Chapter 10 Chapter 10: The Curing of the Terrible Human Disease

he is - Truth - to be told; life - to be experienced; light - to be ignited; love - to be loved; the way - to be followed; Joy - to be given; Peace - to be spread; Sacrifice - to be sacrificed. Oh Jesus, please release me-- Yearning to be loved, yearning to be praised, yearning to be admired, yearning to be admired yearning to be liked, yearning to be loved longing for approval fear of humiliation fear of being blamed forgotten fear fear of being laughed at The yearning to be welcomed. the fear of being scorned, the fear of being slandered, the fear of being wronged, The fear of being suspected.

--Prayers recited daily by Mother Teresa and her nuns To cure the dreaded human disease Anyone who has watched the movie "Ben-Hur" should know what a terrible disease leprosy is. In the era of "Ben-Hur", whether a nobleman or a commoner, once he got leprosy, his subsequent encounters were very different. Few, they are often kicked out of their homes, out of society, abandoned, isolated, and most of them can only wait to die desolately in uninhabited caves or in the wild.The disease was an abyssal nightmare.The enormous damage it brings to a life is beyond description with limited language.Leprosy also has a name in the folk: candle disease.As the name suggests, it means that the body of a person suffering from this disease will melt bit by bit like a burning candle—fester bit by bit until they die.The situation is so weird and terrifying that people dare not pay attention to it.Therefore, in countries or regions where leprosy breeds and spreads, the whole society will feel extremely fearful.

In the time of Jesus, leprosy was also a common disease. The Gospel records that Jesus healed leprosy patients: A man with leprosy came to Jesus, knelt down and begged Him, "If you are willing, It will cleanse me." Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out his hand to touch him, and said to him, "I am willing; be clean!" Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was clean. Jesus touched those who asked for cleansing, not only to heal their bodies, but also to let them know that in this world, not everyone hates them, and there are still people who are willing to give them love through physical contact And respect, so the British writer Dickens said to his children in the thin little book "The Story of Jesus": In this world, no one is better than Jesus to the poor and sick.Of course, today, science and clinical medicine have been very developed, and leprosy has been well controlled. People don't have to talk about "hemp" like they did in the past.

But in India around the middle of the 20th century, leprosy was rampant. There is a reason why leprosy is endemic in India.India's slums are extremely overcrowded, but lack basic sanitation facilities: no sewers, no toilets.In summer, the monsoon blowing from the Indian Ocean makes this densely populated subcontinent not only continue to have high temperature, but also often torrential rains. Frequent torrential rains wash garbage, feces and other dirt into the shabby houses of the poor. The very harsh living environment was even worse, which led to the massive breeding and rapid spread of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and leprosy.According to statistics, there were about 5 million leprosy patients in India at that time, and there were 80,000 in Calcutta alone.

India is a highly hierarchical country, but people's attitudes towards lepers are surprisingly consistent.Whether it is a well-educated rich man or a poor man with nothing, as long as he is infected with leprosy, he will be immediately discarded as garbage and become a humble and untouchable person-forced to wander in the wilderness and interact with the society. completely isolated.In the loneliness and pain of being abandoned, every day lepers break down because they can't bear the huge darkness-go mad and commit suicide. By 1957, the work of the Missionary Sisters of Charity had been on the right track and gradually became a thriving trend.The hospice and children's home were also running smoothly, so Mother Durham began to turn her attention to caring for the poor to the lepers.

Strangely, at this time, five lepers came to the door by themselves. It was an early morning, and these poor five people covered their faces tightly with dirty turbans, and came to No. 54, Lower Ring Road in the hazy morning light of Calcutta.They stood cowering at the door, and murmured to Mumu: "We have lost our jobs, we have no place to live, we don't know where to go, we..." Before they could finish speaking, Mumu said, "Well, you Of course you should come here, this is your home." In order to effectively take care of these 5 people, and then take care of 6, 7 or even more leprosy patients, Mumu planned to set up a leprosy shelter immediately, but this decision was soon strongly opposed by the citizens, and There are also some people in the congregation who think it is inappropriate—the young nuns feel that the existing work is already very heavy, and if another leprosy shelter is opened, they will feel powerless no matter how they look at it.

