New Day May 2022

M AY 2 02 2

‘you arE THe light of the worlD. A town BUilt oN A HilL CAnNot BE hidDEn.’ Mat thew 5:14 (NIV)

Thank you for bringing joy!

PAG E 2 — S EC T I O N / PAG E T I T L E

Cover photo: Urmila was diagnosed and treated for leprosy at Anandaban Hospital aged 11. For the past 25 years Urmila has made regular visits to the hospital in Nepal for complications surrounding leprosy. She says Anandaban is a second home to her and she feels happy there. She recently had a new wound healing treatment, known as L-PRF, pioneered by Senior Surgeon, Dr Indra Napit.

The treatment was successful in healing a severe wound heal on Urmila’s foot.

Thanks to you, Urmila is filled with hope and expectancy for all her future holds.

Dear friend As you read this special edition of New Day, I hope you will share in the joy that has filled our office in Peterborough! I am so thrilled to tell you that your generosity means a brand-new leprosy Research Centre will be built in Nepal.

Although there is a long planning and design journey ahead, we hope that building work will begin at the end of the year.

Your support and prayers are making Anandaban a place of medical miracles, and both the team here and in Nepal are so thankful. God has moved you to answer our prayers for people affected by leprosy. Now, your compassion will rapidly accelerate our shared journey towards ending leprosy in Jesus’ name!

In our daily devotions, we have been looking at the compassion that Jesus calls His followers to imitate. As our eyes are drawn to the horrors of war and conflict taking place in Ukraine, we know that what breaks our hearts, breaks the Father’s heart too. He calls us to stand beside the widows and orphans. He calls us to love, to relieve suffering and retore hope to the vulnerable.

Scenes of violence, hunger and despair from war-torn Ethiopia are currently breaking the hearts of Leprosy Mission teams globally. We are in daily contact with Bel, our dear friend and colleague as she heads up The Leprosy Mission’s work in Ethiopia. Could I ask you to remember Bel and her team in your prayers?

They are working tirelessly in the toughest of conditions to take basic supplies to communities affected by leprosy and conflict. This is an urgent need, following physical attacks and looting. Many have lost all they own. If you are able to help provide food and hygiene kits, together we will show these communities that they are loved and valued in God’s sight. They need to know that they are not forgotten.

I’d like to end by thanking you for being a light for Christ in what can sometimes feel a dark world. As we watch spring turn to summer, we are reminded of the certainty of God’s hand on our lives as we look to the beauty of His creation.

May His blessing be upon you and your families this season.

Peter Waddup Chief Executive

P E T E R ’ S L E T T E R — PAG E 3

I pray this edition of New Day will be a blessing to you, as you read how Shakti and Maya are making plans for their futures. It is because of you that young people like Shakti and Maya have renewed hope, after leprosy threatened to steal their dreams.

Thank you for going above and beyond in your belief that no 16-year-old should have to endure all that these girls have been through. Through medical research happening at Anandaban, the injustice of leprosy can finally be defeated!

LEt THe treES of the forEst sInG, LEt THEm siNg for joy beForE tHe lOrD, FoR hE comes To JuDgE tHe Earth. Give thAnks To thE lord, for he Is goOd; hiS love EnDUres ForevER.’ PAG E 4 — FO R E S T O F J OY !

1 CHRONICLES 16 32-34 (NIV)

Forest of joy!

Anandaban means ‘forest of joy’ in Nepali. This seems so fitting as one day, scientific breakthroughs made here will lead to the joyous day when there is no more leprosy!

Because of your overwhelming generosity to the Greater Heights campaign, a new Research Centre will be built at Anandaban.

We are overjoyed to share with you that this state-of-the-art facility is starting to be designed! It will house eight laboratories, enabling a research team of 22 to make discoveries with global significance.

It is hoped that building work will be able to start by the end of the year.

Colleagues and patients at Anandaban rejoice with us about what this means for communities affected by leprosy around the

globe. Your generosity in helping to build the Research Centre will create a huge leap forward in the fight to end leprosy and the dreadful consequences this disease has on millions of lives today.

A site for the Research Centre has been identified next to the main Anandaban Hospital building. A walkway will connect it to the hospital. As well as being home to ground-breaking research to end leprosy, the facility will also have a clinical testing lab. This is where routine tests from the hospital will be processed.

