The Trust and, in particular, the children and the whole community are very fortunate to have Sister Priscilla running the Holy Cross Hospice. Sister is not only eminently qualified for the job, she is a person with enormous drive and determination and has well honed organizational skills. When Sister Priscilla arrived at the Holy Cross Hospice the only operative facility was a rudimentary clinic. The hospice, crèche and training centre and the many programmes that are now run at the Holy Cross AIDS Hospice were all developed by Sister Priscilla.
The late Bishop Biyase chose Sister to establish a hospice and rejuvenate the clinic as she had gained similar experience and achieved success at two other clinics in KwaZulu-Natal. With his support and that of the Holy Cross Hospice governors and from the many donors who have been so touched and proud of her work, Sister has been able to create something very special. Her approach is a holistic, community based support system for a region that has been ravaged by AIDS.

Sister is a Roman Catholic nun (Benedictine Sisters of Twasana), a qualified nurse, has diplomas in General Nursing, Midwifery, Clinical Care and Administration, Advanced Psychiatry, Community Health Nursing and is currently doing her Masters in Psychiatry through the University of Natal. She has also attended many courses on AIDS and Family Planning related subjects in South Africa, West Africa, Germany, Italy, Austria and the UK. She has also presented papers at conferences throughout South Africa and in Europe.

Sister has received awards for her work from the Department of Welfare (“Community Builder of the Year”), Edith Venter Award (“The Woman who made it against all odds”), The Soul City Health and Development Worker of the Year (National Finalist) and the Pat McGregor Natural Family Planning Award (Highest Achieving Teacher and Supervisor in South Africa).

Sister has also featured in many newspapers articles in South Africa and throughout the world via a syndicated article on her work by the Washington Post. She has also appeared on SATV and local radio, on a BBC documentary on Alternative Medicines to treat AIDS sufferers and, in January 2007, appeared on a SATV programme to commemorate World AIDS Day.

She is a remarkable person who has achieved so much against such great odds.

Popularity: 64% [?]

Finances

Since inception just over seven years ago, the Trust has outlaid approximately £150,000 (c. R2.3 million) to fund:

• caregiver allowances
• salaries for the staff at the crèche
• the purchase of food parcels and stationery and equipment for the crèche
• the acquisition of a second hand motor vehicle for the staff at the Holy Cross Hospice
• the purchase of a 1.3 ton truck to transport building materials to the sites for houses for the child headed families and to ferry children to and from the crèche.

No direct financial costs were incurred by the Trust in collecting, transporting and clearing the 40 ft. container of clothing, etc that was sent to the Holy Cross Hospice. The costs of this were borne by individual Trustees and others.

The administration and running costs that were borne by the charity for the same sixyear period amounted to only £6,000 being the costs of hosting the website, bank charges and the independent examiner’s fees.

When the Trust was formed, the aim was to provide funding to the Holy Cross Hospice for specific and targeted programmes for the children in the area amounting to some £25,000 per annum. Since its inception in November 2002, the Trust has raised over £250,000 from individual donors, targeted corporate sponsorship, from the Elton John AIDS Foundation (to help “kick start” the Home Based Care Programme and specifically pay for the allowances of Caregivers for a period) and from three fund raising events at the Royal Academy in London in 2005, 2007 and 2009 in conjunction with the London Print Fair.

The Trust has committed to give long term and consistent support to the programmes run by Sister Priscilla from the Holy Cross Hospice and the Trust will ensure that at all times it has sufficient funds to achieve this aim.

The Trustees Annual Report and Accounts for the 17 months ended 31 March 2004 and years ended 31 March 2005,2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 are attached to this page.

Governance

The Trustees meet as and when necessary but normally 4 times a year. The Chairman of the Trust also meets with members of the Board of Trustees of the Holy Cross Hospice. The Trustees are in contact with Sister Priscilla on a frequent/weekly basis to monitor progress and deal with any issues affecting the Trust’s interests. The Chairman of The Trust and certain other Trustees visit the Holy Cross Hospice in South Africa three or four times a year to review activities and to participate in Sister Priscilla’s programmes. All Trustees have travelled to South Africa to visit the Holy Cross Hospice and observe the programmes at first hand.

The Trust has set up a system to ensure that the allowances for the Caregivers are paid directly to each individual Caregiver and that payment is acknowledged by the intended recipients. All other disbursements are controlled appropriately. All donations and bequests are acknowledged. The Trust receives a monthly report outlining the activities of the Caregivers.

The major risks to which the charity is exposed relate to its ability to fund on-going commitments; the disbursement of allowances to Caregivers and the administration of the financial affairs of The Trust. The Trustees believe that the processes and systems that are in place mitigate the risks identified.

Trustees’ Annual Reports and Accounts:

Annual Reports

	download: Annual Report 2009 (1.19MB) clicks: 8 added: 27/01/2010 clicks: 8

	download: Annual Report 2008 (219.15KB) clicks: 21 added: 27/01/2010 clicks: 21

	download: Annual Report 2007 (188.72KB) clicks: 12 added: 27/01/2010 clicks: 12

	download: Annual Report 2006 (150.27KB) clicks: 18 added: 27/01/2010 clicks: 18

	download: Annual Report 2005 (140.19KB) clicks: 14 added: 27/01/2010 clicks: 14

	download: Annual Report 2003 (143.87KB) clicks: 22 added: 27/01/2010 clicks: 22

Popularity: 64% [?]