Leper or Leopard?

No, you heard correct. Today I had the opportunity to visit a leper colony. We took off early this morning and traveled about two hours away, most of that time traveling by dirt roads deep into the forest. It was a beautifully scenic ride, but I didn’t really know what to expect at the end of our travel. I have seen examples of these “colonies” in movies or on TV, but how accurate were these really?

Well, it ended up being nothing like I expected. As we drove in it seemed like a normal town. A normal town located about an hour plus into the forest that is, but normal none-the-less. I got a tour and it turns out that there are more than a hundred homes there, a church, a school, and plenty of farm land. Most of the people in the community are just normal villagers and there are about forty lepers there. And the few that I had the honor to meet were just as pleasant and hospitable to me as anyone I’ve met yet.

Every Thursday the physician’s assistant from the clinic here and a few others go into this community to treat patients and make sure that everyone is up on their medicine. Also, Fr. George goes up there every Thursday and stays through Sunday. This is his central hub for the weekend. So from there he goes to about sixteen established outposts in order to evangelize to the people, have Mass for them, and just be there for whatever they may need.

The school in this community is open to other towns in the area, and this is good because it helps to break down any taboos that people might have about entering a leper colony. It was a great experience for me to see that this was just like any other community that I have come across here in Africa.

Fr. George said Mass while we were there and it was attended mostly by children of the community. As I was sitting after Mass, I looked outside to see a backdrop of nothing but forest around us. I thought about how amazing it is that we were there now, but especially that Father is there with these people every week, let alone the sixteen other outposts that he visits. Otherwise they are so secluded that no one may even know that they are there. But because of this mission there is someone to bring the Lord to these people, in Word and in the Eucharist. What an honor it is…

-Dan
written 06/16/11