The Big Give Christmas Challenge 2023 – target reached!

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We are so grateful to all who donated during the ‘Big Give Christmas Challenge 2023’. We asked you to help us reach our biggest target ever – with 41 donations, £5,880 was given which means with our matching pot and Gift Aid an amazing £13,492 has been raised. Giving a 30% pay rise to the staff of Hospice Ethiopia will make a substantial difference for them. They are highly trained in providing excellent palliative care in a challenging setting and need to be rewarded for this. Hospice Ethiopia cannot afford to lose such staff and this will enable them to provide a living wage for their skilled workforce.

“I am very pleased for the salary increase. It is really helpful for my financial hardship and motivates me to work harder. I am grateful for the leaders behind this good intention”. Gullilat, Hospice Ethiopia Finance Officer.

The Big Give 2023 ends soon!

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We are really delighted with the response so far to our Big Give project 2023 – the donation window is ending soon at midday on Tuesday 5th December. If you haven’t had a chance to donate yet, don’t worry – there are still match funds available so every pound you donate will mean £2 for Hospice Ethiopia. We have raised a fantastic £7,710 so far; please help us reach our target of £11,760 to enable the hard-working staff in Ethiopia to get a pay rise.

Please visit the Big Give website here to donate.

Your donation will enable people like Mariam (not her real name; see photo) to have ongoing visits from Hospice Ethiopia’s nurses to help her cope with her depression and anxiety. She is aged 35 and was diagnosed with bowel cancer in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where she was a migrant worker. She paid for surgery to remove the cancer and a colostomy was formed. The UAE government does not provide free health care to migrant workers so she returned to Addis Ababa and has had 10 cycles of chemotherapy at the Tikur Anbessa hospital. Mariam had to buy these drugs from the hospital pharmacy and if they were out of stock she had to go outside the hospital to a pharmacy to try and buy the necessary drugs.

The chemotherapy has caused ongoing diarrhoea which has been extremely problematic to manage especially when she did not have any stoma bags. Fortunately, a new supply of stoma bags was brought to Hospice Ethiopia by the HEUK trustees.

Mariam is effectively destitute and therefore lives with her mother (who also has terminal cancer) in a one-room house along with her infant niece. She is unable to work due to her illness and relies on a monthly grant from the HE Tewolde Medhane Fund (formerly the Comfort Fund) to buy food, medicines and other essential items.

The Big Give 2023

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Dear Supporter,

Many of you have generously made donations in the past that have helped provide care for patients at Hospice Ethiopia. We’re very excited to let you know that Hospice Ethiopia UK has been selected again this year to participate in The Big Give Christmas Challenge 2023, the UK’s largest matched funding campaign.

We will be raising money specifically to enable Hospice Ethiopia’s programme staff to receive a pay rise. For many reasons including the recent civil war, inflation in Ethiopia is approximately 30% resulting in a huge increase in running costs. Hospice Ethiopia has worked hard to support and train a highly skilled workforce. In order to continue to attract and retain staff they need to pay their programme staff a wage that keeps pace with inflation.

One donation, twice the impact.

Donations to this project will be matched for 7 days, from 12pm on Tuesday 28th November 2023. So, every pound you give during that period means two pounds for Hospice Ethiopia.

What do I need to do?

● Add a calendar reminder to your diary for 12 noon on Tuesday 28th November to 12 noon on Tuesday 5th December 2023

● Make your donation via http://www.thebiggive.org.uk – click on the Christmas Challenge and search for Hospice Ethiopia UK

● Alternatively, go directly to the donation page here

Please note the donate button will only appear on the campaign page when the Christmas Challenge launches at 12pm on 28th November.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at info@hospiceethiopia.org.uk

Many thanks in advance for your support,

The Trustees of Hospice Ethiopia UK

Successful event at Stody Lodge, Norfolk

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We were delighted to be invited by Kate MacNicol to provide the teas at their Open Garden at the end of May. Alongside 200 varieties of rhododendrons and azaleas, this open garden in North Norfolk also has some wonderful magnolias, camellias, expansive lawns, woodland walkways and vast carpets of spring bulbs. Its 4-acre Azalea Water Gardens holds 2,000 Azalea mollis plants which is believed to be the largest single planting in the UK. 

