Thursday, July 26, 2007

Visiting a leper colony

Continuing with our missionary travels in China we share with you the experience of Fr. Jojo when he visited a leper colony during his summer brake from Cantonese studies.

This is what he tells us:
On July 22nd I got a golden chance to visit a leper colony in China. I just marvel at their way of life. They are very simple and humble in their approach. They long to meet and talk with different people. Even though they are poor they are willing to share whatever they have. Some of them offered some eggs to me and some others gave vegetables and some others shared their fruits with me. Why did they do it to a stranger?

Leprosy patients are most often chased out of their original habitat. Most are directly or indirectly segregated from their social lives. But they accept themselves as they are and live a joyful life in this leper colony. And some of them are very talented artists, musicians, etc. The way they work with their leprosy affected hands is touching and inspiring. Now what can you and I do for them? This is the question which left in my mind when I said good-bye to them. We can help them spiritually, physically, mentally and materially if we have a good will. But the truth is that we are “evangelized” just by visiting them.

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