Our Medical Director, Dr Mhoira Leng, shares her end of year reflections for 2024.

As the year draws to a close let me take a moment to reflect.

At this time, many of us will be singing Christmas carols, and a much loved favourite is O Little Town of Bethlehem. The carol focuses on the events in the town of Bethlehem over 2000 years ago that would have historical and global significance. This part of the world was experiencing conflict, occupation, forced displacement, the killing of children and fear…then and now. Perhaps you will remember the powerful image from the Christian Church in Bethlehem of the nativity with the baby amidst the rubble wrapped in a kufiyeh and Rev Munther Isaac’s sermon; 'Christ under the rubble'. 

As the carol says; ‘the hopes and fears of all the years are met in Thee tonight’

With devastating and ongoing conflicts affecting our partners in Gaza and the rest of Palestine as well as in Sudan our hearts are heavy. We have heard from Dr Khamis Elessi and other dear friends who continue to offer care to patients and families even as their own families are struggling to simply survive. We mourn the killing of dear friends and colleagues and the almost total devastation and destruction of the health system, the education system, systematic starvation alongside everything needed for life and for dignity. We are aghast as international and humanitarian laws are seemingly ignored and the whole foundation of our world order is under threat. When the voice of peace and hope seems unheard and ignored it can seem as though humanity itself is under threat.

Words from Munda Nasser, written in Advent reflections from Bethlehem, have been a support for me. She speaks of hope and reflects on these bible verses; ‘For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what one already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.’ ROMANS 8:24-25. She says; ‘The Christmas story is a reminder for humanity all over the world to reorient its compass and ask: What can we do to build hope, to reconstruct it collectively? Sumud forms our collective Palestinian response to the everyday systematic oppressions that we go through. It forms our stand and our journey toward what we cannot see. It forms our inability to sit with hopelessness —it is a way of saying that hope will always have the final word.’

So what gives me hope as I look back on 2024. I see the amazing way Cairdeas partners are working in challenging situations where resources are constrained and needs can be overwhelming. I see the innovation, resilience and compassion to deliver training, research and clinical care in Uganda, Sudan, Gaza, Mauritania and India. We read the essays from medical students reflecting on holistic care learning in the midst of conflict in Gaza. We hear of the impact our Scholarships have had for inspirational colleagues such as Toko, Vicky, Liz, Philip and Ronald in Uganda. Our Compassionate Leadership Fellows in India are being transformed and already putting their learning into practice. (Please go back and listen to the videos from our Cairdeas Gathering to be inspired)  I am humbled by the many who give their time and expertise in the Cairdeas Faculty and those who give, volunteer, pray and support in so many other ways.

At the heart of Cairdeas is the dignity of the people who face each day living with serious illness and who walk in the twilight days of their lives. Palliative care seeks to accompany people on that journey and focus on listening to concerns, alleviating suffering, supporting quality of life, promoting dignity and being in solidarity for justice. This is the heart of compassionate palliative care. This is the heart of humanity.

Let me mention one project we are focussing on this year for funding support. ‘Sunshine During War’ was formed by Dr Nahla Gafer and colleagues from Sudan in partnership with Sanad Home Hospice Care in Lebanon and CairdeasIPCT. It has brought psychological support for staff, patients and families, offered clinical mentorship and expert support and helped to sustain services within war torn Sudan through practical help for internet access, travel and even at times food and basic living needs. We are now extending this to include Gaza - led by Mervat Hammad, one of our Diploma students, now in Egypt. We will be sharing more of this project soon. Let us hear from Nahla…

‘Yes, we helped them, they needed us, but also, we needed to preserve the work that we had started; we needed to help our patients. It is part of who we are. This way we are really healing, caring and humane health professionals.’

Please consider gifting towards this programme now or in the future. You can do so here.

So wherever you are and however you are feeling at this time of year may we all be inspired, renewed, energised and encouraged to live with hope in hearts full of gratitude.