We are extremely grateful to all of the many volunteers who helped with baking cakes, serving teas, setting up, clearing up, parking and more. Thanks also to the Blakemore foundation who donated some cakes.

We were extremely lucky with the weather, the sun shone down and it was a glorious spring afternoon. Overall we made a fantastic £684 for Hospice Ethiopia!

The Big Give Christmas Challenge 2022

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One donation, twice the impact

Many of you have generously made donations in the past that have helped provide crucial care for patients. We’re very excited to let you know that Hospice Ethiopia UK has been selected again this year to participate in the Big Give Christmas Challenge 2022, the UK’s largest match funding campaign.
We will be raising money specifically to pay for 2 senior hospice staff to undergo continuing professional development, in order to ensure the future sustainability of Hospice Ethiopia. The accountant, Gullilat Korbu, wishes to undertake a course in leadership and management training and Nurse Filagot Tadele plans to do her Masters in Palliative Care at Hospice Africa Uganda.

We have secured £4000 in matched funding, now we need donations to equal this amount to benefit completely from the matched funding pot. Donations to this project will be matched for 7 days, from 12pm on Tuesday 29th November.  So, every pound donated during that period means two pounds for Hospice Ethiopia. More information will follow on how to donate, closer to the time.

Successful Glitterati Ball held at Wolterton in June

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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 beautiful Wolterton Hall in Norfolk

The evening started in style with a champagne reception accompanied by Soprano Emma Nuule, followed by a classical duet.

Soprano Emma Nuule

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.

Dancing to the Spice Gits

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.

Auction of Promises

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.

Guests enjoying the ball

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.

Lots of washing up afterwards!

The Wolterton Hall Glitterati Ball

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We are excited to announce that Wolterton Hall will open its doors this summer for a sparkling event called The Glitterati Ball. The Ball is on Saturday, June 11th and takes place in the main state rooms of the Hall, including the Venetian Room, the Saloon and the Portrait Room. A dazzling selection of entertainments is promised and guests will be treated to a champagne reception and a three course buffet dinner – all for just £65.

The Glitterati Ball is being held at Wolterton Hall by kind permission of owners Peter Sheppard and Keith Day. Rt Hon Sir Norman Lamb is the patron of the event.

Glitterati Ball at Wolterton Hall image
Photograph courtesy Christopher Horwood

The evening will begin at 7.30pm with a glass or two of champagne or cordial. The entertainments include live music, with both a classical recital and a dance band, along with an auction of promises, a raffle, a photo booth and a wine bar. There’s also the chance for visitors to see some of the fascinating reconstruction work that Peter and Keith are undertaking in the building and grounds of this magnificent country mansion, once the home of the Walpole family.

“Glitter is the name of the game and we hope people will dress to impress,” says Sue Mumford, chair of Hospice Ethiopia UK. “The most sparkling outfit will win the wearer a bottle of bubbly!

Tickets are available online through Eventbrite.

Buy Tickets

Recent fundraising successes

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During the build-up to Christmas we’ve had several very successful fundraising events including a talk by Sue & Jamie at Ranworth Church, bag packing at Tesco’s in Aylsham, St Michael’s Christmas Tree festival and Carols in Aldborough Community Centre. These events have raised just under £900 in total. Very many thanks to all those who supported Hospice Ethiopia at these events.


For the second year running Hospice Ethiopia UK was accepted to take part in The Big Give Christmas challenge. We are delighted that we received 42 donations, which with the matching funds and gift aid totalled the fantastic sum of £10,425. This will pay the nurses’ salaries at Hospice Ethiopia for 6 months. We could not have raised such a phenomenal amount without our supporters’ generosity; we are truly grateful.


Following a talk to Holt Rotary club in October, we are very grateful to Maureen Ford for talking to a Rep from Welland who has supplied over 500 colostomy bags for the patients of Hospice Ethiopia who have a stoma. Colostomy bags are not available at all in Ethiopia, so this donation will really transform the lives of patients. Sue will deliver some of these to hospice Ethiopia when she visits in February.

Below is the lovely and festive HE Christmas tree at St Michael’s Church in December:

xmas tree