‘The biggest disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis, but rather the feeling of being unwanted’ ~ Mother Teresa
The fear of being unwanted looms large in every human being and if you are someone affected by a chronic disease this fear turns into an everyday reality. Leprosy in itself is a health issue, but what makes it a social problem is the way the patients affected by leprosy are treated.
To reach out to the people affected by leprosy and to allay their insecurities about being unwanted, the members of the JU-SYLFF Association, makes a visit to the Leprosy Mission Hospital each year. Each year this visit reminds us that as a society we have a long way to go before these people are integrated as acceptable members of a community. This year we made the visit on the 6th of December. We interacted with about 65 patients and distributed cakes, biscuits, toffees and some savouries among them. They expressed their delight and gratefulness towards the gesture. The counsellor of the hospital took us around to the different wards where the patients are stationed. Their facial expressions reveal the deep sense of loneliness that marks their life as a result of the chronic disease that they have acquired. However, their struggles and remarkable ability to endure pain has a lesson for each one of us. After the initial round of interaction with the patients, a Hindi film was screened for the outpatients. Apart from this, we donated some DVDs with a combination of Hindi and Bengali comedy films, to the leprosy mission so that the patients can get some time off from their daily mundane routine. This is a small step towards making a sustainable contribution for the patients. The Association is continuously thinking of such sustainable plans and hopes to contribute on a bigger scale in its future visits.
