopia, by working clinically in their Day Care, Outpatients, and Home care programmes and assisting with education and training.
She completed her undergraduate medical degree at King’s College London, and foundation training at Croydon University Hospital. Between 2019-2020 she worked as a research assistant in Peru on a trial investigating the health benefits of clean cooking gas, before moving to Brighton to commence her internal medicine training.
She is particularly interested in the role of healthcare professionals in tackling local health inequalities, and set up the Health Education England approved ‘The Global Health Series’ in 2018, which continues to run at several trusts across London and the Southeast.
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Successful Glitterati Ball held at Wolterton in June
A fabulous time was had by all who attended our Glitterati Ball last month at the stunning Wolterton Hall. We were extremely grateful to Peter Sheppard and Keith Day for lending us their fabulous home as a venue.
The evening started in style with a champagne reception accompanied by Soprano Emma Nuule, followed by a classical duet.
Later on guests danced the night away to rock music from the Norfolk band the Spice Gits. Guests also enjoyed a delicious three course meal with food kindly donated by various local suppliers.
We held a varied Auction of Promises, with lots including a weeks’ holiday in Tintagel, a tour of Wolterton Hall, various fine jewellery and a painting by Norfolk artist Andy King.
In total we raised an amazing £10,972 to support the work of Hospice Ethiopia in Addis Ababa, which will go a long way towards easing people’s suffering.
The event has even featured in the Norfolk magazine – see issue August 2022, pages 96-97 including lots of photos of attendees!
Very many thanks to all of our wonderful volunteers for making this event possible.
Exciting news from Hospice Ethiopia director
It all began when UK doctor Zeb Mebratu was looking for hospice services in Ethiopia for her uncle Anghesom, who had been diagnosed with cancer of the bile duct and liver at the American Medical Center in Addis Adaba. She searched online and came across Hospice Ethiopia UK. She contacted the charity who linked the patient with Hospice Ethiopia in Addis Adaba, which is led by Ephrem Abathun.
After determining the needs of the Anghesom, Ephrem provided him with symptom management, end of life care, and supportive care to the family. This care included pain killers and other essential medicines free of charge. Ephrem remained in close contact with Dr Zeb and her family and they were pleased and grateful for his care and support. After controlling his symptoms, he was able to return home to Eritrea and died peacefully a week later surrounded by his family.
Zeb’s mother, Teblez had a favourite brother who sadly died many years ago of kidney failure. She had been saving money in the intervening years in order to do something in his memory. So impressed were the family at her brother in law’s care from Hospice Ethiopia that she has decided to donate her saved up fund of £50,000 to Hospice Ethiopia in memory of her brother. After careful discussion with the family part of the donation has been allocated to the Comfort Fund which has been renamed the Tewolde Medhane fund in honour of Teblez’ brother. The rest of the donation will be allocated to a Building Fund which has been established to fund the construction of Hospice Ethiopia’s own premises in due course.
Ephrem and Sue thank Teblez and her family whole heartedly for the very generous donation.
Neela’s Story
Neela is 60 and has been a widow for many years. She lives alone and has 3 surviving adult sons, however her only daughter pre-deceased her. Her neighbours care for her.
She has longstanding diabetes and developed low abdominal pain 5 years ago. She was diagnosed with cervical cancer and treated with radiotherapy at the Black Lion Hospital in Addis Adaba. She has been re-referred for further radiotherapy but is unlikely to receive it as there is only 1 machine working in Addis Adaba and the waiting list is lengthy.
She was referred to Hospice Ethiopia just over a year ago with significant pain issues. Her pain level was then successfully reduced with paracetamol and amitriptyline (free of charge). Her mobility has now deteriorated and she is sad that she can no longer attend her Orthodox church. However, she is pleased she is still able to make injera-the traditional Ethiopian flat bread.
Sister Filigot from Hospice Ethiopia spent significant time exploring her concerns and she agreed to continue taking regular paracetamol 4 times daily and to increase her amitriptyline tablet at night. Sister Filagot planned to ring her in 5 days to review the effectiveness of increasing the amitriptyline.
Makda’s story
Makda is 40 and has breast cancer (the most common cancer in Ethiopia). Following her diagnosis, she received surgery followed by chemotherapy. However, the chemotherapy had to be discontinued as government funding for the Taxol was stopped. To control her pain she was prescribed tramadol and amitriptyline until tramadol also became unavailable for a while.
She is married with 2 adult daughters, living in their own home. Over the 2 weeks prior to our visit her husband and children had aggressively and abusively abandoned her. They had moved out but had returned the previous day and threatened to kill her to obtain the house for themselves. Previously they had also visited and broken the glass in the front door & tried to damage the “utilities”. Although Makda had called the police to report this there had been no response yet. She remained in a high state of distress and anxiety having being told by them that she was ‘worthless and dying’, and she felt she had been ‘thrown away’. Her only carer is her 8 year old niece living with her; the nurses from Hospice Ethiopia are visiting her twice a week and providing medicines, psychological care and the Comfort Fund as she now has no income. She has a strong religious faith and a moving prayer was said by Ephrem which she valued.
Hospice Ethiopia UK 