Shoulder to Shoulder with Selian Hospice

No words, only pictures!  

 Michele and I said good bye to our team on last Friday.  It was a sad departure after sharing so many wonderful experiences over the three weeks that we worked shoulder to shoulder with the Selian Hospice Team. On Saturday we ventured out with the lodge owner in search of African fabric for a quilt I am going to make.  The choices were many and the decision was difficult. We relished a quiet restful couple of days over the weekend.  On Sunday night we were joined by a group of four from MN who were interested in learning about palliative care and hospice in the context of Tanzanian culture.  They brought with them four suitcases filled with medical supplies such as gloves, wound care supplies, and  stethoscopes from Global Health Ministries. On Monday we joined the Selian Palliative Care team on home visits. On Tuesday we toured both Arusha Lutheran Medical Center and Selian Hospital, both are hospitals that Dr. Mark Jacobson, who grew up in Stillwater, MN...

 The culmination of our time with Selian Hospice was the 5 days of training. The trainings always started with devotions as faith is the foundation of the life of Tanzanians and especially those who work in palliative care and hospice as they see their work as a calling from God.  Singing was a central part of devotions.  Early on in the training the group sang with some hesitation but as the week went on robust singing filled the room and our hearts.  The last day a group of men, primarily pastors and doctors, while waiting in line for morning coffee began spontaneously singing with beautiful harmony, “When Peace, Like A River.”    It silenced every conversation in the room and as the entire group joined them it brought tears to our eyes. Like the singing, the engagement of the participants increased each day  as did the growing interaction between participants and with our team.   Questions began to flow freely, as we discussed topics such as Pa...

 I did not know what we would accomplish as a team in three weeks time but what enfolded went far beyond our expectations. Relationships were developed                                                                                                                                     Friendships were created    Laughter was shared                                                                                    Meals were enjoyed Technol...

Yesterday morning I did devotions for the Palliative Care Training, so it made sense to me that the devotions focused on Palliative Care.  Using four bible stories about Jesus, I described Jesus as  a  “palliative care guy.   Here it is: Jesus was a palliative care guy because he met people where they were at.  Take the Samaritan women at the well for example.    Jesus always put love  above the law which was true when he talked with the Samaritan woman at the well.  The law said that Jesus should not be talking to a woman in public, especially a Samaritan woman.  There was not love between Samaritans and Jewish people. The woman was at the well at the hottest part of the day when Jesus approached her for a drink.  It begs the  question why was she there in the heat of the day?  She was a woman that all the other women loved to talk about.  One can imagine how the conversation might have gone.  “Did you hear she ...

This weekend World Palliative Care and Hospice Day was celebrated across the globe with the exception of the United States which is unfortunate.    A representative from  The Ministry of Health  came                       to address the 34 people present for the Palliative Care Training for Health Professionals.   His address was followed by a cake cutting ceremony.  The Tanzanian people have cake only on special occasions.  To us it felt like a wedding as they fed the leaders pictured above with a toothpick.  Everything is always documented by a group picture. The ceremony was followed by a candle lighting service to remember Selian  patients that have died and to honor the current patients. One surprise of the day was that I was interviewed by a local TV station about the World Pallaitive Care and Hospice Day, to share about our presence with Selian Hospice and to talk with the Arusha c...