Leprosy Center

You Can Make A Difference, But Together We Can Make A Change

Shanti Sewa Griha (Peaceful Helping Home) is the name of our leprosy and medical clinic project, where some of the most desperate of the poor and ill are helped. Leprosy still carries a terrible stigma and often the afflicted are not only sick, but outcastes, cut off from any contact with their community. Yet, leprosy is curable and the individuals who have this condition can receive vocational training despite disfigurement and loss of fingers which sometimes occurs. Given medical treatment, job training, respect and love, these former outcastes have the chance to live a meaningful life.

The Shanti Sewa Griha facilities include a:

1. Community Clinic
2. Leprosy Clinic
3. Handicrafts Center
4. Community Kitchen
5. Preschool
6. Kindergarten

 

Number of Patients at Shanti Sewa Griha Facilities 1998

ADULTS	Numbers
leprosy patients(m)	85
leprosy patients(f)	35
disabled/poverty-stricken	69
bed-ridden	16
CHILDREN
infants	36
toddlers	23
school-age children	23
TOTAL	287

Funding Sources:

All Together Now International donors sponsor children for $650/year. Donors then receive a photo of their sponsored child, and correspondence between the child and sponsor is encouraged. General donations go to the medical clinic and leprosy project. Doctors donate all medicine used in the clinic.

Future Goals:

All crops at SSG are grown organically, using no pesticides or fertilizers. SSG wants to increase the size of these gardens to make all of its centers self-sustaining. SSG also plans to install solar panels at both the Kathmandu and eastern Nepal centers; most of these centers' electrical needs will then be supplied by solar energy. SSG also hopes to expand the handicrafts enterprise

 

The Story of a Leprosy Patient Ram Singh Gurung, who is now 53 years old, was found close to the Nepali border with Tibet by a Nepali social worker. When the villagers in Ram's area found that he was suffering from leprosy, he was put into a cage and the cage was placed in a cave. For thirteen years he was kept like an animal. The stigma of leprosy applies to all cultures, but for the people of his area, it was believed that Ram was being punished for the sins of his past lives. Ram was taken by the social worker to the Shanti Sewa Griha leprosy project. His state of health was terrible. He had maggots in his deep sores and he was emaciated. His mental condition was uncertain, but there was speculation that he would never recover from his ordeal. Now, some years later, Ram's leprosy has been treated, although he is disfigured and without fingers and toes. Yet, he has turned out to be a cheerful, lovable man. He has been trained to work in paper-making and hand-printing. And, although he has no family of his own, he is a much beloved grandfather to the many children at Shant Sewa Griha. Ram now has the respect and care that every human being deserves.

Letter from the Shanti Sewa Director :

Our aim is too help everybody who is in need and comes to our door to ask for help, even the dying. We lovingly take care of those who could not be savied until they have died. Often they are too poor and had no relatives, so we have paid for their cremation.

According to Nepalese customs, the oldest son has to do the necessary rites. It always makes my heart warm to see how our patients jump in and help. They carry the corpse (that is washed and wrapped in white cloth). One of the older men declares himself to be the oldest son of the family and pours water from the Bagmati River on the corpse, lights the fire and stays for the next 6 hours.

When we realized that Shanti is a place where the dying find shelter, we decided to officially open a hospice. Our idea is to make the hospice a warm, welcoming place - within the limited possibilities we have. This was achieved by choosing warm, sunny yellow for the walls and the bed sheets. The theme of the paintings is: a wonderfully decorated elephant. Above the doors our most talented painter, Jogendra, drew various gods, Ganesh, Krishna and Hanuman.

The patients who are presently being cared for are: Suraj, a four year old aids stricken little boy, whose mother died in our clinic 8 weeks ago. For the first time we also have a very young leprosy patient: Punam. She is ten years old. Four patients suffer from TB and one elderly man has a hard time with chronic obstructive lung disease.

Our clinic is a bright oasis among the gray concrete buildings along the ring road - we added a thatched roof pavilion, made of bamboo to protect the waiting patients of the glaring sun and at present of the heavy monsoon rains. We bought new iron beds, paint, shelves for filing and mats to insulate the corrugated iron roof.

Our plans for Budhanilhanta are to intensify the vegetable garden in order to get more and self reliant. We planted hundreds of fruit trees in the past three months in order to stop erosion and furthermore to hopefully have enough fruit in the not too distant future, that may yield some income.

Thank you once agin for all those who have supported this project, the help is greatly appreciated. We can do so much with so little here, any funds that can be contributed will be of great help to those who suffer. Leprosy is not a cause many people are interested in.

Please contact us for more information

Please use the links below to learn more about our projects and how you can help!