HAVE YOU EVER FELT…

...unseen or ignored?  

That’s what happens to people when they are diagnosed with leprosy;  husbands divorce wives, babies are taken away from mothers and children are ostracised at school - in fact, many of them don’t go to school because life is made very difficult for them.  It is a disease of poverty - I can remember as long as 50 years ago when I attended Gorse Hill Baptist Church and we supported the Leprosy Mission then, it saddened me to hear that there is such a stigma to this disease and it upset me today to think that this is still happening.  

Gabby, who is the Community Partnerships Manager with the Leprosy Mission only returned from North India yesterday, but came to speak to us today about the work of the Leprosy Mission’s hospital in Muzaffarpur.  

She told us the stories of several people she had spoken to whilst out there and which had reduced her to tears.  It was really interesting to hear about how, having been diagnosed, people - and many were children - were able to be treated for free at this hospital and once cured, they were able to go back to their village or town and live a relatively normal life, depending on how disabled they had been after they had contracted this disease and how much reconstructive surgery is needed.

I know that we often complain about our Health Service, but a large number of those who are treated at Muzaffarpur Hospital have walked many miles to get to the hospital in searing heat.  Once there, they have to wait in a very long queue, sometimes of over 600 people, outside a dilapidated Outpatient Department, hoping that they will be seen by a doctor.  I cannot imagine how they and their relatives must feel.  

The first slide in my collage shows how much is needed to bring this hospital up to a good standard for the excellent work they do.  I hope that many people in the Church this morning queued up, although not in searing heat, to give money for this worthy cause.

The second photograph shows one of the banners at Church and the third are the beautiful daffodils that were on the table in the foyer - letting us know that Spring is on the way!

My second collage, which I have put in as an extra, shows one of the long queues at the hospital and also shows 18 year old Rajisha, one of the those treated at the hospital.  She, her parents and three siblings live in one of the poorest regions of India.  Sadly, although Rajisha started medication that it was hoped would cure the leprosy, damage had already been done to the nerves in her body, so she needed reconstructive surgery but is now recovering well.  

The children at Church put their money each week into Bob the Cow (don’t ask!) and their offerings, in the sum of a cheque for £169.50, was presented to Gabby during the service so that the Leprosy Mission can help buy goats and then people, who have suffered because they have leprosy, can become self-sufficient.

It was a great service with lots to think and pray about - especially about how we can help those much less fortunate than ourselves - and whose smiles, despite facing adversity and many months of treatment, certainly lifted my spirits this morning.  

Have a great week and remember to be kind - and be blessed.  M xx