Mumu had no choice but to put aside her wonderful plan.But lepers must be cared for, and their wounded hearts must be comforted.So she bought a medical van with a donation and transformed it into a mobile clinic.At the same time, some young nuns were arranged to go to the Holy Family Hospital in Patna to receive training on leprosy treatment and nursing, in preparation for her official opening of the leprosy shelter. Soon, an Indian doctor heard the news. This experienced doctor is an expert in leprosy. He told Mumu: "I will teach you how to take care of your patients. We now have new medical skills. And new drugs, as long as patients seek timely treatment, the disease can be effectively suppressed."

But in fact, most of the patients are not diagnosed and treated in time. Many people are ashamed to see others because their descriptions change and their bodies become ugly; When healthy people saw them, they either ran away immediately or threw stones and sticks at them.If they are unfortunately encountered by the police, the result will be even worse. It is good luck to be deported. If they are unlucky, they may be thrown into a concentration camp. Some panicked family members lock them up because of fear and ignorance- -A basement, warehouse, or back room, not much better than being buried alive; or, being thrown into the wilderness - a cave, or other remote place, trapped there, with no other way out except waiting for death.

In order to ensure that every leprosy patient could receive timely diagnosis and treatment, the nuns and the nuns traveled almost all over Calcutta and its suburbs, and they searched every possible hiding place for leprosy patients. Many times, Mumu walked into those dilapidated rooms that exuded a stench, and witnessed with her own eyes that the wounds of those patients were festered because they did not receive timely and proper treatment, and they became the targets of flies, and finally caused maggots to grow from the wounds.At the same time, because they were abandoned by their relatives and society, many people became very sensitive, low self-esteem, and even abandoned themselves, hoping only to die. The terrible stereotypes of leprosy and the unfriendly attitude of the whole society towards leprosy patients must make people understand that leprosy is just a disease, one of all diseases that human beings encounter, and it is by no means a punishment from heaven and retribution.

Mobile clinics began to shuttle through various slums and suburbs of Calcutta to provide open-air treatment for leprosy patients.At the same time, it also disseminated knowledge about leprosy prevention and treatment to the citizens of Calcutta. Mumu also participated in the work of the mobile clinic. Together with the young nuns, she personally cleaned, injected, and bandaged the wounds of the patients, and comforted and encouraged them like a friend.She always said, "If you want people to change their attitudes towards you, you must first change your attitudes towards yourself." To the nuns, she said, "We have many things to do, but the most important thing Only one thing, and that is to show them our love."