We can never thank you enough for contributing so swiftly and generously to make these ambitious plans a reality. Your kindness means that we are one step closer to ending leprosy once and for all!

S EC T I O N / PAG E T I T L E — PAG E 5

The road to ending leprosy begins here at Anandaban. Thanks to your amazing generosity, a new Research Centre will be built right here, on the side of a Nepalese mountain

Shakti with prosthetics technician Krishna at Anandaban Hospital

PAG E 6 — S EC T I O N / PAG E T I T L E

Photography © Sabrina Dangol

New beginnings for Shakti Pioneering research is already taking place in the current ramshackle lab at Anandaban. One of the ongoing research projects is trialling an adjusted smartphone camera to diagnose leprosy.

Despite the setbacks she has faced, Shakti is incredibly upbeat and resilient in the face of adversity. She says she is blessed to be able to continue her education and go on to have a rewarding job.

Independence

You may remember Shakti’s story from earlier this year. Sadly, her leprosy went unchecked for most of her childhood. The disease took hold of her young body, and she lost the feeling on the soles of her feet. Cuts from walking developed into deep ulcers.

By the time she came to Anandaban Hospital at the age of 16, her lower leg had become so infected that doctors had to amputate to save her life.

Shakti returned to Anandaban in February, this time with her mother accompanying her. It is thanks to you that she is now having a prosthetic leg fitted, restoring mobility and independence. Shakti has a real peace about her now. She uses her time in hospital to study and read outside in the sunshine.

It is heartbreaking that Shakti has had to endure such terrible trauma and at such a young age.

However, despite the unimaginable pain leprosy has inflicted on her life, Shakti is thankful that her family has stood by her. This is not the case for so many leprosy patients who find themselves shunned and left in despair. Even though she is surrounded by love, Shakti has understandably still had some dark days. How could she ever put leprosy behind her and rebuild her life as an amputee?

“I don’t feel as bad as I did last year now that I have enrolled in college. Studying accounts was always my second choice but, because of losing my leg, my dream of becoming a doctor seems out of reach.

Hope It is thanks to you that Shakti is now making plans and has hope for her future. She has spent many months at Anandaban following her amputation last November. You can imagine how excited she was to be able to make a visit home at the start of the year. Shakti’s wounds needed some time to heal, so her grandmother came to take her home.

While she was there, Shakti enrolled at college to study business and accounting.

You may remember that Shakti was doing very well in school before leprosy took such a severe toll on her body. She had once dreamed

She says, “During my time at home I got to see my sister’s new-born son, this was a great joy for me. I was able to give him the hat I had knitted for him.

“I made some good friends the last time I was at Anandaban, and I am very happy to see the ones that are still here.”

It takes about a month to make Shakti’s bespoke prosthetic leg in the workshop at Anandaban. As the journey is long and difficult, she will stay at the hospital while the leg is made. Staff use a handcasting method to make a mould for the prosthetic so that it is the very best fit for the patient.

Shakti says, “I am really excited about having a prosthetic leg. I am doing my best to prepare my body for it too with exercises. The Anandaban staff have all been very helpful and kind.

“I can’t wait to go back home walking on both feet and show everyone. Especially my family and my sister’s baby.”

N E W B EG I N N I N G S FO R S H A K T I — PAG E 7

This would enable people like Shakti to be diagnosed with leprosy at home, despite living in the remote Terai region of Nepal. It would no longer be necessary to send a sample to a lab hundreds of miles away for confirmation. This means faster diagnosis and treatment, which will reduce the number of people with disabilities caused by leprosy.

of becoming a doctor. She says, however, that with her disability, she feels happier and more comfortable now pursuing a different career.

PAG E 8 — A P L AC E W H E R E WA I T I N G E N D S A N D H O P E I S R E A L I S E D

A PLACE WHERE WAITING ENDS AND HOPE IS REALISED Louise Timmins, Head of Fundraising at The Leprosy Mission, writes...

When through the woods, and forest glades I wander And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur And hear the brook, and feel the gentle breeze (How Great Thou Art, Stuart Hine) Whenever I sing this beautiful hymn at church, I close my eyes and I’m transported back to 2011.

I’m holding my much longed-for baby girl in my arms, singing these words like a lullaby to her.

