Malteser International Annual Report 2007 - Ordine di Malta

On the spot: South Sudan
‘I got ill because I ate with a murderer’
Fighting leprosy means fighting legends
“It is closely connected to poverty.” –
“If you kill my brother, and then you eat
together with me, I will develop leprosy.
Because I ate with my brother’s murderer.”
– “It is given by birth. In my clan,
there was never leprosy, so my relatives
and I will never get it.” – “Somebody can
bewitch you or put a bad curse on you so
that you will get it.”
This is what people ‘know’ about leprosy
in Rumbek, South Sudan. This is also
all that Majok had heard about leprosy
when he developed blisters on his hands
in January 2007. Neither did he know
what leprosy looked like nor did he understand
that leprosy can hit everybody.
That is why he did not go to the hospital
when the first symptoms occurred but just
waited, hoping that the blisters would disappear
by themselves.
With his three wives and ten children,
Majok lives in the village of Ascholthen,
close to Rumbek. Majok’s uncle Maker
also lives in the very same village. Maker
had also suffered from leprosy. When
he saw Majok in June, with the blisters
spread from the hands to the elbows and
the knees and the feet, he said: “Listen! I
had this illness as well, and I know where
you can heal it!” And he took Majok to
the State Hospital of Rumbek where Malteser
International runs a leprosy control
programme and where he himself had
been cured.
Majok is lucky he came to the hospital
early enough so that he will not lose any
fingers, toes, limps or other parts of his
body. He just needs to learn how to treat
Anke Barth
Majok tells his story.
the ulcers on his own and as soon as he
can do so he will then be allowed to leave
the hospital and go back to his family.
When Majok returns home a nurse of the
Malteser International leprosy control
programme will visit him regularly to
check whether he is following the advice
and if the blisters are disappearing.
Majok is not afraid of returning to his
village after his recovery even though
people who are affected by leprosy are
still and very frequently stigmatised and
excluded from society. “But when I told
my people that I have leprosy they just
refused (except for my uncle) to believe
me and even today they will not believe
it was leprosy! In this way, they have no
problem with staying friends with me.”
Majok is truly annoyed by this ignorance.
“When I return to my village, I
will show them my healing arms and
legs and I will tell them that this was
done by the drugs healing the leprosy.
And I will ask them: How can it not be
leprosy then?”
Anke Barth
Anke Barth
Treating Majok’s wounds
Africa
17