Time to say Good Bye

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Our last two days and plans for the future

Our last two days didn't go quite as expected but were still very productive. Raju tells us a little about his life and family.

We did some training, created a wish list and made a plan for the future.

Then we said our farewells.

Our big thank you to you.

Our last 2 working days did not go as planned. The Village was closed to all outsiders by the police at the request of the government because some unscrupulous local business men were trying to rent out properties to people unaffected by Leprosy. It will be opened again on 12th January once they have made all the necessary checks.

We have used our time instead meeting at headquarters and have had longer to discuss improvements to the bandaging service and to train Raju. We also learned that Raju was diagnosed with Leprosy himself at the age of 14. He ran away from home to Mumbai to seek treatment. He eventually ended up in Delhi at the Village if Hope and was 'adopted' by a couple both of whom have Leprosy. Fortunately, he got his treatment soon enough that he had no residual nerve damage. Although, he is illiterate, through The Hope Foundation he has been trained to use a scalpel and is an expert bandager so is now serving his community and able to provide for his own young family. One of the many uplifting stories we heard during our stay here.

One final surprise was a lift home from one of the lecturers of the paramedical students and an unexpected visit to his dental practice, a check up and the offer of some free treatment!!

Training & Plans for the Future

Having discussed our vision for the clinic with Chandra who heads up the Hope projects in Delhi, which includes more emphasis on prevention and foot health education. Raju will have an assistant to help him which will give him more time to treat areas of the foot that are at risk to ulceration. Jolly (in the above photo) has been appointed his mentor and will be responsible for the self help programme, which is so exciting.

In the training session we focussed on padding techniques which help to offload the pressure on the ulcers and really helps speed up healing.

We also showed them how to measure and cut insoles.

We have written up advice leaflets for Jolly to distribute to people especially those not accessing the service which provide information on how to take care of their feet and how to prevent ulcers developing.

Raju then gave us his wish list for the clinic.
One of our donors has already offered to purchase the lights he needs, (we have been treating using torchlight!)

Other items include,
2 Patient chairs and foot rests for his assistant for the 2 units.
2 pairs of Sharp scissors for Padding
2 pairs of Nail nippers (the ones he has would be more appropriate for pruning!)
Padding and Insole material.
Oil and oil dispensers as a quick way and hygienic way for moisturising feet post operatively.
We would also like to provide a bowl and oil to every patient who attends the unit so that they can soak their feet and moisturise them daily as advised in our advice sheet.

We were given a small farewell party which was lovely and somewhat emotional

If anyone has been inspired to visit The Village of Hope even just for one hour I can put you in touch with Chandra and he will happily arrange for you to be taken there.

Thank you all for generosity which has allowed us to get this far... We cannot thank you enough. We are continuing to raise funds for the bandaging unit so please spread the word to anyone else who might help.

Kind regards,

Alison Clark-Morris
Podiatrist
aclarkmorris@aol.com

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