Leprosy??

On Tuesday, I drove Julie and Julia around again. We first went to the Leprosy Mission. A missionary Julia knows works for the Leprosy Mission. It was quite interesting. While Leprosy has been eradicated in most of the world, there are a few countries that are infected. There was a map on the wall (it didn’t exactly look current, but I’m not sure what year it was made) that highlighted Brazil, a few small countries in Asia, and two African countries… one of which is Mozambique.

Walking in, I honestly didn’t know much (if anything) about Leprosy. I found this visit really interesting. Leprosy is “usually spread person to person by respiratory droplets” (according to wikipedia). Meaning if you are talking with someone and they sneeze or spit when they talk and you breathe it in. The other scary thing about the disease is that you can be infected for up to six years before you ever have any symptoms. But don’t freak out just yet Wikipedia also says that 95% of people are naturally immune.

The most common symptom of Leprosy is a rash that loses feeling. Meaning if you poke or touch the middle of the rash, you can’t feel it. Leprosy is curable but you can live with the effects of it for the rest of your life, depending on how early on you started getting treated. The most common problem is that you lose feeling in your feet and hands. So if you pick up a pan that is hot, you don’t feel the burn but you end up with third degree burns.

The biggest problem is your feet though. Think about a day that you spend on your feet. Even if you are standing still, your feet get sore and you constantly change your position. You move your body weight from one foot to the other from heal to toe and so on. Well if you lose the feeling in your foot, your body no longer communicates that it’s time to shift your weight. So people with Leprosy end up with legions on your feet. But you don’t even feel them, so you have to constantly be checking your feet and hands to make sure you haven’t hurt yourself or began developing a legion, which could get infected.

We learned that one of the things that the Leprosy Mission does is help set up support groups from people who are in recovery or have recovered (I’m not sure what to call them but those who aren’t contagious). Julia asks if there is a local support group and if the PA’s would be able to spend a day there.

To make a long story short, not only can the PA’s visit there but we are going to see the place tomorrow! I’m not really sure what to expect, but I so curious now.

We head out and while sitting in the car we call another contact and decide to swing by Food for the Hungry (FH). We meet with the Director and try to gain a better understanding of what they are doing.

I guess even thought their office is in Pemba they are actually working about 8 hours to the North. They have developed a system to try improving the quality of life. They have this amazing set of 8 picture books that explain everything from how you should defecate near or in your water source to how a baby will need to eat 24 hours a day. Since many in the villages can’t read, the picture books are perfect. The drawings tell the story… it’s awesome!

Then they have one contact in each area who teaches the material to “mother leaders” who have been appointed in their village. Then the mother leaders commit to work with 10 families from their village.

They also work with farmers. They focus on foods that the locals don’t eat which helps to ensure that the farmer will make a profit… since he won’t be eating his crop. One thing they focus on is sesame seed. They also have helped to start a share cropper network. While a big sesame seed company won’t pay to have 20 kilos of seeds transported they will pay for a truck load. The share cropping has done so well that they have even created a system of pooling their money to help each others farms grow.

I’m sure I didn’t get all that this guy was saying and this probably isn’t the most exciting post I’ve ever written but I get so encouraged to see how other ministries are helping Mozambicans. I feel like it helps me to think more outside of the box and to think bigger. I think it also keeps me in check… am I putting band-aids on problems or am I helping to come up with life long solutions. Am I seeing a problem that really isn’t important?

I really love that song by Hosanna (by Hillsong and so many others), the lyrics are “break my heart for what breaks yours.” It’s easy for my heart to break because of the things I’m used to, because of the high standard I have being from the States. But I have to try to see things from a different perspective… God’s perspective… what breaks His heart?