How would you respond if, because of a disease, your family no longer wanted you to live at home?

How would you feel if, because of a disease, your husband or wife wanted a divorce?

What would you say if you lost your job because of an illness that had no impact on your ability to carry out your work?

What would you do if your children were no longer allowed to go to school because of your ill health or disability?
These situations may sound remarkable, unbelievable even, and yet these are real situations, faced by real people everyday. They happen just because the person has leprosy.

Amar had a good job working for his brother-in-law and living with his brother-in-law’s family. But when Amar was diagnosed with leprosy, he was forced to leave; the family was terrified that Amar would pass the disease on to the children. Even then, his brother-in-law was not satisfied and sent men after Amar to attack him.

When Pemba was diagnosed with leprosy she was no longer invited to community events. People in her rural village in Nepal would say hurtful things about her and avoid her in the street.

Mohanta’s husband was angry when she told him she had leprosy. He ordered her out of their house, afraid that she would bring shame on the family. Her friends and neighbours no longer spoke to her.

Even though leprosy is now totally curable, countless thousands of people like Amar, Pemba and Mohanta, experience this kind of rejection everyday, shunned by the family they love and the community they belong to.
Our theme for World Leprosy Day 2010 is justice. These three stories are just a small selection of examples of leprosy-related stigma and discrimination from around the world. They should give you an idea of why fighting the stigma associated with leprosy is a just cause that we cannot overlook.

The Leprosy Mission is working hard to overcome these injustices. In Bangladesh, TLM’s advocacy team is focused on getting an ancient law repealed; this law prevents leprosy-affected people from doing certain jobs. In India, The Leprosy Mission’s media centre produce publications and radio and TV adverts that inform people of the facts about leprosy and dispel the myths. And in many other countries, TLM staff provides counselling, family mediation and health education – all in an effort to ensure that people do not have to face rejection, isolation or discrimination just because they have leprosy.

World Leprosy Day is a time to remember the hundreds of people who are diagnosed with leprosy every day; one person every two minutes. But remembering is not enough. We must also recognise the human rights abuses that are still taking placing and to consider the action we can take to stop them.

Time to take action

Give one hour for justice. You could consider giving an hour’s pay to support The Leprosy Mission’s work. Or give an hour of your evening or weekend to pray on your own or with others for the people we work with and the issues we are tackling. Or give an hour to run a coffee morning, telling people about TLM’s work and raising vital funds. There are so many hours in the day, and just one could make a huge difference to the lives of the people in countries like Bangladesh, India or Nigeria.

As long as there are still people in the world suffering injustice and rejection because they have leprosy, The Leprosy Mission will continue to uphold their rights and dignity.

 

‘Give justice to the poor and the orphan; uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute,’ Psalm 82:3