Stigma

You can read all about leprosy. You can look at the photo’s. You can study its effects. But it’s only when you look into the eyes of the leprosy patient that you realise how vile a disease leprosy is.

I spent two days at the Leprosy Mission Hospital in Kolkata last month. For me, as part of a three week trip to India, it was the most hard-hitting part of the trip. There were two looks in the eyes of the patients as I toured the wards. One was of hope, trusting the hospital could do all that was needed for them.

The other was of despair. A young man was there, 24 years old. He has already lost all his fingers and toes. He should have come earlier, but it’s not the disease, which is treatable nowadays, it’s the stigma. He didn’t come earlier because of the shame of the disease.

The Indian government are doing all they can to take away the stigma. But it’s still there. A lady in her 70’s was late for an appointment. The reason; the bus driver had seen she had leprosy and wouldn’t let her on the bus. This is the truth of the most stigmatized disease in history. No wonder Jesus centred on the person with leprosy. He knew to look in the eyes.