For nuns, prayer is indispensable and the most sacred thing.And every act of love is actually a holy prayer.Through this prayer of action, the nuns make the lepers realize that they are not completely unwanted trash. In addition, Mumu also established a leprosy foundation, and set a day as a leprosy day. On that day, the nuns had to go to the street to post slogans.Receive donations, and take the trouble to say to passers-by: Please give your sympathy to leprosy patients.Please show your sympathy to the leprosy patients. Such actions and words, as well as the deep compassion and kindness contained therein, deeply moved many simple-minded people, and they donated generously one after another.But donations are still secondary. More importantly, while it moves people, it also partially changes people's vision and attitude towards leprosy patients, and makes them understand that leprosy is only a disease of the body, not a chronic disease of the mind. . At the end of 1957, the Indian government finally agreed to the establishment of the first leprosy shelter in a place called Gobula on the outskirts of Calcutta. On the day when the asylum center officially served the patients, Mother Duran came to shake hands with the patients, and affectionately touched their festered bodies and deformed faces to express her respect and care, and also to tell They: No matter what your body and appearance become, God still loves you; although the world abandons you, God will not abandon you; and you, let alone yourself. Many patients were moved to tears.The young nuns were even more shocked. A patient who regained her self-esteem and self-confidence said, "We have leprosy, but it's only physical, not spiritual." This sentence made Mumu feel deeply comforted.Mumu said, "The most serious disease in the world today is not tuberculosis and leprosy, but the feeling of being hated, neglected, and abandoned. The greatest evil of the contemporary era is nothing else, but the lack of love and charity, and the lack of love and charity on street corners. Terrible indifference of people suffering from pain, poverty, disease." Yes, although some people do not have leprosy physically, they may have leprosy in their hearts—apathy.And apathy is the worst and most terrible disease in the world.Because it will inevitably lead to a sad result, which is to make people around you feel unwelcome, unloved, neglected, and abandoned.Leprosy of the body is contagious, but indifference of the mind is still more contagious.So Mumu has repeatedly emphasized: "Never let anyone, especially those around you, feel alone and unloved. This is the worst disease of all diseases." Shandinajia, the "City of Peace" However, Gobra's leprosy shelter didn't exist for long, and he encountered a big problem-the urban area of ​​Calcutta continued to expand. Soon, Gobra, which was originally just a barren land, was enclosed in a municipal construction project. It's planned.Therefore, the shelter had to be demolished.Every city in the world is like this. Although it is already huge enough, it still needs to continue to expand, as if the entire earth must be turned into a forest of cities before it will stop. Mumu had to find another place. I will not describe how many setbacks and failures I have experienced during this period.Mumu has always had a very balanced mentality, so those countless small setbacks and failures are just like a breeze blowing to her. For example, one day, Mumu and her co-worker Ann Blake were looking for a place together. They found a good place in the suburbs of Calcutta.There are green trees, green grass everywhere, and a lake with clear water.And most importantly, there were only two or three families there.It would be great if a leprosy rehabilitation center could be established in this quiet and beautiful place.However, the words and deeds of Mumu and Ann Black quickly attracted the attention of the local residents, who immediately raised sticks to drive them away, and even threw stones at them unceremoniously. But Mumu was not angry at all, and she never complained to those who expelled her.She said to Ann Blake, "I think this is probably what God meant. God didn't want us to set up a rehabilitation center here." The time soon came to 1961, when the Indian government finally agreed to allocate a piece of land to Mumu, which belonged to the railway department. It was close to the roadbed of a section of railway, about 34 acres, and it was a piece of wasteland. On this remote wasteland, Mumu Tom quickly built the huts one by one.The building materials used to build those huts are all waste products or things that are quite waste products, such as sacks, bamboo poles, iron sheets, tiles and so on.Of course, if there is another building material, it is Mumu's intelligence and her rich imagination. For a period of time, these strange huts built with colorful waste products and rich imaginations stretched along the railway bit by bit, becoming a safe place for leprosy patients.According to statistics, more than 1,400 patients are treated and cared for here every month. Not long after, the shelter, which consisted of colorful huts, developed into a rehabilitation community with hospitals, workshops, schools, pools, vegetable gardens and chicken farms. It can even be said to be a community full of people. A small city full of vitality, or a small farm, and soon, in the center of this small farm, a statue of Gandhi stood up, In 1964, Pope Paul VI visited India.Speaking in Mumbai, he said: "Mother Teresa's