We’re standing in the glory of God’s creation on a mountain edge at Anandaban Hospital.

After a 12-year wait for a child, and a promise from God fulfilled, my husband Paul and I had finally adopted our precious little girl. She was tiny, malnourished, and desperate for love. The doctors at Anandaban Hospital tended to her lovingly, making us feel part of this special family of staff and patients. Our first month together at Anandaban was a time of healing, restoration, and hope.

Our journey is a story of God’s faithfulness. Of how He walks with us in our times of deepest sorrow and darkness. Of how when we are struggling to scale the mountain in front of us, He is where our help comes from. It’s also a story of just how special a place Anandaban is, and how the people of Nepal have been laid on our hearts.

My very first visit to Nepal was in 2009, when Paul and I led a Leprosy Mission trek to raise funds for the amazing work at Anandaban Hospital. The first few days of our trip were spent shadowing medical staff at Anandaban Hospital. We were touched by their gentleness and love. As we sat and listened to the patients’ stories of rejection, loss, and broken dreams, it was hard to see the deep emotional wounds that remained. But Anandaban was their place of hope.

Louise and baby Marika at Anandaban in 2011

A year later, although we were unaware of it at the time, the baby that was to become ours was born.

At just one day old, she had been left outside a hospital. She was then taken to a children’s home in the days after. We’ll never know the reason why her family couldn’t care for her. It could’ve been extreme poverty or even the death of a parent that caused her to be abandoned. But we know she must have been loved because she was taken to a place where she would be cared for.

In December 2010, as I sat at my desk at The Leprosy Mission an email arrived from the Country Leader of The Leprosy Mission in Nepal.

This wonderful man, Shovakhar, and his wife Laxmi, had become like family to us as we waited for a child. Shovakhar was a huge advocate for us with the Nepali authorities, opening doors that we couldn’t open on our own.

Marika Timmins, aged 7, on her first return visit to Anandaban

Shovakhar and his family remain special to us. He came to Marika’s Dedication in England and as her Godfather, he and Laxmi stand in the gap for Nepali family.

Several months later, we finally had permission to travel to collect our daughter. At 16 months she was tiny and malnourished. She clung to her carer, terrified of us. New people, new smells and a foreign language. Gently she was placed on my chest and after looking at me for ten minutes she fell asleep. Paul cried as he watched us. He had prayed during our six-year adoption wait that God would bind my heart to our child, and that their heart would bind to mine.

Six days later Paul blew raspberries on our daughter’s tummy, and she dissolved in to fits of giggles. A watching hospital volunteer at Anandaban said some words that I’ll never forget, “It took you six years to adopt Marika, and six days for her to adopt you”.

Then sings my soul, my Saviour God to Thee, how great Thou art!

Now, as our daughter turns 12, Anandaban Hospital remains a place of healing, restoration and hope. God has His hand on this special place, on the patients and the medical team. Now, thanks to you, there is a new and exciting hope – ending leprosy, not just in Nepal but across the world!

Marika is very happy for me to share her story with you. Paul and I feel so incredibly blessed that God has given us the honour and privilege of being her parents. We never dreamed we’d have more children. But, without even seeking out a second adoption, our beautiful son Finn, now nine, came into our lives quite unexpectedly. While Finn’s journey was only from the south of England, his birth parents are originally from Afghanistan and Lithuania. Just how Finn came into our lives is a whole new story for another day!

Through Marika, we have an unbreakable bond with Anandaban. The work to defeat leprosy, led from the side of a mountain in Nepal, is at the heart of our story as a family of four. Sometimes I dare to dream of Marika and Finn telling their children of how the battle was won, how leprosy was defeated once and for all! I pray that through all you have made possible with your compassion, God will soon bring forward this most joyous day.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

A P L AC E W H E R E WA I T I N G E N D S A N D H O P E I S R E A L I S E D — PAG E 9

His email read ‘this is your daughter’ and attached was a photo of a nine-month-old little girl. You can imagine my joy! It was important that we knew no family was looking for her in Nepal, so we advertised on the radio and put notices in local papers. Sadly, no family came forward. But God had a plan for this precious child!

‘ask AND it wilL bE given To you; seEK and YoU WIlL finD; kNock AND tHe DoOr wilL be openED to yOu’.

