The Lepers and The Amputees

 I’ve now been in Sierra Leone two weeks and I want to share with you how some of the money that people  gave me is being used to help the poor As well as donations for the school, many of you gave me money to be used directly on the poor. Yesterday morning along with Sr. Mary Sweeney I visited elderly Lepers and amputees. At one time there was a very strong leprosy programme in Sierra Leone funded from Germany. However this was eventually taken over by the Sierra Leoneans. There are not as many lepers as there once was. It is diminishing Thank God! Its now part of the TB & Leprosy programme. However there is no help for the elderly, housebound lepers and it was them we visited today. There were 14 sharing a house. Many of them had sores but were unable to walk to the hospital or clinic to get them attended to. As they are old they have no means to make a living. So today when we visited them we gave each of them two small bags of rice. Your money helped buy this rice. They were living in very poor conditions. Members of their family were also living with them and it’s them who attend to them but they are also very poor. There was one wee boy there who was dirty, ragged and obviously had both mental and learning difficulties. There was a stench of urine from him. I think one of the elderly lepers had taken him in. You often find that here. People who are poor themselves will share what they have with others. Some of the elderly lepers were also blind. One man was crying because he had completely lost his sight in the past week. I found shaking hands with the stumps that had  once been their hands very difficult. Also many of them had only a blob at the end of their leg where once their feet had been. However they all had good sandals on to help protect their feet. Once we distributed the rice they all prayed giving thanks for this help. It was very emotional. So you can all be so proud of yourselves because your money really found a very deserving cause.

We then drove to a village outside Makeni. At the far end of the village 21 houses had been built by the Norwegians to house the Amputees. These were people who had been mutilated by the rebels during the war. This wasn’t quite as sad as the lepers as these people were very happy and living in nice conditions. The last of them only moved into these houses before Christmas. However it was still some sight to see people of all ages with only one arm or two stumps for arms and others with only one leg. Many of them told me their story and that was very harrowing to listen to. One young girl told me how they had been  fleeing from their village to Guinea when the rebels caught up with them. They then lined them up and asked them if they wanted ‘Short sleeves’ or long sleeves’? Depending on their answer they hacked off their arm either above the wrist or just below the shoulder. To  some of them they hacked off both arms. Some of the women were also raped and mutilated internally. Though they now have a house they are quite isolated being out of town and because of their disability find it difficult to make a living. When we arrived at this camp all the people came out to greet us and started singing ‘Thank-you God, Thank-you God for sending us Sister’. We spent a few hours talking and listening to these people. Again we gave each household two small bags of rice. I suppose this is what they mean by Global Citizenship!!!

Last week when I came into school there was a child lying sleeping on the step. It wasn’t one of the Hearing Impaired children. Sr Mary enquired about this child and it transpired he was the son of one of the teachers and and as he was sick the teacher had brought him with him to school. The teacher didn’t have the money to take him to the hospital. So again your money was used to send this child to the hospital. For two days it was touch and go. The child was very ill. On the third day he began to make progress. He is now out of hospital and doing very well. All these people whom you helped will remember you in their prayers. I didn’t ask them to do this. They themselves said they would do this. Some are Muslim and some are Christians but they all have a great sense of spirituality.

I'm still living in the host accommodation. There have been a number of people passing through and that’s been interesting meeting different people. e.g. There was a German girl, Martina, staying here last night but only for the 1 night. She was on her way back to Germany. There were two Dutch guys here all week but left on Friday. They were here doing workshops. Most of the people who pass through are only out here for a few days or so, visiting all the projects that their agency is sponsoring. I enjoy meeting & talking to different folk and it’s a change from talking solely to Monica who is the other lady who  is working here as an audiologist. She works very hard supporting the teachers in class, testing the children’s hearing and making sure all the children have hearing aids. She comes out from England at her own expense several times a year. I’m supposed to be moving into a house this week but at the moment nothing is settled. The first house that was earmarked for me still hasn't had any electricity connected. So another house was suggested. I went to see it yesterday but I have doubts about it.. Though it’s a nice house it only has one very  small bathroom.  It’s actually meant as an ensuite to one of the bedrooms. So that bedroom has to stay vacant so that folk can get access to the toilet or shower. That’s what I'm not entirely happy about as I'd be sharing it with two guys and it’s so small. There is no sink anywhere in the house and the kitchen is outside. I could put up with it but it’s also quite a distance from the school. I know compared to the accommodation that many other people live in I’ve a cheek to complain but it would take me 40/50 minutes’ walk to and from school. The morning would be fine but in the afternoon carrying my laptop etc. home in the heat!!!