mission of love is universal, and to help her in her work, I'm giving her the car I use here." When this surprising gift was delivered to Mumu, she said, "This car is useless to me. I always take the cheapest means of transportation. Please Pope give it to someone else." But Paul VI was unwilling to change his mind, and he asked Sister Durham to dispose of the car himself."Use this car well for your poor people," he said. This sentence inspired Mu Mu to make a surprising decision: to auction off the car. Because it was a gift from the Pope, its significance was extraordinary, so many wealthy and well-known people came to bid for it, and the car was finally sold at a price 70 times higher than the original price.Shortly thereafter, Mumu used the proceeds from the auction to build a new leprosy rehabilitation center in the holy land of Nagar. Located 200 kilometers north of Calcutta, the holy land of Nagar is a beautiful place.The rehabilitation center is built on a beautiful hillside, where the air is fresh and the view is wide, which is very good for the recovery of patients. Mumu named the rehabilitation center Shantina House.In the Bengali language, Shandinajia means the city of peace.Some people call it Ping An City. A group of specially trained nuns came here—in the Missionary Sisters of Charity, the only place where nuns could refuse to work was the leprosy hospital. Almost flat primitive fear. At the very beginning, Ping'an City took in 400 families with leprosy. After a period of treatment and care, most of the patients were cured of their disease, but this did not eliminate people's discrimination against them.After returning to society, many patients have to return because they cannot support themselves.A leprosy doctor and her assistant from Germany were shocked when they saw some things happening here: some patients would tear open the scabbed wounds again in order to stay here for protection. Sister Delam must face a grim reality: for leprosy patients who have been neglected by society for many years, it is not enough to just give them "drug treatment", and they must also be given "work treatment". It is to train their self-reliance, so that they can lead a normal life after returning to society, without having to beg on the street again and be looked down upon by others. So Mumu set up a vocational training center, so that those patients whose disease has been effectively controlled can receive some work training within their ability according to their requirements and abilities.For example, printing leaflets, newspapers, weaving bandages, making medicine sachets, etc.; some patients work in various workshops in the rehabilitation center, such as woodworking workshops, shoemaking workshops, and breeding farms; Vegetables, rice and wheat. The effect of this kind of "work therapy" is amazing. It not only restores the body of the patients, but also heals their scarred hearts. During the training of this ability, many patients regain their Self-esteem and self-confidence have also found the joy and meaning of living. They finally understood: leprosy is just a disease, not a sin.And they themselves are not completely useless cripples, nor are they ulcers and burdens of society.The new life of many patients starts with a sewing machine or a loom.And those patients who have the courage to try to start a business can also get a loan from the Order which is very useful to them. There are also some patients who will never recover from illness and cannot return to society. Then, Shandina's house will become their eternal refuge and eternal home.They live happily here, are respected and loved, until one day they die peacefully. On this beautiful hillside, the patients basically achieved self-sufficiency by relying on some labor within their capabilities - weaving, shoemaking, raising, and growing vegetables. Even the saris worn by the nuns were made by them.During the intervals of labor, sisters also arrange for them to learn some cultural knowledge, so that they can experience the life of normal people in the process of learning.When the festival comes, the nuns also organize concerts and plays for the sick.Every Christmas, Mumu specially arranges a midnight mass for them and sends each patient a wonderful Christmas gift. Here, everyone lives as a human being, a human being with dignity, not a leper abandoned by society.They got peace here, and they built this beautiful Shandina house into a veritable safe city by themselves. In this city, Mumu is the most popular person.As soon as she appeared, the patients swarmed forward and surrounded her, and those who couldn't walk shouted excitedly: "Sister, sister." Everyone hoped that Sister would sit by their bedside, Get closest to yourself.In fact, they don't have any material needs for her, they just want to see her and keep some kind of connection with her. Because only in front of her, they feel that they are not a speck of dust, but a person with dignity and value. Mumu knows what their hearts long for, so she treats each of them with the utmost care.Mumu said: "I don't look at everyone, I only take care of individuals." In her heart, everyone here is extremely important and worthy of all her love.If a sick man needed reassurance, she could hold him in her arms for a long time without speaking a word, until he was at peace. There was a patient whose whole body was festering, making it unremarkable.When his sister took good care of him, he said with a mocking tone: "Why can you bear me? Is it because I am