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Posted on 02/08/2026 7:17:54 AM PST by Libloather
Alamelu, a gray-haired woman who wears a bright pink sari and a gap-tooth smile, has lived in the Kalvari Nagar leprosy colony in India for 22 years and another colony before that.
Her family sent her away when she was only 12 years old after she was diagnosed with what is likely the world's most misunderstood and stigmatized disease. They feared her presence in the home would tarnish the family's reputation and her siblings would never be married. Alamelu, who is now 75, never saw her family again.
Like most residents of Kalvari Nagar, this woman was cured of leprosy years ago. But she has no plans to leave the colony. This is her home.
On a recent Tuesday, Alamelu waited with ten other colony residents to see a visiting doctor. They sat in white plastic chairs in a warehouse-like building, each holding a colored folder containing their medical files. (NPR agreed to refer to residents of the leprosy colony by only their first names because of the stigma that surrounds the disease.)
While these elderly residents no longer have leprosy, they still suffer from the disabling long-term effects of the disease — crippled hands, blindness, amputations and, most of...
**SNIP**
The legacy of leprosy colonies
This colony in Tamil Nadu in Southern India is one of about 750 leprosy colonies that still exist in India today. They are relics of a not-too-distant past when those diagnosed with leprosy were exiled out of a mistaken fear they would spread a dangerous and disabling disease.
In fact, leprosy — also known as Hansen's disease — is one of the least contagious diseases there is. Ninety-five percent of humans are naturally immune and it's not easily contracted by the other 5%. Today, leprosy is easily cured with antibiotics, especially if detected early.
(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...
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why tho
Well, this is India. The food is probably better in the colonies.
Because it’s India.
OK,
This is NPR, there is an agenda...............you are all bigots and need to be more tolerant.
Now,
One could focus on the messenger or the message.
These people have changed their behavior with the help of others, meaning cleanliness, medication and education. We should all be for that.
Unlike perverts who don’t want to changet their behavior with aids.
Now, where are the lies?
In fact, leprosy — also known as Hansen’s disease — is one of the least contagious diseases there is. Ninety-five percent of humans are naturally immune and it’s not easily contracted by the other 5%. Today, leprosy is easily cured with antibiotics, especially if detected early.
I am not so sure, I am willing to completely believe the above. There is more to it. Historically, isolation was a good treatment and still is proper. Those 700 colonies and other things contribute to the situation.
Todays rate of infection might be very comparable to historical records.
I once worked in the US Hansens Disease Research Center in Carville, LA. It had the remaining US citizens that were once involuntarily committed for leprosy. This was in the later 1980s and there were about 60 of them left. Part of the facility had been changed into a USDOC medical prison.
A couple of the Hansens people said that they would finish their lives there, as their families and society at large had “written them off”. They became their own new family. Sad that middle ages thinking still persists.
When in Calcutta, we visited a leper colony run by Mother Teresa’s brothers. The people living there were some of the most joyful I have ever met!
some of the most joyful I have ever met!
They had organized a hockey game there once. They decided it wasn’t such a good idea after there was a face off in the corner.
I’d guess she loves that lavish decor.
Author’s agenda may be at least in part to undermine belief in Holy Scripture. As if to say: Your Bible didn’t tell you this, now did it!?
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