I am from a poor family. My father was a (palmyrah) toddy-tapper.

When I was 11 years old, my left leg got paralysed suddenly (Foot-drop due to leprosy). I went to St. Luke’s Leprosarium. They gave intensive treatment, including POP Cast and physiotherapy exercises. A few months later I had reconstructive surgery, which corrected my foot-drop. Now I am able to walk almost normally.

Then St. Luke’s Leprosarium sent me to the Salvation Army Vocational Training Centre, at Aramboly in Kanyakumari District. I had thorough training in welding. Completing the course successfully, I returned home as a fully qualified welder.

On the recommendation of St. Luke’s Leprosarium, the Bank advanced loan to me. I opened a Welding Workshop at Peikulam and fabricate steel doors/gates etc. It is a thriving business now. I am happily married. We have one daughter and two sons.

When Eeswari was ten years old, some patches appeared on her hands. There was practically none to care for this motherless child and none to take her to a doctor..

After a few years, the leprosy bacilli destroyed the sensory nerves of her hands and feet. One day she accidentally stepped on a sharp stone, which injured her right foot. She did not feel the pain of the injury and continued to walk on the injured foot. After a few days, the injury got infected and turned gangrenous. Septicemia set in. Then her father brought her to Peikulam Leprosarium.

Her right leg was amputated below knee to save her life. After the surgery, she was fitted with an artificial limb. She was given training in tailoring and embroidery, and making of handbags and money purses, and a sewing machine all free of cost. She is earning her daily bread out of these hand-works.

Eeswari has married a fellow-leprosy patient Raman. Now, Raman an agricultural labourer and Eeswari are a happy couple.

The doctor was so overcome with indignation over the father’s callousness.

“What kind of father are you?” he screamed.

“You are an irresponsible father. Your village is so close to our Hospital. You could have brought him much earlier”

“What can I do?” cried the father.

“I have a daughter of marriageable age. Suppose I come to your leprosy hospital for my son’s treatment and my neighbours spot us inside a leprosy hospital, they will put two and two together, and conclude that my son is a leper.

“Soon I will have to searching for a groom for my daughter. Then the neighbours will warn the parents of the potential groom against matrimonial alliance with my family.

“Therefore I decided to defer the visit to your leprosy hospital till my daughter is married off. Then came the difficult search for the money towards dowry. By the time I could raise the money for the dowry, three years rolled by. Within this period, my son’s disease advanced.”

You see, leprosy is not just a physical disease but one with social stigma and emotional overtones. Some are afraid of losing the job.

The married ones are afraid of losing their spouse.

Most often the wife sticks to the leprosy-afflicted husband thro’ thick and thin. Alas! When a wife is afflicted by leprosy, the husband deserts her immediately.

Coming back to the story.

Thank God! Though the boy’s leprosy was advanced, it was not too late. The boy was treated with MDT (Multi-Drug Therapy) the modern scientific powerful combination of drugs. Within two years, he was fully cured – so thoroughly cured that hardly any one could suspect that he was once a ‘leper’.
Maasaanam is today a happily married man with three children.

While in the VII Std., some pale patches appeared on my body. They did NOT hurt. Ignorant of the signs and symptoms of leprosy, my mother took me to an indigenous doctor who treated me for a few years but in vain.

Then painless ulcers occurred repeatedly deforming and disfiguring my left foot. I dropped out of school.

One day a Government Leprosy Inspector visited me. He promptly referred me to the St.Luke’s Leprosarium, one of the few centers in the entire District for in-patient care of leprosy patients with complications. With bed rest, and minor surgery, and complementary treatment, my ulcers healed.

I wanted to do something to help my fellow-leprosy victims. I offered to learn making the special footwear needed for leprosy patients with anaesthetic feet.

In our region, shoe-making and repair work is done by the so-called untouchable caste. I do not belong to this cast.

Therefore our doctor was sceptical.

“You do not belong to the traditional caste of shoe-makers.*
Your family would ostracize you later and you may quit” he argued.

But I was firm in my resolve to become a shoemaker.