like this? Does it make you happy?" In comparison, what I have done is nothing." After a while, the strange patient was finally moved, and he shouted to his sister: "Glory be upon you." But the sister said to him sincerely: "You shall be the one to be honored, because you have suffered with Christ." A Western reporter wrote after interviewing hospice children's homes and leprosy rehabilitation centers: "First I felt disgust with pity, then pure sympathy, and finally a feeling beyond sympathy. I have never experienced this feeling before. I feel that these dying men and women who have nothing, mutilated lepers and abandoned babies are not abominable, on the contrary, I feel that they are lovely and respectable, just like My brothers and sisters alike. Later, when I saw the nuns serving them with joy, I was able to reach out and caress those poor plastered heads, and to hold the crippled limbs and put those The child who was despised by others was held tenderly in his arms. Because this is the head of Christ, the body of Christ, and the baby of Christ. At this time, I finally understood the words of Jesus: You accept them, and you accept me.” With her thin and thin body, and almost with the energy of a person, Sister Delam aroused a new and different awakening among many people of different classes.There must be a great mystery in it, but it is difficult for us to understand it thoroughly.All we can learn is this: She participated in the suffering of the world, and she lived a life of deep compassion throughout her life.And most importantly, she does not rely on a surreal mystical experience, but loves everyone who walks past her. The worst disease is abandonment Inspired by Mother Delam, priests from all over the world also joined the ranks of serving leprosy patients. A priest named Henry, one of Sister Durham's earliest associates, recalled that of all the Christmases he had, there was not one better than the one in Bulgaria.It was a Christmas he spent with lepers, the priest recalled.It was really a mass that cannot be described in words. The walking patients carried the disabled patients on their backs, and the crippled patients supported the handicapped patients. Everyone walked into the church slowly, and some people sang praises to the Lord. , and more people smiled happily and contentedly. The scene was really touching.And the so-called church is just a broken house.Sandwiched between garbage dumps and sewers, it was built by Christians among the lepers themselves. There is another story that I must tell. In the 1960s, in Hudaydah, Yemen, Arab Republic, 120 lepers were forcibly isolated in a remote village, living a life worse than that of pigs and dogs.When the nuns in Calcutta heard the news, they decided to rescue them and restore their dignity.So the nuns came to Hudaydah, but they found that there was no way into the village at all, and the only trail was blocked by piles of rubbish and waste.If they had to enter the village, they had to wade through knee-high filth. Nevertheless, the nuns went in.When they finally worked their way out of the disgusting filth, they found that the so-called village was just a row of caves dug on the hillside. And those poor people, when they saw the nun, they ran away as if they had seen a devil, and the children ran as if they were running for their lives.Because people have always meant discrimination, hatred and persecution to them.No one has ever respected them, let alone cared about them. Once those people hid in the hole, they would never come out again.Afterwards, it took the nuns three whole weeks to barely gain some of their goodwill and trust. Then the nuns started to build a house for them, and not only that, but also a large and spacious garden for them.When these poor people moved out of the cold and damp cave.Tears streamed down their faces -- this was the first time they lived in a bright and clean house after they were forcibly isolated. Since then, in addition to taking care of the 120 patients, the leprosy rehabilitation center in Hudaydah has also received patients from other places who have heard the news. More than 600 patients receive treatment and comfort here every day. Because the nuns appeared in time.These abandoned talents can get some attention and love.Its tragic fate was changed to some extent.Since then, not only Hudaydah, but all lepers in the Yemen Arab Republic have been healed and comforted. In this regard, Mother Delam said, "The worst disease experienced by human beings is to be abandoned. Today, we have invented a medicine for leprosy, and leprosy patients can be cured; there is also a medicine for lung disease, and lung disease patients can also recover. Healing—For almost all diseases, there are medicines and cures. Only those abandoned, although people serve them with their hands and warm them with love, I don’t think that this kind of Terrible diseases will one day be cured.” The disease of abandonment is an incurable disease.Once a person feels abandoned, it is difficult to have a day of recovery.So whether it is now or in the future, we must not let those around us feel abandoned.That is, the feeling of being ignored, underestimated, or not cared about.That feeling is an incurable wound. Later, after years of unremitting efforts, Mother Delam finally established 8 leprosy rehabilitation centers and more medical centers around the world. The "work therapy" plan she formulated for patients has become more and more systematic. , getting closer to reality and more effective.