Starlight Oasis of Hope Hospice, https://sohhospice.org.ls/ Registered as Charitable Incorporated Organization No. 1195548
Starlight Oasis of Hope Hospice (SOHH) Annual Report and Accounts 2021-22
1 Objects
The objects of SOHH are the advancement of health in the kingdom of Lesotho for the public benefit and the relief of those in need, by reason of youth, age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage at the discretion of the charity trustees and in particular but not exclusively:
Advancing the understanding in the general population of the need for and benefits provided by palliative care
Advancing the training of those providing care for individuals with life limiting illness
Relieving the physical, mental and social distress of those with life limiting illness and those who care for them
2. Trustees
President ; Prof Walter Jones. (resigned Nov 2022)
Chair: Dr Paul Myres
Founder: Me’ Tebello Lepheane
Andrew Wardrop
Veronica German (from September 2022)
3. Activities
This year saw our official launch in Lesotho at the Royal Palace in Maseru in the presence of Her Majesty Queen ‘Masenate Mohato Seeiso who graciously agreed to be our patron. We feel very honoured.
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Starlight Oasis of Hope Hospice, https://sohhospice.org.ls/ Registered as Charitable Incorporated Organization No. 1195548
The site for our hospice care at Maqhaka, about ten kilometres north of Maseru (Capital of Lesotho) was approved for the provision of health care services and we acquired an adjoining piece of land. We will now have improved access. We have provided a water supply to the local community and will be extending that to the site next year.
We have had a lot of publicity on radio and in the press and our Founder has delivered regular radio slots about cancer and palliative care. Our launch was attended by dignitaries from Ministries and Health Care staff and the British High Commissioner, who baked us a celebration cake. The launch was featured not only by numerous national media outlets but also featured in the London based hospice newsletter called ehospice and the USA based newsletter of the International Association of Hospice and Palliative Care (IAHPC).
Following this our Founder was invited to attend the 7[th] Africa Palliative Care Association (APCA) conference in Uganda.
We have developed a phone app to ease the transfer of information when patients are referred between health professionals and this has been beta tested.
We had a presence in Maseru for World Cancer Day in February when Her Majesty the Queen also attended.
Our website went live in February and will receive regular updating.
SOHH has been contributing to the National Cancer Control Strategy Technical Working Group including the drafting of palliative care policy and guidelines, and Non-Communicable Disease indicators.
We have created a collaboration with UK based organization called Palliative Care Works (PCW) to deliver frontline palliative care training in the Mountain Kingdom (Lesotho). In time we plan to run a Train the Trainer programme so that further training can be undertaken by Basotho healthcare practitioners.
We have had constructive meetings with The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Social Development to work together for the provision of support to those with life limiting illnesses and their carers.
We have pledges of support from several corporations in Lesotho for when we start to develop our site.
We continue to lobby when we can for the recognition of needs for those with life limiting illness and the provision of palliative care. We are grateful for the opportunities provided for us by Radio Maria, Ultimate Radio and Public Eye Newspaper.
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Starlight Oasis of Hope Hospice, https://sohhospice.org.ls/ Registered as Charitable Incorporated Organization No. 1195548
Finance
We have bank accounts in UK with Charity Aid Foundation Bank and in Lesotho with Standard Lesotho Bank. Money is transferred from UK to Lesotho by international bank transfers.
We had an income of £24,244.52 in the UK from public donations, including fundraising activity and online donations. We had an income of LSL 1700.00 ( £87.18) in Lesotho from personal donations.
Our expenditure was £7,350.25 in the UK, largely spent on the acquisition of land in Lesotho to base our operations in the future and to pay for travel costs to Lesotho by our founder for meetings and planning. Costs also include fundraising and publicity. In Lesotho our expenditure was LSL68,890.65 (equivalent to £7251.65). Our main expenses were associated with land acquisition and registration, awareness raising and our launch with 40 guests at the Royal Palace. The venue was graciously provided free of charge by our patron Her Majesty Queen Masenate Mohato Seeiso.
All payments require receipts and dual authorisation.
(average exchange rate during the year £1 = LSL 19.5).
This is our first year of operation although at this stage we are only delivering awareness raising. As such we have not yet agreed a Reserves policy. The balance at year end showed a surplus of £12,394.27 in the UK and LSL19,906.80 in Lesotho
Plans for next year
We will be running two training courses for frontline health and social care professionals.
We aim to agree a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Social Development.
We will establish a small building on the land at Maqhaka, forging a relationship with the local community. The land will require levelling, provision of an improved access road and clearing of a donga (seasonal stream).
We will be advocating for improved access to morphine for those with life limiting illness in severe pain.
We will continue with community awareness raising and lobbying the administration for improved provision of palliative care services. We will be meeting with key stakeholders, decision makers and commercial organisations to obtain support for the commencement of palliative care services initially in the districts of Maseru and Berea.
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Starlight Oasis of Hope Hospice, https://sohhospice.org.ls/ Registered as Charitable Incorporated Organization No. 1195548
. Starlight Oasis of Hope Hospice Annual Financial Report October 2021 – September 2022
UK Accounts
Income
Personal Donations £13,205.00 Fundraising. £3665.00 Online fundraising. £243.05 Grants from other bodies. £6000.00 Bank Interest £6.47 Gift Aid Reclaimed £1125.00
TOTAL
£24,244.52
Expenditure
Bank charges £50.00 Bank charges (international transfers) £50.00 Land Acquisition. £2593.75 Publicity £376.83 Air Travel £3,639.16 (including £1195.5 paid for travel in November 22) Launch £640.51
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Starlight Oasis of Hope Hospice, https://sohhospice.org.ls/ Registered as Charitable Incorporated Organization No. 1195548
Transfer to Standard Lesotho Bank. £4500.00
TOTAL
£11,850.25
Balance (surplus)
£12,394.27
Bank balance at 30 September 2022 £12,394.27 Lesotho Accounts
Income
Donations LSL 1,700.00 Transfers LSL 87,097.45 TOTAL LSL88,797.45
Expenditure
Monthly Bank Fee 720.00 Credit Card Fee 60.00 ATM Fees 475.38 On line transaction fees 87.40 International transfer fees. 296.00 Total Banking Fees 1638.78 Launch Costs – food, drink, 30,629.50 Decorations, tables Land Acquisition 25,000.00 Website 1,195.37 Publicity 9470.00 Telecom 957.00 TOTAL LSL68,890.65
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Starlight Oasis of Hope Hospice, https://sohhospice.org.ls/ Registered as Charitable Incorporated Organization No. 1195548
Balance (Surplus)
LSL19,906.80
Opening bank balance (from last year) LSL400.00 Closing bank balance 30 9 22 LSL20,306.80
Exchange rate on 30.9.22. ZAR 20.21 to £1. £1004.79
Paul Myres, Hon Treasurer 30 01 23
Approved by Board of Trustees 22 03 23
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