6.22 - A Day in the Colony

Becky told us a neat story the other night about a man named Novann. He is a patient in the leprosy colony that I visited today and he was there at the bus drop-off station to greet us! He is this tiny tiny old man who, for years and years had not been able to see. An eye doctor had been working with the RSO program to help patients with leprosy receive the treatment and surgery that they might need for their sight. (Another quick note about leprosy is that because it is a nerve degenerative disease, it will typically only affect the limbs (hands and feet), but if left untreated, it can progress to noses collapsing and eye lids coming off, causing a lot of damage to the eye).


*Novann singing "hallelujah" over and over again
The doctor saw Novann and Novann asked if he would be able to do the surgery to restore his sight, but his sight was so bad and he was so frail and old, the doctor thought that it would be impossible. Novann begged him to at least try the surgery, telling him that he had never been able to see his grandchildren. The doctor agreed to at least try, still being worried about even doing surgery on a man so frail and old, and it was a MIRACLE!!! Novann’s sight, against all odds, was restored and he was able to see again!!! Becky told us how he jumped up and just sung praises to Jesus and shouted “hallelujah” over and over again! He now will greet all of the volunteers from RSO and sing and shout hallelujah! (Wow. A lot like the story of the ten lepers!) He loves the attention as well :) He gave us a five minute concert of him singing and praising Jesus and asked to take a picture with each of us! God truly still works miracles.

My main job in the clinic today was to scrub their feet and clean out their ulcers. That may sound like an uncomfortable job, but it was actually a really neat experience. These people know no English, so it is really hard to communicate (I only know how to say “hello” and “thank you” in Tamil), but often a smile and a simple “Vanacum” (hello!) would go a long way. After we had washed their feet, another pair of volunteers would oil their ulcers and then the nurse would cut away their dead skin and apply ointment and bandaging. RSO clinic come and do these regular check- ups twice a month to each colony and all of the patients have been instructed on how to care for themselves in the interim periods. After this, their blood glucose and pressure levels are checked and they pick up their antibiotics for their disease. There was actually a lady whose blood glucose level ended up being 467 (normal levels are around 120), so they had to rush her to the hospital. Something neat is that in the colonies that RSO has been able to treat over the years, the leprosy has stopped progressing- how neat is that?! There are still hundred of colonies in India that do not receive treatment though…

*Oiling and bandaging stations

*Jacob and I :)

*Outside of the clinic that we worked in

One of the biggest lessons that I learned today:
It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the need that is around you, thinking that there is so much that is so much that people need that you do not have to capacity to change or help. I have never in my life seen a people living in such humble circumstances. You wish that you could somehow restore back their hands and feet or give them a more sanitary place to live. But I cannot give that to them, I have no way of doing this. None of us can heal them or take away the terrible stigma that they have placed on them, but we can do little small things each day to help them to feel loved and respected…to help them have more dignity for themselves.
We should never underestimate the power of small acts of kindness. Becky, the lady who founded this program, told us that “once you have seen, you have the responsibility to go and do”. This is exactly what she had done and there are hundreds of families that are happier and better off today because of her acts of kindness. If everything that she has done with the RSO program had gone to help only one person, such as Novann, it would have been worth it.

*Their village