in the field: field photos
PHOTOS FROM THE CHHATTISGARH REGION OF INDIA AND FROM BRAZIL
(click any photo to enlarge)
Solomon, left, and his brother Teferey live in a very poor leprosy village in Ethiopia. They attend an ALM-supported school program. Teferey says his biggest problem in life before this program was, "I could not get school materials or fees."
Children from an Ethiopian leprosy village enjoy an after-school tutoring program supported by ALM friends.
Leprosy is curable with MDT (multidrug therapy). This woman holds a month's supply of pills. She will return to the clinic in one month for her next supply. Leprosy can usually be cured in six to twelve months.
Young men from an Angolan leprosy village were happy to receive a new soccer ball from ALM friends. The boy in the front holds the ball they were using, one created with rags and string.
Larinda shows us her leprosy patches. Pray for her complete recovery
Sonbai, Uma, and Kumari study tailoring at an ALM-supported vocational school in the Chhattisgarh Region of India.
Uma and Anita both have hand deformities. They still believe, with practice, they'll be able to manage the cutting and handwork of tailoring.
When Sonbai got leprosy, her husband divorced her and took their baby away. Anita says, "My brothers hate me because of leprosy. I never studied in school. I can only write my name." Uma is missing part of her thumb from leprosy. "It changed my life," she says.
ALM gifts provide hope for young women like Sonbai, Uma, and Kumari who have experienced deep suffering in their young lives. Keep them in your prayers!
Chhattisgarh is one of the most leprosy-endemic regions on earth. How do you teach people there that leprosy is curable? How do you spread the news in communities without phones, televisions, internet, clinics, or schools that early treatment is critical? Where people can't read? Here are some ways: traveling health teams, puppet shows, street actors, and MAGICIANS. Here a "leprosy educator" uses his magic tricks to describe how medicine kills the leprosy germ.
Leprosy education is a critical step in ALM's cure campaigns.
Budhari has lived at the leprosy hospital for 35 years. He is a "mercy patient."
"I don't even remember the mother and father who gave me birth. Now the doctors and nurses are my family."
He pushes himself around on a ground-level roll stool the hospital carpenter created for him.
Budhari was driven from his village as a teenager. "There is no limit to my sorrow and sufferings. My sufferings are so wide and large and deep that I can only weep over my fate."
Morga and her daughter Santoshi – "Sometimes I must beg. I carry my baby with me. I show people my leprosy hand and some are moved to give me a coin or rice."
Keep Morga and Santoshi in your prayers.
They are learning to be leprosy workers. These women in their green saris watch and listen as their instructor tells them about leprosy. All over the world, village leprosy workers are being trained to recognize the early signs of leprosy and assist with treatment…thanks to ALM donors.
Ram Prasahd has stiff, deformed hands. But on this day, he pushes his new fishing boat from the banks of the Hadeo River. He casts his new fishing net into the shallows and pulls it out, a small sarangi fish glistens in the morning sun. Today Ram Prasahd will catch enough fish to feed his family and to sell at the market. (Ram Prasahd received a small loan for his boat and his net thanks to a community-based rehab program supported by ALM donors.)
Panu says, "I had to leave my village. They cursed and hit me and shoved me away like an animal. I burned my hands when I cooked (leprosy left them insensitive to pain). My feet became wounded. Soon everyone was against me and I had to leave."
After India, Brazil has the most leprosy cases in the world. Carlos and his aunt receive care through an ALM program in Nova Iguacu.
American Leprosy Missions provides CUREPLUS for people with leprosy. In the D. R. Congo, this can mean helping leprosy-affected youngsters with school fees.
Or with special shoes to protect insensitive or "drop" feet.
