SOUTH WEST AND CHANNEL ISLANDS

Before November I had never been to India.  For the past year I have talked about the work of The Leprosy Mission.   In particular its impact throughout India, but I hadn't seen any of it first hand.  The extent of my experience with this great country was getting an Indian takeaway!  All this changed as I flew into Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) on 8 November 2009, and I have not been the same since.

My trip took me throughout the most highly populated city in the world (26,000 people per km2) as well as to some of the most rural areas of West Bengal.   I saw how The Leprosy Mission is working with the poorest, most vulnerable and alienated people affected by leprosy.  I visited hospitals, care homes, schools, vocational training centres and community projects.  I was welcomed into hospital rooms and homes in leprosy colonies, remote villages, and slums.  I saw people being diagnosed with the disease; people being treated with multidrug therapy; people undergoing surgery for leprosy-related deformities and people rebuilding their lives after leprosy has taken so much from them.  I saw so many different people - babies and children, men and women, young and old, middle class, the poor and the even poorer. I saw so much need. So much yet to be done. So much devastation caused by leprosy and by poverty. My heart cried out. 'Where are you God? Why have you abandoned these people?'

The mercy home attached to Purulia hospital caters for those who have had leprosy for many years.  Most of the residents have been there for at least 25 years.  During our visit, a group of ladies sang for us.  These elderly women gathered in a circle giggling like little girls.  They propped each other up, supporting those who couldn't walk and guiding those who couldn't see.  Then they burst into song.  It was the most beautiful sound.  Sukri was abandoned by her parents 46 years ago.  Aba came when her husband left her at least 25 years ago.  Each of the women shared a similar story of rejection and loss and yet all they wanted to do was to sing to us, to share their joy and their love with some English visitors.  That's when it struck me - the thing that all the people I saw had in common.  Hope . Possibility.  A future.

Leprosy can destroy much of the body but the stigma of leprosy destroys so much more. It destroys life.  It destroys people's worth, their potential, their soul.  The Leprosy Mission, through practical support and healing, is doing so much for these people.  However, the endless love and compassion that the wonderful and selfless Leprosy Mission staff show, is healing the deeper wounds brought about by this terrible disease.  It is slowly giving worth, bringing much-needed attention and comfort and it is most importantly speaking truth into their lives - the truth that they are precious children of God and that their lives have significance; they have a role to play.  There is hope.

I returned home with an enormous sense of pride that I am part of an organisation which is doing so much fantastic work, and which is bringing the gift of hope to so many forgotten people.  Thank you for being a part of this significant work with me.