This week is dancing and singing festival in Riga! However, people who are in hospital for a long time in a serious condition, cannot experience it, so - to bring joy to them too - we organised a concert by the nation's favourite musician Žoržs Siksna in the yard of Riga 1st Hospital.
Patients who cannot walk on their own are escorted outside by staff and volunteers by the hand or pushed in wheelchairs. Windows in the wards are opened so that those who are physically unable to stand up and most of their time spend in hospital bed can also hear the music... and so the concert can begin! Some quietly hum along to familiar tunes, some sing and sway to the rhythm. "How I would like to dance once more!" says one of the ladies, and so we take her by hand and dance! We dance while we still can! We can dance even if we have to sit in a wheelchair. Men smile when they are asked to dance, and someone wipes away tears of delight because the songs they have known since their youth are reminders of what they once experienced, but memories, however beautiful, are not always easy.
"Dancing with men who have lost the use of their limbs - is the real tango - the tango of the soul... When you can read in this mans eyes everything that has ever happened to that him... He is dancing with his very eyes, that's just fantastic! I am blessed to be able to experience something like this. Thank God for this day, for this opportunity," with gratitude says Ilze Neimane-Nešpora, Hospiss LV Board Member and the most active dancer at this event.
While listening to the songs, patients are treated to delicious snacks provided by “H2O Banketi” of which we hear, "I have never had such delicious snacks in my life!" Besides, what's a feast without champagne?! We raise our a glasses of non-alcoholic champagne "Mežezers" and toast to life and the living. Because everyone deserves a celebration. And this festive feeling lives on in these people for a long time.
"It feels so good to create a joyful moment that reaches even the toughest soul, moment that unites, supports and cherishes, if only for a minute, for a slight second," writes volunteer Lienīte Ansone, who not only visits patients at the 1st Hospital every week, but shares her emotional reflections afterwards in a volunteer group chat.
We would like to thank "H2O Banketi" for the delicious snacks and "Livonia Cēsis" for the non-alcoholic champagne "Mežezers". We would also like to thank the regular supporters of the "Festive Table" project - "Rimi" and "Rāmkalni", and of course the donators. Your donation has made this event possible!
Many thanks to the volunteers who gave up their time to bring joy to the patients. You are the souls of Hospiss LV, it would not be possible without you.
