Through a contact in England, we visited this charity on the outskirts of Bangalore that, for 27 years, has provided care for those with leprosy.
We visited both the men�s and women�s wards. Also on site, there is a clinic and a small school.
The disease leprosy is a bacterially transmitted disease that begins with pale or reddened patches on the skin and develops as nerve damage that limits sensation, especially in the extremities. Thus injury to fingers and toes can go unnoticed and there is consequent damage and often loss of tissue in more advanced leprosy. Treatment is a simple 6 month course of antibiotics that usually results in eradication of the disease. It is unusual for the disease to be contagious. Traditionally, however, leprosy is wrongly viewed as a curse with many associated causes and families and communities treat sufferers (even when cured) as outcasts. Sumanahalli provides residential care whilst trying to re-integrate patients into their communities. Acceptance is, however, infrequent and vocational training workshops have been set up to include knitting, sewing, leather craft, printing and candle making. The society has a programme of education in surrounding schools and screens children for the first signs of the disease. Many of their people have advanced leprosy prior to coming to Sumanahalli and have the common tell-tale deformities of hands and feet.
We visited the small school where many of the children are undergoing treatment and there we made paper chains with them and played with balloons.
Sumanahalli is funded through charitable donations and, as with many other such organizations, there is a continual struggle to survive. We met a wonderful lady from Scotland called Norma who, for the last 10 years, has spent 6 months of each year as a volunteer there. Other volunteers come from Scotland and France to work for up to 1 year.
Small donations go a long way. The education of a child affected by leprosy costs 7 pounds per month while a house for a leprosy-affected family can be provided for 190 pounds. Land is provided by Sumanahalli and the government will provide a further 190 pounds to cover the full cost of the housing.
Sumanahalli has a website at www.sumanahalli.org
Some pictures from these projects:
First, we were saddened to hear that the �caretaker� at Binni High School (a man who swept up leaves, went for chai rang the school bell and did other odd jobs) was killed crossing a railway line. He was hit by a train. This leaves a widow now with no man�s income.
On a more cheerful note, we have experienced some very pleasant and interesting things during our stay. Here is a sample:
Deborah has had a few cookery lessons from the �maid� where we live. She can cook chapattis, puris (similar to chapattis but deep fried), paneer butter masala, channa (chickpea) masala and green pepper curry. Authentic Indian cooking is very labour intensive and a labour of love. Deborah had her eyebrows shaped using cotton �threading� and has had an Indian (well it would be) head massage.
Yoga is a daily feature for Deborah after work. It seemed a must in India and it is nice, as the sun goes down, to feel a relatively cool breeze on the roof where the class is held and to chant a few �Oms�.
We managed to see the film �The Aviator� at a huge cinema but it had an annoying and suddeninterval!
We visited an art exhibition (Art for Peace), a performance by blind & deaf children and have the occasional libation in a nearby air-con hotel, a great Italian meal on Deborah�s birthday and a service at a Gospel Church.
We have been out and about some weekends, mainly viewing temples (and receiving varied blessings). Everything is such a long way away, hours and hours in hot buses, but it is great to get out of the city and have some fresh air and see more rural ways of life with rice harvests where the �straw� is spread right across roads in continual use.
We have been on an overnight sleeper train and on overnight buses to reach weekend destinations, quite an experience!
We�ve been in many autorickshaws that have broken down and on buses to work when we felt strong enough as they are very, very crowded!
We�ve visited other projects (see previously) and been to a good private school to see the other end of the spectrum to that of the schools in which we spend most of our time.