Psychology of Vision UK and Ireland
 

Back to Mainpage

Chilaga Hospice

Please be patient while the images download. We have maintained the quality of these pictures so they take time to download because we think it is important.

Every time I visit Zambia and give a Psychology of Vision workshop, I spend a lot of time visiting the hospice at Chilanga and its surrounding compounds where it offers out reach work to patients in their homes.   The experience is rich in that it challenges my ability to find love at deeper and higher levels in the reality of the hospice itself.   Take a look at the pictures we have and you will understand what I mean.
  

 
During the week I was last out in Zambia, 20 people that I met during that time had died by the end of the week.   In one of the compounds near to us there are 5,000 people and 60% of them are under the age of 15, orphans looking after each other and struggling to survive in challenging conditions.

The dedication of the staff, who have benefited greatly from the workshops we offer, is inspiring.   They really give quality to the lives of the patients and their families. That care shows in the feeling you get when you walk into the hospice.

 


 
The school attached to the hospice is full of children who have one or no parents alive.   Every day they get a basic meal of maize ground into a semolina type consistency.   There are few materials available at the moment but the teachers improvise to give a basic education to all the students. At least half of the students are HIV positive but the school is full of life and fun.



In a strange kind of way Chilanga Hospice is a place of hope. It is a very small light in great darkness, and it shows me that our willingness to witness areas of our minds like this points the way home for humanity.

 

Written by Julie Wookey, and photographs by Tom Stoddard and others with grateful thanks.

We contribute medicines each week to the hospice. This include painkillers, anti-biotics and other drugs.

Cossie and Jeff handing over medicines and Maggie contributing toys