The Leprosy Mission sponsored my training in shoe making at Karigiri, an internationally renowned leprosy-training centre. After one year of thorough training, I returned to Peikulam as a fully trained Shoemaker.

Now I make the protective footwear not only for leprosy patients of Peikulam Leprosarium but also for leprosy patients from other centres.

I am happily married. We have a daughter who is 14 years old.

*In the Indian Society, driven by the caste-system, the traditional shoemaker is considered an untouchable. (This is changing but painfully slowly).

At the age of eight, some patches appeared on my body. I told my parents. But due to ignorance, they did not care about it. I developed an ulcer on the right leg due to walking bare-footed. My parents took me to a private hospital and then to the Government hospital at Palayamkottai.

My ulcer got healed but soon it recurred. Our neighbour advised me to go to Peikulam. At his advice, I came to St. Luke’s Leprosarium, and got admitted in the hospital. I received Multi-Drug Therapy and special treatment for ulcer.

My parents were very much worried about my studies. The Children’s Home at
St. Luke’s Leprosarium accepted me as an inmate where I received everything free of cost – food, clothes, shelter, medicare and education. Among the hostel students, I stood first in my class.

Today I am studying Nursing in the Government Stanley Hospital, at Chennai.. On completion of my Nursing Training, I will go back to serve fellow-patients.

I am grateful to St.Luke’s Leprosarium.

When I was studying Std. VII a Government leprosy inspector visited our school. He examined me and found me to be suffering from leprosy and referred me to the Government Hospital. But I did not go to the hospital out of shame and fear.

After a few months, my feet became insensitive. One day I was walking to school bare-footed. A thorn pricked my foot. But I did not even know that my feet have been injured by thorn-prick. After a few days the injury became infected. I went to the Government leprosy inspector. He referred me to the nearby Government hospital. But I did not go because I felt ashamed to go to school with bandaged feet. After a few days my feet swelled up and my temperature shot up. Then I went to the Government hospital. The doctor referred me to St. Luke’s Leprosarium, Peikulam where a thorough medical check-up was made, and the diagnosis confirmed. I was admitted as an inpatient and was started on intensive treatment. At the time of admission, there were deep ulcers on both feet. After a series of minor surgeries the ulcers healed.

After completing the treatment, I wanted to study tailoring but my family was too poor to support me. St. Luke’s Leprosarium saw my pathetic condition and sent me to T.L.M. Vadthorasalur for tailoring-training. I had thorough training in tailoring. Completing the course successfully I returned home as a fully qualified tailor.

I sincerely thank St. Luke’s Leprosarium for giving me an opportunity to study, and also The Leprosy Mission, which helped Peikulam Leprosarium to help me.

Mr. Mohammed Yoosuf belongs to Paththamadai in Tirunelveli District, Tamil Nadu. Paththamadai is famous throughout India for mat-weaving. His wife Seyad Ali Fathima helps her husband in mat-weaving. This couple have no children.

Yoosuf’s mother also was affected by leprosy, was treated at St Luke’s Leprosarium and is now cured.

When Mohammed Yoosuf was about 25 years old, some patches appeared on his body. At that time he was a cloth merchant in Trichy. He did not know that these were the symptoms of leprosy. So he did not bother to take treatment. After a few months the patches grew in size and number. So he went to Trichy Government Hospital. There the doctor examined him and gave leprosy treatment and advised him to continue the treatment for two years. But Yoosuf took the treatment only for five months and then discontinued the treatment without seeking any medical advice. Meanwhile he got married and settled in life with Seyad Ali Fathima.

As soon as he got married he went to Malaysia. There he worked in a textile shop. Since Yoosuf had not taken complete treatment, the disease relapsed. Painful red nodules cropped up all over the body with fever and painful thickened nerves. He was not able to tolerate the pain. He could not work properly. His facial appearance changed. On seeing his terrible typical leprosy appearance the textile shop-owner dismissed him from the job. Yoosuf returned to India.

After one year the leprosy bacilli destroyed the sensory nerves as well as the muscle nerves. So both the hands and feet lost sensation and the fingers of the hands got paralysed and bent. Therefore he could not feel touch, pain, heat or cold. The leprosy bacilli destroyed the nerves around the right ankle joint too. So the ankle joint swelled-up.

