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Leprosy is curable. Rising Star Outreach seeks to defeat it.
If caught early enough, Leprosy can be stopped before it ravages a body. Through our efforts in medical treatment, child education, and economic development, we expect to see the Indian Leprosy colonies develop into clean, thriving, and self-sufficient villages by the year 2020.
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The Story of Selvaraj:
"My village is Malasakkadu. I used to ride a buffalo cart. I was 12 years old when I found bumps in my body.Then I got rashes and it would not go away. I was riding a buffalo cart and my arms used to hurt. Then my eyes and mouth drooped and I was almost on my deathbed." In 1993 Selvaraj was forced to leave his village and family as a result of his developing Leprosy. He was treated, but due to his deformities he became shunned from all society. In his words "My family abused me and asked me to get lost. They hated me." Selvaraj became a beggar, sitting in the train stations and asking alms. After a while he learned about one of the colonies for leprosy patients and has been living there ever since.
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| The Indian Leprosy colonies have tragically emerged as refugee camps for people forced to leave their homes and often their families after being diagnosed with Leprosy. In the recent words of one patient: Even our own parents and siblings despise us. Seeking relief from the bitter social stigma, they gather together in remote places where they do their best to cobble out a meager living. |
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They usually arrive in the colonies without any financial holdings. They scrape together a simple hut or take over an abandoned one. The houses are tiny and poorly provide even the most basic necessities. In some colonies, the roofs on the houses are collapsing. They are usually filthy and dark, perpetuating the incorrect notion among the general Indian population about the unclean origins of the disease.
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In their new lives in the colonies, the people often form families and have children. Although these children are not always affected by Leprosy, the stigma of coming from a Leprosy colony makes them subject to the same social discrimination as their parents. Often, the conditions in the colonies cause these children grow up into beggars themselves, thus perpetuating the curse generation after generation.
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Leprosy has traditionally robbed its victims of all that is precious in life: their families, homes, self-respect, emotional well-being and physical health. It has long been acknowledged as one of the most devastating diseases known to man; in effect, it was a curse worse than death.
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Rising Star Outreach has a plan to eradicate this scourge. You can help.
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