Across Continents, A Shared Mission of Care: Asia’s Story of Courage and Hope

For more than 15 years, Gilchrist’s partnership with the Palliative Care Program at Nkoaranga Lutheran Hospital in northern Tanzania has connected two communities thousands of miles apart through a shared belief: everyone deserves compassionate care, dignity, and support when facing serious illness. In a region where poverty, food insecurity, transportation challenges, and limited access to medical care can make an already difficult diagnosis even harder, the Nkoaranga team brings essential care and resources directly to patients and families who might otherwise go without them.

Behind the numbers are people whose lives illustrate why this partnership matters. People like 56-year-old Asia Zakaria Pareso, a mother whose journey through HIV, cancer, and life with a permanent colostomy has required extraordinary resilience.

Asia’s Story of Courage and Resilience

For 56-year-old Asia Zakaria Pareso, each day requires resilience. For more than 16 years, Asia has lived with HIV, faithfully following her antiretroviral therapy and attending regular medical appointments. Through her own health challenges, she has remained devoted to caring for her 12-year-old child, who was born HIV-positive and also requires lifelong treatment and ongoing medical care. Then, in 2025, Asia faced another devastating diagnosis: anal cancer.

She was referred to Ocean Road Cancer Institute in Dar es Salaam, where she completed a full course of radiotherapy. The treatment was physically and emotionally demanding, but Asia persevered. When complications from the progression of her disease later required major abdominal surgery, she underwent a procedure that left her with a permanent colostomy. The surgery significantly reduced her pain and improved her overall condition, but it also created a new challenge.

A Basic Need That Can Make a Life-Changing Difference

Asia now depends on colostomy bags every day. Each bag costs approximately $2 and is intended for single use, but severe financial hardship often prevents her from purchasing enough. Without an adequate supply, Asia has been forced to wash and reuse colostomy bags, increasing her risk of infection, skin complications, and discomfort while affecting her dignity and quality of life. For someone facing so many complex medical challenges, something as seemingly simple as a reliable supply of colostomy bags can make an enormous difference.

Asia also continues to need medical follow-up, transportation, nutritional assistance, and support as she cares for her child. Yet despite everything she has endured, she remains hopeful and determined to be there for the person who matters most to her. Her story is one example of the profound challenges facing patients and families served by the Palliative Care Program at Nkoaranga Lutheran Hospital in northern Tanzania.

A Partnership That Spans Continents

Since 2009, Gilchrist has partnered with Nkoaranga through Global Partners in Care, connecting two organizations across continents through a shared commitment to compassionate palliative care. When Nkoaranga lost its primary source of financial support in 2011, Gilchrist stepped in to help fund the program’s annual operating budget. That support continues today, helping Nkoaranga’s small but dedicated team bring medical, emotional, spiritual, and practical care directly to patients and families who might otherwise go without it.

Nkoaranga serves a region where poverty, food insecurity, transportation barriers, and limited access to medical care can make living with serious illness especially difficult. Approximately 76% of its patients are living with HIV/AIDS. With a team that includes a physician, social worker, palliative care coordinator, chaplain, driver, and 12 trained volunteers, Nkoaranga provides home-based palliative care, caregiver education, support groups, and assistance for children living with HIV/AIDS. In 2025 alone, the team completed more than 574 home visits and supported an average monthly caseload of 860 patients and their families.

Helping Patients Like Asia Live With Dignity

Gilchrist’s partnership with Nkoaranga is made possible through generosity close to home. Donations help support staff salaries, medications, volunteer stipends, transportation, vehicle maintenance, educational scholarships, food, and other necessities that allow the team to care for patients like Asia.

For Asia, that support can mean something very tangible: access to the medical supplies she needs to live more safely and comfortably. She requires approximately 30 to 60 colostomy bags each month, at an estimated cost of $60 to $120. Reliable access to those supplies can reduce her risk of preventable complications while restoring comfort and dignity as she continues caring for her child.

Asia’s story is a reminder that compassionate care knows no borders. A gift made thousands of miles away can help a mother receive essential medical supplies, help a child continue an education, provide transportation to a medical appointment, or allow a palliative care team to reach a patient who otherwise might have no access to care.

Thanks to the generosity of Gilchrist and GBMC staff, many of whom contribute through payroll deduction, as well as donors, volunteers, and fundraising initiatives, Gilchrist is able to continue supporting this important partnership and helping Nkoaranga care for some of the region’s most vulnerable patients and families.