Yoosuf thought that this was due to the action of evil spirit. So he fasted for 15 days and went on pilgrimage to a famous mosque. But there was no improvement.

To protect his insensitive feet from accidental injuries he ought to have worn special footwear. But he did not do so. He wore the ordinary hard chappal.

Leprosy bacilli had destroyed the sweat glands in the feet. Due to loss of sweating, the feet became very dry. Fissures developed on the right foot. Since there was no pain he did not bother to take treatment but he continued to walk with the fissured foot. The fissure went deep and got infected. The pressure of the hard chappal also ulcerated the left foot.

Children from St Luke’s pictured with Jesu Raj, Mr Mohammed Yoosuf and his wife, Seyad Ali Fathima, displaying a beautiful wall hanging which Mr Yoosuf has hand woven especially for The Neem Tree Trust.

He sat on the floor for too long on crossed legs in the traditional Indian style. Due to this pressure, he developed an ulcer on the outer side of the right ankle joint too. This ulcer got infected badly. So he was not able to walk. He became bedridden and developed pressure sores and ulcer on the left buttock. An elderly man who belongs to his village and who had taken treatment as an out-patient in St.Luke’s Leprosarium for a skin disease and got cured saw Yoosuf ‘s pitiable condition and advised him to go to Peikulam. Thus Yoosuf landed in St.Luke’s Leprosarium.

On his arrival at Peikulam, a thorough medical check up was done. Yoosuf was found to be suffering from leprosy and was admitted as an in-patient.

Yoosuf had ulcer in the left gluteal region and both the feet. The ulcers were deep and involving the underlying tissues. Through a series of minor surgery the devitalized tissues were removed. Suitable antibiotics were given. The ulcers were healed. Then dislocation of the bones around the right ankle joint was corrected surgically, and special footwear was given.

Finally Yoosuf was discharged. At the time of discharge his deformities were corrected to nearly 75% of normal level.

He went home with renewed confidence to restart a new life. He wanted to expand his mat-production business but did’nt have the money.

St.Luke’s came to his rescue, by endorsing his application and standing security. Guaranteed of repayment by St.Luke’s, the bank lended Rs.10,000/- Yoosuf and his smart and hardworking wife expanded their business, eliminated middlemen who cut into their profit. Today the couple are successful mat-weavers and dealers.

Kathy is privileged to know and to have become friends with a young man called Jesu Raj.  She first met him in 1999 at St Luke’s Leprosy Hospital in Peikulam, south India. This is his story, told in his own words:

“My name is Jesu Raj.   When I was 12 years of age a patch appeared on my body. I showed it to my mother. She thought it was caused by a poisonous insect bite and ignored it.

After a few years the patch became bigger. More patches appeared all over my body. Again I reported it to my parents. They took me to a native doctor. He gave me some herbal treatment, but there was no improvement.

After some months the patches became thicker. My ear lobes also became thick. My hands and feet swelled up. The people in my village and my class mates started to call me a “Leper”. In my class I had to sit separately from the other students. I became too ashamed to go to school, and dropped out.

Eventually, our Parish Priest sent me to Peikulam where I was admitted to St Luke’s Leprosarium and treated with Multi Drug Therapy. Initially I suffered a severe and painful reaction but finally the complications were brought under control and I became fully cured.

All this time I was tutored by a special teacher, who was also a patient at St Luke’s, and I passed 8th Standard School Examination as a private candidate. After I completed my treatment I enrolled in the nearby mission school and passed 12th Standard with high marks.

St Luke’s Leprosarium sponsored me for a Physiotherapy Technician course near Vellore, a world famous leprosy training centre. The Leprosy Mission met all my expenses for the training. Through Lord Jesus’s grace I passed the examination with First Class honours and then joined Peikulam Leprosarium as a Physiotherapy Technician where I have worked ever since.

I will be forever thankful to St Luke’s for the treatment I received which cured me of leprosy. Please look at my photograph before and after the Multi Drug Treatment – you will not believe your eyes.”

JESU RAJ BEFORE AND AFTER TREATMENT FOR LEPROSY