Wednesday 30th March 2016 was a day of great joy as Meru Hospice opened a new premise located within Meru town. Dozens of people packed the hospice’s great area to celebrate the grand opening and toured the facility.

Partners, local donors, patients, volunteers, staff and dignitaries packed the 1 acre plot, among them KEHPCA representatives, Nyeri Hospice, Laikipia Hospice, Ministry of Health and representatives from Meru County commissioner’s office.

A storey building was covered with Ribbons as the ribbon brought strong symbolism. Red represents compassion, blue represents peace, yellow represents joy, purple represents honor and green represents encouragement.

Gladys Mucee the program coordinator gave her opening remarks and thanked everyone who was present for the celebrations. “I just can’t express how I feel,” she said. “It’s been a very emotional day for me, walking around and knowing that every single element here is only here because of the love for Meru Hospice,” “We hope after people see this beautiful community treasure will want to be a part of it.“Courage, faith and community are three resounding characteristics of the hospice that have gone into this project,” she said.

The Meru municipality donated a one acre piece of land for the Meru hospice. Honorable Rahim Dawood, the area Member of Parliament, gave credit to the Meru municipality for such a noble gesture. With a goal of raising about 25 million Kenya Shillings to build, furnish and help in operational costs, the hospice board got support from Honorable Rahim and his family for the initiative. Hon Rahim’s Dad died in 2014 due to cancer hence the family decided to commit over 2 million Kenya shillings to the hospice project in memory of their father. The Chief guests of honor were Farooq and Tania who are Rahim’s children living in United Kingdom. Every donor and partner was warmly thanked by various speakers as the ceremony continued.

Dr. Killingo who is the Executive Director/Founder of the Meru Hospice outlined the milestones the hospice had gone through and applauded the hospice team saying, “Our Leadership team and staff are truly amazing! They demonstrate the core values of Meru Hospice in how they work with each other, the patients, their families as well as the larger community. We are hoping to be an excellent hospice service.”

“It is my fervent prayer and hope that this building will always be symbolic of the heartfelt care and compassion rendered at the Meru Hospice,” Honorable Rahim told the crowd. In an interview, he said he hopes his name is worthy of all the wonderful things the hospice represents.

The guests of honor and invited guests had an opportunity to tour the full furnished hospice, cut the ribbons and the ceremony was crowned by cutting of a Cake.

On behalf of the Board, Meru Hospice would like to thank the staff, volunteers, donors, families, friends and community for their support. A special thank you to Honorable Rahim and family who has completed 7 years of dedicated service as a Board member.

The Hospice Core Values: Hospitality, Compassion, Patient centered care, dignity, Integrity, Open and Honest Communication and Excellence are key to our future. Let us travel this journey together.