Tam Royse

October 10th, 2009 is World Hospice and Palliative Care Day. Three years ago, at this same time of the year, I was able to glimpse first hand the importance of being (in the words of Alive Hospice President and CEO Jan Jones), a “citizen of the world.” In October of 2006, Jan Jones and I and a group of fantastic folks from St. George’s Episcopal Church in Nashville traveled to South Africa to visit with our sister hospice, Hospice in the West, which is in the West Rand region of South Africa.

Alive Hospice had been partnered with Hospice in the West for several years and all of our partnership activities had been done long-distance. The time had finally come to put faces to the wonderful people who provided hospice care in a country where resources were scarce and AIDS had wiped out millions. As luck would have it, Naomi Tutu organized the trip and traveled with us, teaching us about the history and the culture of South Africa.

    Visitors from Alive Hospice were     welcomed to Hospice in the West in     Krugersorp, South Africa, with open     arms in 2006. Pictured: Marisa De     Fonseca Wolheim, director of Hospice     in the West, presents the South African     flag to Alive Hospice President and CEO     Jan Jones. The flag was signed by     Hospice in the West staff.

Our first day at Hospice in the West, we were welcomed with songs from the staff and patients that sent chills up my spine and brought tears to my eyes. I had never felt so much love and happiness in a room. It permeated through everyone and everything. Later, we were given a chance to meet patients and I sat next to “Paula” (name changed to protect privacy) and we both smiled nervously, neither knowing what to say.

I had so many thoughts going through my mind, yet I seemed to have lost my ability to talk. I felt my face flush as I continued to struggle for the words that would convey to Paula how wonderful it was to know her and to learn from her. I turned to speak, but before I could push those words out of my mouth, Paula turned to me and while she looked down at the floor, she said quietly, “I’m so happy that you know we are here.”

As the days passed, I watched nurses and volunteers see patient after patient living in tin shacks with dirt floors, no running water or electricity, and the only food they had was what had been given to them by Hospice in the West. The ability to get appropriate pain management is minimal, and paracetamol (acetaminophen) is the most readily available pain medication. Every home I entered into, I was welcomed with beautiful smiles and hugs that warmed me right down to the center of my heart and soul. I was made to feel as if I was an old friend coming in for a visit. Love played the perfect interpreter which speaks any language.

South Africa is ravaged by HIV and AIDS. In 2008, over 250,000 South Africans died of AIDS. Hospice in the West cares for many of those people with AIDS. The amazing thing is that they not only provide that care with no funding from the government, but they continue to care for the children of the patients who have died from AIDS. The work that Hospice in the West has done to care for the vulnerable and orphaned children in the area that they serve has and will continue to have a magnificent rippling effect on the lives of those children and their children.

    Representatives of South Africa’s Hospice in the West     visited Alive Hospice in 2007. Pictured above are     Counselor Tlala “Joe” Thabane and Nurse Catherine      “Sister Snowy” Nkoana.

They provide a safe haven for them in a crisis until a more stable family situation can be found for them. They have children’s groups throughout the year and parties at Christmas so that they can receive gifts that they would have received from their parents if they were still alive. The love that is provided to these children by the staff and volunteers of Hospice in the West is a true example for all of us to follow.

“I’m so happy that you know we are here.”

I remember Acts 20:35 and the words that some of us learn as children: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” How can I convey to Paula and everyone else that I met during my travels in South Africa that I have received much more than I have given?

I have learned from my friends the true meaning of love. Love is free and can be provided anywhere the heart chooses to carry it.

Tam Royse is Alive Hospice’s director of performance improvement and training and serves as chair of the agency’s Hospice in the West Committee.