I had the honor of being able to go to a
leper colony my last day in India. We went expecting the worst – all the scary stories we’ve heard from people who’ve gone before and from reading scriptures about the ‘unclean ones.’ I wasn’t afraid for my own health – because unlike the myth,
leprosy is curable! Hindus will not take the medication to cure it partly because it’s a little expensive but mostly because they believe that they deserve leprosy because of something they did in a past life.
There was a huge sign outside letting everyone know that it was a leper colony. There is one man who is the ‘leader’ of the group inside. There was a little greeting area upfront that had a couple of fans – probably their only place of relief from the heat. Each family had a small room to themselves, with the inside walls connected to their neighbor’s walls. That was basically it… it was small and compact, but it seemed to work for them. It only took us about five minutes to walk around the whole area. There was
a small church building that was donated a few years ago to the leper colony, right next to the Hindu idols. (There are a few Christians in the colony, but we think that some of them are a little confused and have just added Christ to their other gods.)
We were able to bring Lots of clothes that were to big or to small for the kids at the orphanage (yes that meant that we went through and sorted all of the clothes at the orphanage), and we brought
samosas (food) for the leader to hand out accordingly. We had a
couple of small tubs of adult glasses to give to those in need as well. To our surprise just about all of the adults with leprosy came to get a pair. Some struggled to try them on, but they went through just about each pair to find the ones that worked the best for them.
We were also surprised by the number of children that there were. We were instantly greeted by the kids and made many new little friends. These kids were much
worse off than our kids at the orphanage – all of their clothes were extremely torn and dirty, and they all suffered from lice and scabies. We were all asked if we had brought the necessities of life: comes, bandages, clothes, food, money, and even chocolate. Even though we did not have all that these people wanted or needed, they were grateful for the things that we did manage to bring.
The kids… after being there for only a few minutes we seemed to be
surrounded by children. We hadn’t prepared for so many kids, so we just played with them individually. They craved the one on one attention. Most of the children were quite ‘naughty’ which was a shock compared to our well mannered kids at the orphanage. But we just let them crawl all over us and play hand games.
We were only there for just over an hour, most people like to leave the colonies after a couple of hours, but I wanted to stay longer. As we made our way to the vehicles I had one child on each arm refusing to let go. It was harder for me to leave these kids I’d only known a few minutes than to say goodbye to the many kids at the orphanage.
I now understand why so many parents agree to let the orphanage take their children. These kids have the love of their parents when they are at the leper colony, but so many of the basic things of life the parents can not guarantee them on a daily basis. My heart broke for these people, but mostly for the children. Yes this is a long blog, but that is because this small group of about 100 people, have
changed my heart and my life forever.
My prayer is that everyone at the colony will come to know Christ. That they will realize that they no longer need to suffer ~ Christ has already paid the price. That they will be able to have all of their needs provided whether through the work of their own hands or the gifts of others. And that the children will know that they have a hope and a future, that they are surrounded by people who love and can care for them just the way that they are.
