Badalampurum

Patients arriving for care at Badalampurum colony. Notice how neat and clean everyone is and how beautiful the saris are on these women! This is a colony that RSO has been helping for a long time. The people have had the benefits of micro loans and many own their own small businesses. Helping these people was a totally different experience than at some other, "younger" colonies. A few of the men here helped us unload the van when we arrived and then reload it at the end....even though many were missing most or all of their hands. They felt useful and helpful! Such a great thing!



One of our sweet and beautiful RSO nurses, Charmilla, dispensing meds to the patients.



The room we had to use was not ideal by any stretch of the imagination. The flash from the camera gives the illusion that there was adequate light. There wasn't. The only light we had was from the two doorways. The bulbs in the ceiling were so inadequate, I looked up at one point to see if we even had electricity and regretted doing that, seeing a plethora of dirt caught in old cobwebs over my head. The floor was filthy and I was distressed to watch patients set their clean, washed feet down on that dirt and hobbled between chairs for further treatment. I spoke to Dr. Susan afterward and she agreed it is an issue we need to address.



Holly and me waiting for patients to arrive at our foot washing stations.



Melissa applies Neem oil to a patient's foot so the dead tissue can be somewhat softened for the debridement process.



Navimani, the debridement nurse, dresses a small wound on an abdomen; a very rare location for leprosy.



This patient was intelligent and sweet. His English was very good. As he sat down at my station to get his bandage removed, he said, "Just a moment. I will say a prayer to God to thank you for being here to help me." Then he put his deformed hands together in front of his chest and prayed out loud. It was incredible to see this act of humble gratitude. I felt like saying, "Sir, it is I who should pray to God for the strength to ever become as courageous and awesome and humble as you are!"