An inspiration, then and now

Joan Hunt, the founder of Cudeca, who died five years ago on 24 June 2021, was to my mind the most inspirational - and loved - foreign resident of our times and the one who left the greatest legacy to the international community. Not only in terms of the hospice she determined to build here and which has provided palliative and end-of-life care to many thousands of patients, free of charge, but also in the social fabric of the province of Malaga, where Cudeca is a unifying force like no other.

It is a well-known story: Joan and her husband Fred retired to the Costa del Sol from the UK but when Fred developed a brain tumour, Joan struggled to get him the care he needed. When he died, she set about raising funds for a hospice. It started with coffee mornings and fundraising events and then Joan proposed opening a charity shop staffed by volunteers. Despite voices warning that such a thing was practically unheard-of in Spain and could never work, she went ahead and was proved right: the community backed her project and helped.

Her legacy lives on, and grows. There are now 31 charity shops, including two in Seville and two in Cordoba. Cudeca has an army of volunteers, people who give their time willingly and form new international friendships along the way. The house Joan lived in, which she bequeathed to Cudeca, now serves as a paediatric unit providing care for young patients and their families. Her “special kind of caring” philosophy and methods are taught at Malaga University and through the Cudeca Institute in the Yusuf Hamied Training & Research Centre adjoining the hospice.

Joan won many accolades in her lifetime (and SUR in English can be proud to have supported her from the beginning and to have been the first to recognise her merits with an award). After her death, the provincial government (Diputación) created the annual Joan Hunt Awards for foreign-born residents who have made an important contribution to the local community.

Joan was a visionary and inspired people of all nationalities and languages to believe, as she did, in the essential goodness of humanity.

Thank you Joan. I think you did even more than you set out to do.