Leper Community

I went to the Leper Community with Ramanbhai. It was actually a very productive trip down, even though we were only there for an hour or so. The girl who runs the tuition classes is a 12th grader, but she is a very hard worker and really knows the community well. We walked around the community and basically just got an update on how things are going. Water is dripping into the community center, which has become a place people rely on going to when their own houses have water coming into them. Water pools near the houses and even floods the houses up past the beds, obviously posing a huge convenience and health concern. We made the appropriate calls to get that fixed so that they can at least use the community center as a shelter when it rains.

We also talked about the sewing class they have for the women in the area and getting a better teacher for the one they have, since apparently the teacher that is currently working with them is not very good!

Last, the girl who runs the classes has been given the responsibility of doing a detailed survey of everyone living there. I helped her write down what all she needs to ask. We will get information on each member of the family, their occupation, education level, leprosy status, any and all past medical history and health conditions, and need for additional care. Our goal is to have the houses (140 or so) surveyed by next week when we go back in order to have a starting point for what the community needs. We want to follow up with people that have health conditions that require attention, start a nutrition supplementation program for those living on their own unable to make good healthy meals for themselves, and then assess and provide other needs such as wheelchairs etc. I'm really excited to get this part done and see where the community is at so we can move forward and address their specific needs.

We are having an eye camp there in early September - lots of people there have vision problems. We have to go in the next few days to fill out a request and get it set up. The people in the Leper Community are only available the first 10 days of every month, because after that many of them go to various cities to beg.

We spent some time with the kids in the anganwadi (preschool) - they are adorable!