Leprosy Community Visit

I finally got a chance to go back to the Leprosy Community today! Chris, one of the new volunteers, is housed there a few days a week, so lots of new programs are getting kicked off there, which is just what the community needs.

There is a new nutrition program starting there geared towards the elderly that live in the community by themselves. All of these people have leprosy, and thus most all have problems with their feet and hands. All of them beg to make money to eat and pay their house bills. The 23 people in this program all live alone, and are all elderly. Every evening, Monday through Sunday, dinner will be cooked at the community center. All of the 23 will arrive, do a prayer together, and then eat together. This will also help increase utilization of the community center and make this a community event. The donors that are helping fund this project wanted some background information of the people in this program.

First I met with the husband and wife who will be cooking the meals. They were really great - they already have anticipated what problems they may face and are really enthusiastic about getting things started. So next we went around to meet the people that will be in the program. Many of them were not around since they had gone out to beg, but we talked to whoever was home. We told them about the program, asked if they will have any problems participating such as they can''t walk to the community center (for which we will pick them up with a wheelchair), what they think about this program, and then just a brief history on how they ended up at the leper community. All of them said the program was a good idea, but they just hoped they could chew the food, so we passed on that concern. All of the people we talked to had relocated because they got leprosy, which basically outcasted them from society. A few left because they were run out of their home villages; others left because they did not want their families to suffer disgrace because of them. One women left behind her husband and two young children (one 3 years old and one 4 months old) and came to live here. To this date she does not know how her sons are doing or even where they are...so heartbreaking. But the elderly were overall very grateful to have a program that will at least ensure they will get one good meal a day and give them a cushion so if they do not go beg a certain day because they are sick etc, they will still be able to get by. I'm very excited to see this project get going - it's going to provide a big help to those in need.

Last I visited a boy that lives in the community, Guru. Guru's Mom had difficulty during childbirth, which led him to having insufficient oxygen, and thus he suffers from cerebral palsy. The volunteer has been working with him doing traditional therapy to improve his breathing and his condition as much as possible. Guru does not sit, walk, move at all and his breathing can be very difficult at times. But since the volunteer has been working with Guru he is breathing better, is much more alert, active, and responsive, and is even moving around a lot more which is great news! It was amazing to see him. The best part about seeing him was that every time the volunteer laughed, Guru laughed. It was like a natural reaction to him and so heart touching to see!