Leper Colony

Yesterday, Mark and I went with our friend Loan to visit a leper colony about an hour outside of HCMC.  Loan visits this facility two to three times a year to bring scholarships for school children and also other gifts.  Since the Chinese New Year, Tet, is coming up in a week or so we brought the patients a gift of special cakes that are made for this holiday.  The colony is on a large piece of land that was originally owned and operated by the Catholic church.  It was built in 1959 and after the war in the seventies the government took over the land but allowed the nuns to continue to run the leper hospital.  There are currently 400 lepers living on the land, many are families.  Currently there are 122 patients in the hospital itself.  Mother Teresa visited this facility in 1993.  The sisters that run the hospital are from the same order of nuns as she was and to me they have the same heart.  Our escort around the facility also took the English name of Sister Teresa, her role model.  Leprosy is a disease that is curable but only if caught in the early stages.  We met one couple who has lived in the facility for over 40 years, they are in their sixties.  The husband is in worse shape than his wife but she also has lost most of her left hand, yet she is an avid sewer and has an ancient machine to sew for herself plus try to make some extra money by sewing for others.  In the final stages of leprosy the mind is effected.  We were shown an area, they looked like small jail cells that housed one person with a small bed and not much else. There were locks on these doors to prevent the patients from wandering off and getting hurt.  There we were shown a 98 yr old lady who had been in the facility for decades and was still holding on to life, minus many limbs.  The best part of the trip for me was when another lady who is also mentally unstable due to the disease sang an old Vietnamese song for us.  She still has a beautiful voice and loves to share it with others. 

The last part of our day was spent handing out some snacks to children and for 22 of the children of lepers, school scholarships were given.  Since going to school here is not free many of the children have no hope of getting an education without help.  Hope Chapel in California has been making these scholarships possible for the last 10 years.  The oldest scholar is finishing high school this year and would like to go on to the University to be able to support herself.  She is appreciative of all the help she has been given.  After the scholarships and snacks were given out we celebrated our friends birthday with a delicious cake that we brought.  A special treat for the children.  Several of the children were practicing their English with us.  It seems the first things they learn are, what is your name, how are you and how old are you?  I told them I was ancient of days.

Mark and I were remembering the lepers that came to Jesus for healing.  I am sure it broke his heart as it did ours to see them.  We will continue our prayers for those who spend time with and take care of these dear one who I am certain will someday be whole again.