Break the Chains of Leprosy in Nigeria
(This fundraising campaign is now closed)
You never forget the day when a doctor gives you the bad news.
His words ring in your ears and you probably don’t fully take in what he tells you next.
Words that could have massive implications for the rest of your life.
What would you do next?
I hope you would have people, or even just one person, around you to help you. Someone who will care for you and love you. Someone who will support you through the dark times and help you to rebuild your life.
By giving a gift today, you can be that someone for people who hear those words today, who have their life pulled out from under them. People like Ibrahim.
Ibrahim was a young man when he heard “you have leprosy” – words that changed his life forever.
His family and neighbours had seen the pale patches on his hands. They sent him to see the doctor at Amanawa in northern Nigeria.
The doctors words meant that he could never go home. The fear and stigma that surround those words meant that he was no longer welcome – he was someone to be feared and avoided. They no longer saw their friend Ibrahim, they only saw leprosy.
Your gift can stop people who hear those words, young or old, from suffering this same fate today.
He had no-one to stand beside him. But people who hear those words today can have you – will you be there for people like Ibrahim, devastated by those words today?
In some ways Ibrahim was one of the fortunate ones.
He could never go home, but he was diagnosed and treated early. This, as well as taking good care of his ulcers over the years has kept him completely free of any disabilities.
For too many people this doesn’t happen and they have to face a lifetime of disability as well as isolation and rejection.
He stayed at Amanawa and there, among other people affected by leprosy he found a new community and a place to call home.
It cannot be right that even today the words “you have leprosy” can have such a devastating impact on someone’s life.
You can change that!
Your gift will proclaim the truth – that leprosy is nothing to be feared.
Ibrahim was abandoned and ignored because he had leprosy.
Please don’t abandon people who hear those words today to the same fate.
Please give what you can today. Give them hope. Give them love.
God bless you
