Christians Help Lepers

Mike: It may be hard to believe, but as the 21^st century begins, the ancient and horrific disease, leprosy, still disables and kills thousands worldwide each year. American journalist, Cheryl Josephson, tells us what she has discovered about this dreaded ailment.

Cheryl: Two things struck me right away. First, it is hard to believe how cruel leprosy is to those who have been ravaged by this disease. What's even worse is how many children with leprosy are cast out of their homes and abandoned by their parents because of fear and superstition. The second thing I found was what an incredible gift the new cure for leprosy really is. This is tremendous news for millions of people, especially youngsters. The crucial thing is, they have got to get the medicine early, because once leprosy has destroyed the nerves, the damage is often permanent. There is only a small window of opportunity to cure the disease before the damage starts. Let's see what it is that makes this disease so catastrophic. At first, leprosy looks completely harmless. Nothing more than a small patch on a small child's tender skin. But leprosy acts like a time bomb hidden from view. Deep inside the body, millions of leprosy bacilli are multiplying and beginning to attack the body's delicate nerves. After the first sign of patches, doctors have only a few months to treat the disease. From that point on, delicate nerves can be damaged beyond repair. Once this happens, leprosy quickly begins to destroy. For every child that goes without help, this story may well be repeated. Leprosy begins be killing the sense of touch in the limbs. Without feeling, a child easily injures his hands and feet. Paralyzing deformities and clawing appear. Soon, dangerous ulcers infect the tissues and bones. An effect known as 'leprosy reaction' may also cruelly disfigure a youngster's features. As a child gets older, amputations may be necessary. Bone resorption can turn what's left of his limbs into useless stubs. As the years go by, sunken noses further deform the face, and lose of the blinking reflex may also cause blindness. During adulthood, a person with untreated leprosy can become virtually helpless, unable to work, robbed of all self-worth and dignity. The scars of rejection, the feelings of worthlessness, what person ever deserves this? Yet these are wounds that are as much a part of leprosy today as they ever were. But a few years ago, doctors discovered for the first time ever a cure for leprosy, medical treatment that, if taken early enough, will stop leprosy in its tracks. A cure that will mean hope where once there was only fear.

Mike: Ms Josephson introduces us to a child suffering from this horrible disease.

Cheryl" This is Chamilee Beeka. She's twelve years old, and as lovely a little girl as you could ever meet. But Chamilee has been crippled by leprosy, and because her family feared the disease, they abandoned her.

Chamilee (through interpreter): When my mother and father saw that I had leprosy, they said, 'You have to leave our home. You have a terrible disease, and if you don't leave, many others will get sick.' My mother and father said their neighbors will turn against them because I had leprosy, so I had to leave my home.

Cheryl: How long has it been since you've seen your family?

Chamilee: It has been three years since I've seen my mother and father, and I miss them very much, and I want to go home.

Cheryl: Nothing I have even known can help me understand what a child like this must feel. To be deserted by the people you love, your own family, must be the most heartbreaking experience in the world. Like many children with leprosy, Chamilee had no one to take care of her. She was found by someone who brought her here, to this Christian leprosy hospital. They treated her for leprosy as soon as possible, but by that time, the damage to her nerves was already permanent. Now she must learn new skills to cope with her disabilities. Because of the stigma of leprosy of leprosy in this society, Chamilee will probably never go home. She will find it hard to marry, or just be accepted for who she is. She is only now just beginning to understand that.

Chamilee: Thinking about the future is very hard. She doesn't know what she will do. She just wishes leprosy would never have happened, but she knows her life will be very different from now on.

Cheryl: As Chamilee is just now realizing, leprosy can lead to a kind of exile, living apart from the family and friends she once counted on. The tragic thing is, this need not happen, because now, children with leprosy can avoid the stigma of this terrible disease. They can avoid the disabilities that are so damaging, IF they get the cure for leprosy in time.

Mike: Reporter, Cheryl Josephson.  A Christian volunteer who works with lepers introduces us to a second person, named Faguni, also afflicted by leprosy.

Volunteer: We don't really understand what leprosy does to people like Faguni, until we understand how they are feeling. We can see that leprosy has damaged very much Faguni's hands, but leprosy has done another different damage to her heart and to her feelings.

Faguni (through translator): Faguni is telling us that when she contracted leprosy and the villagers realized it, that they rejected her and sent her out of the village. Even the family turned against her. This made her feel very anxious, very much afraid, and she felt very much lost and alone.

Volunteer: People like Faguni do not only need treatment with medicine or with surgery, but they need to somehow heal inside as well. They need to experience that we love them, and they need to somehow understand that God loves them as well.

Faguni (through translator): She is saying that when she came into this hospital, she got treatment for her body, and she got treatment for her soul as well. She met the Lord and she started to pray, and she started to become more happy, and got more hope, and she's very happy and thanks God.

As reporter Cheryl Josephson mentioned earlier, a cure for leprosy is now available, and relief agencies worldwide are working hard to bring that cure to lepers in desperate need. The Christian organization, American Leprosy Mission is one of the most active. ALM has been serving the needs of lepers for a century now, taking their inspiration from the ministry of Jesus Christ. If you would like to learn more about the work of the American Leprosy Mission, you can visit their website at leprosy.org.

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