Dr Gabriel Madiye – founder and executive director, The Shepherd’s Hospice, Freetown : interviewed by David Clark 4 June 2004. Length of Interview: 24 minutes.

Gabriel Madiye has a background in public health and worked in Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Health and Sanitation. In the 1990s, as the number of HIV/AIDS patients increased, he became aware of the lack of provision for people with a terminal illness. Eventually, he came into contact with St Christopher’s Hospice, London, and contacted the US for help with palliative care training. By 1994, he was raising awareness of palliative care in Freetown and, in 1995, registered the hospice as a non-government organisation. Training for volunteers began in 1997 and premises were obtained in an old railway building. Then came the military coup and the hospice was destroyed in the ensuing hostilities; nevertheless, a service has been operational since 2000. Gabriel Madiye speaks of the challenges facing palliative care in Sierra Leone; of the stigmatisation of patients and the isolation of the terminally ill; of the worries surrounding property and inheritance; of the need for counselling; of the training of volunteers and family members; and of the development of the multidisciplinary team.

Sheila Hurton – board member, The Shepherd’s Hospice, Sierra Leone; Princess Alice Hospice (UK) Council; management committee member, UK forum for hospice and palliative care worldwide: interviewed by Michael Wright 21 March 2005. Length of Interview: 30 minutes.

Sheila Hurton became involved with the Hospice movement in the UK in 1982 when she was invited to raise funds for what became the Princess Alice Hospice in Esher (opened 1985). By the 1990s she had founded the Voices for Hospices initiative with its global simultaneous concerts held every three years, and it was this which prompted Gabriel Madiye to get in touch with her, asking to take part. The military coup and civil war (1997) intervened but when Gabriel Madiye wrote asking for support to re-build the hospice, Sheila Hurton responded with a range of fund-raising activities. She has supported the hospice ever since and is now a member of The Shepherd’s Hospice board. She speaks of the needs of the hospice; of the challenges faced by a service in one of the poorest countries in the world; of the stigmatisation of patients; and the effects of civil war. She also tells of the remarkable resilience of those connected with the hospice movement in Sierra Leone, and how, despite all the difficulties, hospice care has become established.