“Grandma, please get up, let’s eat something! Grandma!”
Alarmed by the screams, the neighbors rushed to Félicité and her granddaughter Aline’s house. They found a terrified 14-year-old trying to wake up the unconscious senior.
As they took the elderly lady to the hospital, Aline, who is hard of hearing, couldn’t understand their explanations. She screamed in terror, thinking her family was in danger again. The echoes of the bloody ethnic conflict that took place here nearly 30 years ago linger in the hearts of all who witnessed it.
Grandma is the last close person she has left. Her parents died during the Rwandan genocide. It was Félicité who spent hours combing little Aline’s hair, telling her fairy tales. It was grandma who showed her the world, explained what love means, and why the sky is blue. For a teenager, the idea of losing her grandmother was an unbearable thought.
Diagnosis – a stroke. In the hospital, they managed to wake Félicité up. Aline took care of her grandmother as best as she could, but as years passed, the consequences of the stroke became increasingly severe. Félicité required round-the-clock care. Fortunately, we found a place for her in our hospice, which became her new home!
Today, Aline doesn’t need to be persuaded to call or to bring a bouquet of flowers for Grandma’s Day – she visits whenever she can. She managed to organize Félicité’s 79th birthday, inviting friends and grandchildren from the farthest corners of Rwanda. When asked what she wishes for in the new year, she always gives the same answer – for grandma Félicité to have care.
You have the power to fulfill this wish. Each of us can give Félicité at least a day of care in a place where life is lived to the fullest. Where, despite the inevitability of the diagnosis, there is room for laughter, dance, and tender caresses. Here, terminally ill patients are not asked whether they can afford such a stay.