The missionary Church has a long tradition of assistance to leprosy patients, this is the case of the Jeevodaya Social and Leprosy Rehabilitation Center which has been assisting people affected by this pandemic for fifty years. The institute was founded by the priest and Polish doctor Father Adam Wisniewski, of the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Holy Family, in 1969 with the aim of creating a home for lepers where they could offer not only medical treatment but also rehabilitation in two phases, physical and social, until the achievement of total human acceptance and dignity within the society that had so far rejected them.
The note sent to Fides News Agency points out that Jeevodaya is also a home that welcomes children of families affected by the pandemic. Here the children are educated and do not run the risk of returning to the slums of the colonies where people affected by leprosy are still marginalized. In this way, with a good education, children are able to start a new life and help their parents.
Mgr. Victor Henry Thakur, Archbishop of the diocese of Raipur and Adam Burakowski, ambassador of the Polish Republic to India took part in the ceremony, celebrated on December 9 in Jeevodaya Nagar, Abhanpur, district of Raipur. Chhattisgarh.
Unfortunately, leprosy still exists due to poverty, as well as marginalization. According to the statistics of the World Health Organization in the poorest areas of the world, there is in fact 94% of new patients. The country most affected by Hansen’s disease is India with 135,485 cases.