MATTHEW 7:7 (NIV)

PAG E 10 — FI N D I N G T H E M I S S I N G P EO P L E

FINDING THE MISSING PEOPLE It is now a year since a brutal second wave of Covid swept through India, bringing the country’s already stretched health system to breaking point. It is hard to forget the horrifying televised scenes of people fighting for lifesaving treatment for their loved ones. This was at a time when there was a severe shortage of hospital beds and oxygen, and medical supplies were running out. It was the worst crisis that many Indians have lived through.

Thanks to your incredible support, more than 6,000 of India’s most vulnerable people received their Covid jabs in 2021. It was only because of you that our medical teams in India could set up and equip Covid isolation wards, saving many lives. We can never thank you enough for your compassion during what was a very difficult, and perhaps lonely, time for you here in the UK. You won’t be surprised to learn that more than two years into the pandemic, there is now a greater urgency than ever before to find and cure people living with leprosy.

Latest World Health Organization (WHO) statistics showed the number of new leprosy cases in India plummeted by 43 per cent at the start of the pandemic. It would be wonderful to think that this is because there are fewer people needing leprosy treatment. Sadly, we know the exact opposite is true. Even before the pandemic, evidence indicated that for every person treated for leprosy, there were 19 undiagnosed cases.

The current drop in newly identified leprosy cases is attributed to lockdown restrictions and a need to prioritise the Covid response.

It is because of your generous gifts that leprosy services are now being amplified in India.

Your love is sending medical teams out to find people who desperately need the cure for leprosy. There is a huge urgency for people to be found and cured before disability sets in.

To address this most urgent need, our colleagues in India have increased the number of mobile clinics. This means more people can be found and treated at the very heart of their communities.

There is also a large-scale media awareness campaign taking place. It aims to destroy the prejudice surrounding leprosy and signpost those showing early symptoms to treatment.

It is regrettable that many people newly diagnosed with leprosy will need more than Multidrug therapy, the antibiotic cure. If the disease has not been treated for a significant period of time, it is likely a patient will need hospital care. In hospital, reconstructive surgery provides the opportunity to restore movement to hands, feet, and eyelids where nerves have been damaged by leprosy.

Your gifts mean that people like 16-year-old Maya can have reconstructive surgery. Leprosy made Maya’s fingers stiffen and curl inwards.

Thankfully they could be straightened through surgery. Maya was able to return to school and is now studying for her final exams.

We are looking forward to telling you more about the hope and restoration you are bringing this year. Many patients ask the medics to pass on their heartfelt thanks to you for giving them a new-found independence and fresh start. You are providing this incredible change in people’s lives, thank you.

Photography © Smita Sharma

Left: Your generous support enabled residents of communities affected by leprosy in India to be transported to vaccination centres. You helped 6,031 of the most vulnerable to get Covid jabs, people whose lives would otherwise have been at risk. Funds to cover daily wages lost because of travel for vaccinations were given to those struggling to feed themselves. These are the people most at risk from the virus, their immune systems already weakened by living in poverty

F I N D I N G T H E M I S S I N G P EO P L E — PAG E 1 1

Above: It is thanks to you that 211 people like Maya, pictured here with her grandma Munni, were able to have reconstructive surgeries in India in 2021. The operations took place at four hospitals you support across India

PAG E 1 2 — A B R O K E N WO R L D

A broken world Every time we turn on the TV we are reminded of the brokenness of this world. The injustices suffered by the people of Ukraine break our hearts and shake us to the very core. Letting go and letting God take control can be so difficult at times like these. But now, more than ever, we can take comfort in the truth that we serve a God of justice and mercy. We are thankful that through His grace and the power of prayer, we can speak life into a world so full of sorrow and pain.

At a time when we pray for an end to the war in Europe, we uphold in prayer the lives of people rocked by conflict across Asia and Africa. We pray for those we serve in Myanmar, Mozambique, Sudan and Ethiopia who are all enduring terrible hardship because of violent conflict. We thank God that through your generosity, we can continue to reach out to people living in these war-torn countries. Their lives have already been touched by your generosity. It is through your faithfulness that they can receive healing and hope as they rebuild their lives.

The plight of the people we serve in Ethiopia currently weighs heavy on the hearts of Leprosy Mission staff globally.

