Thank You from Tanzania

We leave this morning for home. By the time we arrive in New York, we will have traveled back through four time zones, 24 take offs and landings combined, and traveled to over 30 cities including all the small towns we visited. We practically traveled the whole coast of Tanzania, stopping at all the major cities, Dar Es Salaam, Arusha, Mwanza, Serengeti, Bukoba, Kamachumu, Zanzibar and Sheniyanga and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

We have met so many wonderful people along the way. We especially want to thank Ndolage Lutheran Hospital for their tremendous hospitality, opening their hearts to us, trusting us and being receptive to new ways of thinking and treating patients. We are also thankful for the many families we met and the gifts we learned from the staff, patients and children.

We want to thank our families at home who patiently and lovingly “held the fort down” in our homes so that we could travel across the world to help others.

Thank you…

To the staff, board of directors and volunteers at Regional Hospice who have supported this mission from the beginning, and who have sent their love and encouragement through texts and emails along with tokens of support.

To the Regional Hospice staff who organized the donation of several cameras and much needed supplies for the Ndolage Palliative Care program.

To Mary Ronan for her continued prayers of love and support. They kept us going when the sadness prevailed. They provided hope and inspiration to us.

To all of you who have read along the way and sent Facebook messages or emails supporting our cause.

To the many donors and merchants who gave toys, crayons, pens, pencils and silly bands for the children of Tanzania.

To the Foundation for Hospices in Sub-Saharan Africa committee that helped plan, organize and implement the trip.

To the Network Support company who donated a brand new lap top computer for our Tanzanian partner.

To the Emirates Airlines Foundation who graciously donated our plane tickets.

In closing, I want to thank our incredible team, George, Susan, Mary Beth and Robin. We worked together beautifully, provided support to one another, enjoyed lots of laughter, rose to the occasion, took risks when they were necessary and held together as a team when the reality of what we were witnessing became emotional.

We are inspired to make change and to help Ndolage Lutheran Hospital’s Palliative Care Team achieve its goals.

We hope telling their stories will inspire you to help support them as well.

Thank you!!

Cynthia Roy Squitieri, MS, LCSW, CHCM