The first town in Nigeria in which I lived was called, OKIGWI. I did not have a car, so I travelled on my bicycle to many different villages every week.
One morning I had to travel about 12 miles to a special village for a Holy Communion Service. It wasn’t an ordinary village. All the people were sick. In fact as soon as any person in other villages had that sickness they were driven away from their homes. there was no hospital. No one would care for them. They were suffering from Leprosy. This place was classed as an isolated village – a Leper’s village. No healthy people lived there – only Lepers.
The Lepers had built a little church – mud walls and thatch roof. Pieces of trees had been cut and placed on top of stones or tree trunks as benches to sit on. This was my first time to meet men and women suffering from Leprosy. Many of them were disfigured; but some look quite normal, except for a few tell-tale white patches on their skin. I was able to share the Holy Communion with them. Some of them had not been to a service with the minister for many months. For some, the last Communion they had received was even before they were forced away from their home villages.
Chima had a happy smile on his face. He told me after the service that he was ‘clean’ and would be going home the next week. It meant that he had received twelve ‘negative’ monthly tests; and that meant he was being discharged from the Leper village.
A few weeks later, Chima came to my house. He was not happy. Why? Because his family and village leaders refused to let him enter his village and his home. They said it was because he was a Leper. “Once a Leper always a Leper”. I went to see the Church leaders and the village elders. I told them he was now ‘clean’. They would not believe me, and insisted that Chima go away.
Chima had to find another village many miles away – where he could live without the people knowing that he had once suffered from Leprosy. He was blessed as he joined in the worship services; and eventually was able to help other cured Lepers find a place of welcome. He loved Jesus – and he loved the men and women who had suffered like him. He knew also that Jesus loved the Lepers, and cured many of the ones he met.
The Leprosy Mission, is an organization that sends medicines and trained people to bring cures to boys and girls, as well as men and women. Millions have been cured. BUT, there are still millions of people who are waiting to be cured from a debilitating and socially-ostracizing disease.
Pray for them…. Give gifts for them. Maybe, one day you will go and help bring healing to them.