During the latter half of 2021, Ethiopia was ravaged by a civil war between the Tigray region and government forces. The work you support in Ethiopia is primarily in Amhara, a region in the north between Tigray and the capital, Addis Ababa. Sadly, Amhara is at the epicentre of the violence. During the fighting, homes were razed to the ground and hospitals destroyed.

Unsurprisingly, people with disabilities have become the major victims of the civil war. Not only were they physically unable to escape violent attacks, but they were also without the financial means to flee the region. Many of the families we work with have lost loved ones and everything they own, including livestock and crops. They are left traumatised by the atrocities they have witnessed. Some have even suffered rape.

We are raising funds to deploy a humanitarian response to help people living in these most vulnerable communities in Amhara.

Their most urgent need right now is food and hygiene supplies.

A woman walks among the remains of the farming town of Ataye in the Amhara region of Ethiopia. More than 100 civilians died, and 1,500 buildings were torched, during violent attacks in 2021

A B R O K E N WO R L D — PAG E 1 3

PAG E 1 4 — L E P R O S Y I N E T H I O P I A

WILL YOU WIPE AWAY THE TEARS OF PEOPLE AFFECTED

BY LEPROSY IN ETHIOPIA AND SHOW THEM LOVE? It’s so painful to read about conflict, isn’t it? Recently we’ve been reminded just how damaging war can be on the lives of many.

While some conflicts are very visible, playing out right before our very eyes, others are more hidden. But they carry the same pain, heartbreak, and loss. People mourning for their loved ones, for what once was.

disabled. When someone armed approaches, intent on causing harm, they are unable to flee.

This is *Amara’s story (*not her real name).

As you will have read in this edition of New Day, Ethiopia has faced brutal civil war and violent attacks. The fighting and tears have been hidden from our eyes, but they are very real.

You won’t see a picture of Amara in this New Day because we want to protect her identity.

She has already faced so much. Before the civil war took place, Amara already had a hard life.

Both her hands and feet have been disabled by leprosy since she was a child. She has faced so much discrimination throughout her life from her neighbours. A few years ago, she tragically lost her husband and was left to raise her son on her own.

So often it is people affected by leprosy who face the worst consequences in conflict. Many are

One day in the midst of the civil war, a group of Tigray fighters approached Amara’s

neighbourhood. They forced their way into her home. She was sexually assaulted and had everything taken from her, even the £75 she had been saving. It may not seem like a lot. But for Amara, it was all she had.

As you can imagine, the pain and grief that Amara went through was horrendous.

Devastatingly, her story is not unique. Across Ethiopia, the civil war is tearing through the lives of many affected by leprosy.

The situation is desperate. People are hungry.

They need food and basic hygiene supplies like soap urgently. You can be the difference for someone like Amara. Will you show her, and others who have suffered the same horrors, much needed love and kindness?

With a gift of £59 you can provide two people like Amara and her son with an emergency food parcel and essential hygiene supplies.

For a gift of £147.50 you can make sure a family of five affected by leprosy has access to an emergency food parcel and essential hygiene supplies.

Thank you for always being there for people affected by leprosy. Thank you for your prayers and your generosity.

Today, your caring heart can bring a glimmer of hope in the midst of pain and heartbreak. Please show people affected by leprosy in Ethiopia that they are not forgotten. That they are loved.

Please give what you can today.

Thanks to a grant from Jersey Overseas Aid, a new physiotherapy unit was officially opened at the Boru Meda Hospital in South Wollo in February 2021. Before the end of 2021 it had already provided specialist leprosy and rehabilitation services to thousands of people. Devastatingly, the equipment has been stolen or damaged amid the violent clashes. The unit provided the only specialist leprosy services in the vast Amhara region, home to 20 million people

L E P RO S Y I N E T H I O P I A — PAG E 1 5

Your gift of £29.50 can supply an emergency food parcel and essential hygiene supplies to a person affected by leprosy. Your love has the power to be lifesaving. It is essential that people affected

by leprosy are not only able to eat but also carry out self-care. This is so that they can keep their wounds free from infection.

Scan me with your smartphone camera to give now!

Front cover photography © Sabrina Dangol  The Leprosy Mission England, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, Goldhay Way, Orton Goldhay Peterborough, PE2 5GZ  01733 370505  post@tlmew.org.uk globe leprosymission.org.uk

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