Namaste!

Time is flying by and May 22^nd will be here before we know it. Again, thank you all for your faithful prayers and generous support. It has been outstanding to see the faithfulness of our Father in providing every need thus far. From the time I sent my passport off to get it renewed till it was back in my hands, not even three weeks had passed. My visa, which takes 7 days to process once the paperwork is received, was processed and sent back to me in 4 days. Anyone who is familiar with these things would agree that this could possibly be considered a miracle :) Needless to say, the excitement and expectation is steadily building!

Below is a message from my dear friend Deanna Hagge giving some more information about Anadaban Hospital:

Anandaban is a central referral hospital primarily for leprosy complications with 115 bed capacity. We also provide general patient care to the surrounding communities and orthopedic surgery. We do have a cure for leprosy: 6 months – 2 years treatment with 3 special antibiotics. However, peripheral nerve damage from the disease can cause permanent disability, disfigurement, recurrent wounds and other lifelong problems for patients. We have two surgeons which can perform reconstructive surgery on hands, eyes and feet. This gives patients some restoration of function to limit disability from causing even more physical, social and emotional damage. Many of our patients also have severe immunological complications from leprosy residues in their skin and nerve that do not go away just from antibiotic treatment. Some of these patients have a very difficult time and are in an out of the hospital for years with severe problems. 

We are a leprosy hospital not a colony. Therefore, patients cannot live here and are discharged when they are healthy enough to leave. Most of our patients are among the world’s poorest of the poor. This is true in most countries where leprosy is common. Many are subsistence farmers, day laborers or have some trade that essentially allows them to live hand to mouth. Most are functionally illiterate, with little or no schooling (85%). These patients have literally no other options for receiving proper help: which is why they come to us. Anandaban is a Leprosy Mission hospital. All leprosy care is provided free of cost to patients. Everything is supported by donations. 

In Nepal, Hinduism is the main religion alongside a strong percentage of Buddhism. Reincarnation and karma are the main themes: if you are good, good comes to you but if you are evil, evil comes to you. There is no forgiveness or repentance. Outside of the church, these two words and concepts literally do not exist in the Nepali language. The only way to remove sin is suffer humiliation/punishment well and earn your way to a better chance in another life.  Leprosy is thought to be a particularly bad curse from god that is placed only on people who have sinned very badly in this life or a previous life. If God, who is righteous, has deemed a person’s deeds worthy of this particularly bad curse, why should anyone try to alleviate the punishment and forestall their karma? If God has openly rejected this person for all to see, then everyone is culturally justified in rejecting them also. 

This is why most of the people who come to us also deal with depression. Many have been cast out of their homes by spouses and family – sometimes with their children or never to see them again. Jobs lost. Kicked out of homes with nowhere to go. People here are generally very warm and kind. The culture is very tolerant. But leprosy is considered differently – and god’s name is used to justify this behavior. People are afraid they will also get the disease, displease god and receive the same punishment. Culturally, it is ok for these people to beg in front of temples or roadsides and live in squalor – but no one wants to acknowledge them as family, touch them or have them in gatherings. They are considered living representatives of what happens to those who transgress the religious system badly. 

So, while the hospital deals with their immediate health issues, we have a counselor who listens and talks to them. We then have programs to help them learn how to live with their disabilities and then reintegrate into society. This means individualized help according to their level of need: microfinance, low cost housing, providing a toilet (many village Nepalese don’t have one), scholarships for leprosy-affected kids to attend school, vocational training, etc. This is so they can live with dignity and be empowered to break out of cyclic poverty and live as self-sustainably as possible. We also work across many districts in reducing the stigma of leprosy with community programs that teach that leprosy is just a curable bacterial skin infection – not a curse demanding social rejection. It is not highly contagious. 

When Jesus sent the disciples out, He told them to “heal” the sick and “cleanse” those with leprosy. We help leprosy patients by not only provide physical cure, but we work with them so that they are cleansed and strengthened in mind and body to reintegrate into society. We treat them with dignity and teach them to once again view life with hope for a future. 

In Nepal, proselytizing is illegal. The Leprosy Mission enters countries like this to serve those with leprosy in the name of Jesus. We do not build buildings for churches. We do not establish pastors or congregations. We are the part of the body of Christ that reaches out and lays our hands on those with leprosy to cleanse them. Because of the minority of Christians in Nepal, only 20 of the 130 staff are Christian. We show them Christ by what we do and how we live among them. Above the surgical theater doors, there is a sign: Our deeds are our testimony. 

As a mission hospital with an orthopedic surgeon, we also have many poor case referrals from other mission hospitals in Nepal who do not have a surgeon. These patients often have nothing and, when we have extra side donations, we can help them with surgery at little to no cost for them. For example, we had a man in his 50’s come recently who had dislocated his hip 8 months before without ever receiving any treatment. We were able to perform surgery, provide physiotherapy and inpatient care for almost a month before discharge for a total cost around a couple hundred dollars (donated funds). Any donations go a long way here to helping people. When Rebekah comes, we will be having a volunteer plastic surgeon and his wife visiting us at the same time. He is donating his expertise for a few weeks here – but it takes a team and supplies to make it work . We will be enrolling cases who need his kind of specialized reconstructive surgery.  Most of them are in the condition and need they are in because they have had no other option to seek help (ie, teen with burns from several years ago retracting one arm in a locked position). All of the costs for those procedures, supplies and inpatient care are covered only as possible by scrap donations we receive for the poor case fund. We also send teams from our hospital for field clinics and camps to reach people in other parts of Nepal. (Last year, when the surgical team went to a remote area, the first thing on the agenda was to find something that could be used as a surgical table. They managed to piece some things together and then used a bright flashlight as the surgical lamp. People walked days to come but there was no way to do all the needed surgeries before the team had to leave.) 

I am very excited to have someone coming this summer. I’ve been here for 5 years. This place is so far from home that visitors like this are a rare and precious treat! It is nearly beyond-words encouraging to have someone from home come. 

Thank you for your help. We are the part of the body of Christ that can physically touch and impact lives in these places – but there is no way that we could do these things without one another. We are one body in Him. Any extra donations above what is needed to send Rebekah here will be used for patients or things required for their care here. 

Thanks, Deanna 

Remember to check in this summer as I will be giving updates when possible!