Humanism has no barriers Octogenarian

Of the many skin diseases the most virulent is leprosy, which is defined as a chronic infection of the skin and nerves causing severe mutilation and deformities to the human body. Mercifully the disease has come under effective control with modern drugs and better nursing care.

Leprosy was a dreaded disease even during Biblical times and the Bible records that Jesus cured lepers lying by the wayside suffering untold agonies. The term Leper has found a permanent niche in English phraseology when used to describe a person with repulsive habits because of his actions. The Lepers were outcasts in society and were feared and avoided by healthy people fearing they could contact the deadly disease. Many lepers were stoned and chased away as malignant as it was believed meeting a leper brought bad luck and grief.

Untold miseries

The hideous deformities caused by leprosy and the untold miseries it brought upon these unfortunates hardly evoked sympathy from any quarter. However, it was a humble Belgian Catholic priest living in the nineteenth Century helped to rouse the conscience of the world on the miseries of the lepers and Father Damian as he was known devoted his entire life to bring solace to the lepers in a remote island in the Pacific ocean where they were banished to live in misery uncared and forgotten.

Father Damian tended these unfortunates with great care and love and gave a new meaning to their lives. He lived and worked amidst his unfortunate flock till he himself fell victim to this dreaded disease and was buried in a corner of that lonely island which came to be known later as Damian Island.

Sri Lanka too has had its fair share of leprosy patients, and when lepers grew in large numbers the British built the Leprosy Hospital in the 1870s at Hendala, away from the Hamilton Canal and the sea. It was a lonely outpost even in those far off times as it is today. The public is hardly aware of the hospital and of its inmates and of the devoted doctors and nursing staff that like their predecessors mans this outpost since over hundred years or more.

Perhaps the hospital was avoided by the public because of the fear that leprosy could be infectious and there is a thought that although the hospital is maintained by the Government it has not had much attention paid to it and that no Minister of State or high official had dared to visit this institution. It stands forlorn and forgotten shunned because the lepers and leprosy is feared as something deadly needing isolation.

Create awareness

It was to this isolated outpost of anonymity that First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa paid a visit on December 24, 2009 to see for herself and meet the inmates and the staff. Her visit without doubt will help to create awareness amongst the public and officials of this lonely outpost and we could but hope that the shortcomings of the hospital would be addressed speedily.

What I saw on television on the 24th evening was the delight, and yes - the relief shown on the faces of the doctors and nursing staff for the unprecedented visit of the First Lady. And it was not the gifts that she brought with her that made the inmates eyes shine with gratitude and faces light up with joy.

It was her concerned presence and the kindly smile which gave all those inmates hope, and courage that the highest in the land had not forgotten or forsaken them because of their unfortunate illness. I asked myself then how could our beloved land ever be left behind with such caring and humane leaders to guide our destinies and lead us away from stress and strain and take us into the broader spaces of peace and stability and finally along into the sunny paths of prosperity. Indeed could we as a Nation ask for any thing better.

In comparison, it was distressing hearing the Leader of the Opposition in his address to the public at Kandy invoke fire and thunder on the Rajapaksa family. I thought it was cruel. There is no known cure for stupidity.