Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth

Julie and I have now been here in India for a week. During this time we have been preparing for the training programme with eight to ten leaders from the leprosy village we have been helping to support for the past three years. They are all volunteers and seem keen to participate. We are just hoping that they will be able to learn enough to enable them to be a real help and a blessing to their fellow leprosy sufferers.

We have a simple and very practical programme design. Julie will teach them how to care for and protect their eyes, hands and feet from injuries so that they do not get so many infections and damage to the soles of their feet and toes and their fingers and hands. People with leprosy often lose all sensation in the nerves that feed the feet, hands and face. This means that they injure themselves when walking barefoot or handling cooking pots and fires etc. We brought sunglasses and eye masks from the UK (donated by supporters) and last week we sourced and bought 100 plastic bowls for soaking hands and feet two or three times daily; and also a source of petroleum jelly for lubricating and softening the skin.

Everything takes much longer here than it would in UK but we are now ready to begin the training tomorrow (Monday 25th). We visited the village on Friday to speak to the people and introduce Julie who will be conducting the training. Our trainees will travel to our base in Tenali by train each day. We are praying that they will have the necessary motivation to make that journey and be part of this prevention of disability initiative.

There is still much to be done before we leave India. One thing is to make contact with the local leprosy specialists at the hospital in Guntur. It looks as if there might be some new cases among the children and this will have to be investigated and treatment started and supervised. This will come under the auspices of our mobile clinic once diagnosis has been made and drug therapy commenced.

Another issue is footwear. Most of the village people walk barefoot and it is no wonder that they get terrible infections in their feet. Once they start soaking and oiling their skin it will soften and therefore barefoot walking will be extra hazardous. We are hoping to meet with an orthotist here who can advise on suitable shoes for those with badly deformed feet. For the others, who still have toes, we may have to be satisfied with flip-flops which at least will give some protection to the soles of their feet.

We give praise and thanks for:

• Safe road travel so far. Indian roads are very hazardous.
• For the team spirit that has developed between Julie, myself and Sudheer’s people.
• The willingness of the leprosy affected people to participate in the training.
• For the provision of resources locally.

Please pray for:

• The one week training programme beginning Monday 25th June; that people will come
• For David and Krupa who will translate for us
• For access to the specialist leprosy unit at the general hospital in Guntur; hat we will be able to get relevant advice and support
• For the suspected new leprosy cases among the children in the village – that they may receive appropriate drug therapy
• For access to appropriate specialist footwear for the worst cases
• That the trainees absorb the teaching and will be able to transmit it to their fellows in the village at the practical test next week.
• For Julie and Hazel’s health and strength – the climate is exceedingly hot and humid and there is much road travel to endure.

We both thank you for your prayers – without them this mission would not be possible.

Blessed are the Poor in Spirit

Standing in the sand and dust among our friends in the leprosy village near Chirala, close to the Bay of Bengal yesterday I felt a surge of thankfulness rise up in me. Three years we have been coming to visit and help out with groceries and medications and dressings for their wounds and ulcers - but at last the dream of helping them to help themselves is beginning to come to fruition.

The dream of providing a fully staffed and equipped mobile medical unit to help the people with leprosy in the neglected rural villages has been achieved thanks to the generosity and faithfulness of God's people in enabling this to happen in just over one year.

The dream of bringing expert help to teach the leprosy patients how to care for themselves and each other to prevent the onset and increase of disability is about to be realised. Next week my friend, Julie and I will be conducting a one week training programme for eight village leaders. Jullie is hugely experienced in this area as an OT who worked with the Leprosy Mission Scotland in Nepal and Sudan for about five years before she retired  (for the second time).

The idea is that we train some of the leaders in prevention of disability, with  particular emphasis on the care of hands, feet and eyes which are extremely prone to damage and infection because of loss of feeling due to nerve damage in these extremities. These folk will then go back to the village and teach family groups what they have been taught by us - thus cascading the learning into the community.

Once we have gone, the programme will be monitored and overseen by the team that run the mobile clinic. The aim is to reduce the number of acutely infected ulcers and increase the general well being of the village people. This in turn will allow them to be more active in caring for their other needs themselves.

The teaching programme begins next Monday. So we would ask for prayer that we can convey what is needed clearly and that the learners are able to take it on board and be able to pass on their knowledge successfully.

Go, I am sending you out like lambs among wolves....

The preparations are nearly done. Copies of training manuals have been photocopied and bound, teaching cards laminated and packed.

Now piles of clothing and equipment litter the surfaces of the house. Julie and I are almost ready to set off in a couple of days to catch the flight to Hyderabad and then a train to Tenali in Andhra Pradesh.


Today I discovered that we can each take 30 kg of baggage so we are adding children's and baby clothes to our packing list. We do not want to waste a single kilo of free baggage allowance so these will be added to the pairs of sunglasses and eye masks donated by supporters in five churches.

We anticipate that this will be quite a tough mission trip. The message we are taking to the leaders of the leprosy affected communities will involve significant behaviour and attitude shifts and we have no way of knowing how receptive they will be to us coming in from the west and "telling them what to do". I thank God for Julie's long experience in Sudan and Nepal and for the past three or four years of my visits which have allowed me to get to know the people and hopefully to have built up some trust with them.

We step out in faith, knowing that many people are praying for us daily. Without these prayers to cover us our task would be impossible to do in our own strength. So thank you to all of you who have committed to pray for us. I will update the blog as and when I am able - but I do not yet know how easy internet access will be when we are out in the village.

The righteous care about justice for the poor. Proverbs 29:7

Leave your Country and Go to the Land I will Show You

Stepping into a new situation in a far country seems a little daunting right now. In one week I will be setting off for a new challenge in India with Julie, a friend and colleague. Our goal is to spend almost a month in one of the leprosy affected communities that OEW has been supporting from a distance for the past few years.

I have visited them several times on previous visits to the area - but only ever for a few hours at a time when taking supplies of food and clothing and accompanying the doctor from Reap India when conducting medical camps.

The people in this village have been living in terribly poor conditions, but recently OEW has supported the improvement of houses, installation of drinking water wells and basic medical care. We work in partnership with Reap India (EARE Ministries) to respond to needs as indicated by the community.

However we believe that to be a real help we needed to help the people to help themselves. We took advice from the director of the Leprosy Mission Scotland and the director of Leprosy Mission International and quickly came to the conclusion that the most helpful thing we could do was to teach them how to set up and run 'Self Care Groups.' If leprosy is not diagnosed early enough, nerves that affect the fingers, toes, legs, arms and face can be damaged which results in a loss of movement and feeling in these areas. Once sensation has been lost it cannot be restored. When a person treads on something sharp or holds something hot they do not feel pain and so they don't realise they are causing harm to their bodies.

We plan to work with the village leaders teaching them how to care for their eyes, hands and feet so that they can then cascade this teaching to the people in the community. Julie and I will be teaching for three weeks so it will be quite a challenge for us. This preventative work will complement the service provided by our mobile medical vehicle / ambulance. This has been purchased thanks to the generous giving of our supporters. We are taking with us the finance to customise and kit it out while we are there. So I would extend a very big thank you to everyone who has contributed to this project over the past eighteen months.

Please pray for us.

"Do not be afraid little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom." Luke 12:33