Holy Cross Hospice

Holy Cross Hospice Gaborone, Botswana

Gabarone, Botswana. February 22th, 2010

The Holy Cross Hospice in Gaborone provides care and support to the terminally ill and patients with life limiting illnesses, orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), and their families and caregivers in Gaborone.

Name	Holy Cross Hospice, Gaborone, Botswana
Aim	Providing care and support to the terminally ill and patients with life limiting illnesses, orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), and their families and caregivers in Gaborone.
Since	established 1994, registered 1995
Staff	20 fulltime workers and 6 volunteers
People reached	600 OVC's in 4 daycare kid's clubs, 100 patients, 75 children in the preschool
Contact	The Holy Cross Hospice Plot 4303 Mboya Close Road, Newstands, Gaborone Postal Address: Private Bag 00287 Gaborone, Botswana (267) 3902980 / (267) 3952115 holycrosshospice@gmail.com Vic Compher: icannotbesilent.blogspot.com/
Donation	300 USD You can send money to this account: Barclays Bank of Botswana / Mall Branch Gaborone Account:  2742940

We know about the Holy Cross  Hospice through Mr. Vic Compher, a friend of our couchsurfing host Sheldon Weeks. Mr. Compher takes us to the hospice where we are welcomed by Angel, a 26 year old talented social worker and the managing director. We introduce ourselves and our project before we are shown around the premises.

The hospice is situated in several buildings that belong to the Anglican church "holy cross" congregation. There is a small chapel where services are held. There is also a board room and an old kitchen.

There are several semi-perminent shelters on the premises to accomodate the patients that are too sick for home-based care. They are sponsored by various sources. We see some smiling ladies sitting on a metal bed. Vic tells us that the situation was catastrophic before the introduction of antiviral drugs such as Retrovir, which can keep people alive for quite some time.

The Hospice offers special nutritional support to the patients, medication and psychosocial support, physical training (workout) and occupational therapy. It also offers life skills training and income generating activities.

Apart from the terminally ill patients, the Holy Cross Hospice takes care of 75 orphans in a preschool that also has a feeding program, and 600 more OVC's in kids clubs in four different districts of Gaborone. They really do live their vision, which is closely affiliated to ours:

"We will be a leader in provision of family centered hospice and palliative care, striving to become more self sustainable, innovative and creative in the provision and expansion of services."

Our donation will be used for purchasing palliative medication.