Gabriel Madiye reflects on the first ever training course at The Shepherd’s Hospice:

In 1997 our first volunteer training was conducted whereby around 27 community volunteers were trained. The model we used was from the United States. Working with Catholic Relief Services, we contacted some hospices in the United States and we contacted WHO as they also have models on palliative care for people living with HIV/AIDS and other terminal diseases. And we used that to train our first batch of volunteers.¹⁷

In April 2002, a request for training in Sierra Leone was answered by Gilly Burn, Helen Passant and Dr Charles (Charlie) Bond. Gilly Burn and Helen Passant have wide-ranging teaching experience having previously worked in India; Charlie Bond - palliative care physician at the Sue Ryder Unit, Nettlebed (Henley on Thames, UK) - has experience of working in Uganda and Malawi. Gilly Burn:

Prior to departure, I had been in touch with the airline to register excess baggage for books, and so we departed with 120kg baggage between the three of us! I visited TALC (Teaching AIDS at Low Cost) before we left and we had also been in touch with pharmaceutical companies who generously supplied books and other educational materials. We flew overnight and arrived at Lungi, Freetown’s rather primitive airport, very early in the morning, then took a helicopter to Lower Allen Town.

We taught at the YMCA on the top floor. I had taken out slides – but they could only be used every other day! On the days when there was electricity there were no blackout blinds! Appearances on national radio and TV also gave us valuable opportunities to talk about the reason for our visit, and we hope that these may have stimulated further support for the work of the hospice.

There were 29 course participants from all over Sierra Leone. We were impressed by the eagerness to learn, by the open-ness and sharing of experiences, by the lack of embarrassment about not knowing and being prepared to ask questions repeatedly if there was misunderstanding. The days started with and ended with prayers and singing, and our work was interspersed with fun and humour. The teaching was:

• Symptom control
• Palliative care for people with AIDS
• Communication skills
• Maximising care through touch
• Enhancing nursing care. ¹⁸

Today, The Shepherd’s Hospice is involved in a wide range of training programmes. These include:

• Capacity building in partnership with 23 health care institutions. These are ongoing partnerships whereby the hospice offers an ongoing training programme for health professionals and volunteers.
• Training health professionals and volunteers to work in their own communities, with training part preventative (i.e. safe sex) and also to help them identify people who are HIV+ or who have cancer.
• HIV/AIDS education outside of the hospice setting – for example, in the workplace and in schools (on request).

In addition, a two day course was arranged in January 2004, facilitated by Sheila Hurton, Ruth Cecil, and Jacqui Boulton. It included:

• 27 participants, including nurses, midwives, social workers and volunteers
• content and structure according to the training needs assessed during the first session and in discussion with the Executive Director who stressed the need for documentation, WHO analgesic ladder and principles of palliative care

COURSE PROGRAMME

Day 1

1. Participants’ expectations

2. Pain control – Analgesic ladder adapted to medication available in Freetown.

3. Communications and role-play taking HIV/AIDS as the basic subject.

Day 2