Thoughts on Leprosy

So I know how scary some of those wounds seem in the bandaging pictures. And it is sad and disturbing to see people whose feet and hands have huge sores and who are missing fingers and toes, etc. The first time I was bandaging, I was sitting there helping out with a man whose feet were in particularly bad shape and I was just praying, "God, please help him." And in one of those special instances where I hear that still small voice, I heard, "I am."

And it hit me that He has been helping these people. He helps them each day and Christian men and women (and some Hindu and Muslim men and women as well) come to work for very low pay and spend their days serving in the Village of Hope. It doesn't take long to see that the people in the village, even the ones who come to have their terrible wounds bandaged each day because they will never fully heal, aren't filled with bitterness but with hope. People have told us what the area was like before Hope came 10 years ago. They say it was a wasteland, that people only survived by begging. There was no medical care and an awful stigma about the people there.

Now these patients have been cured of their leprosy (Hansen's Disease can be treated with antibiotics) so that the progression of the disease is stopped. They can have their wounds cleaned, treated, and bandaged for free each day. Many people come and are bandaged by the guy on duty, but many other come and just get the materials and do it themselves. The ones whose legs and feet are too bad to walk on have special bikes that have three wheels and are turned by hand so they can get around. The people in the village don't look down on them--they are an important part of the community, its elders.

Now there are brick houses, hundreds of them, housing nearly 4000 people. They have better sanitation, restroom facilities, trash pickup, and safer water. The Hope staff weigh the kids from age 2-5 each week to make sure they have a healthy weight and if they fall under, they provide extra nutrition for the kids. They say that very few people beg now. Most have their own little businesses. They get small loans or stipends from Hope to start them. Some of the handicapped women make crafts to sell. (We'll be bringing some back to sell at Northeast.) It has become a much more self-sufficient place and a place of hope. Things are getting better, not worse, and the life that these people live, while poor by our standards, is so much better by theirs. And there are plenty of other programs at the village besides those.

I don't know why God has chosen for some to be poor and some to be sick and some to live more charmed lives. My gut feeling is that He didn't choose that at all. I don't think it was part of His plan. My thinking is that He chose to give us a choice. And this is how people have chosen. I also don't know why He would let one person's sin cause another to suffer. It doesn't seem fair to me. But I do know that He doesn't just watch all this impassively. He chose to suffer with us, to be one of us, so that He could truly understand us. And He has sent us out asking us to make right some of the mess we have made of this earth. The Village of Hope seems to be one place where people are trying to do just that.

A couple of funny notes:
1. Now that Joe is getting darker in the sun, everyone thinks he's an Indian. It's been useful for getting better prices on certain goods. :-)

2. We were helping teach an English class the other day and the kids wanted us to sing them a song in English. When we asked what song, they made it clear that they wanted us to, one at time, sing, a capella, the song from Titanic. "Near, Far, Wherever you are . . ." We declined with much laughter, but I knew Leah would especially get a kick out of that. It's her favorite song.
:-P