SUNDAY’S SPOTLIGHT CHARITY

Today’s spotlight charity is Rising Star Outreach, a charity that reaches out to those with Leprosy.

Leprosy is primarily a disease of the peripheral nerves and skin lesions are the primary external symptom.  If left untreated, leprosy can be progressive, causing permanent damage to the skin, nerves, limbs and eyes. Contrary to popular belief, leprosy does not actually cause body parts to simply “fall off.”  If caught early enough, Leprosy can be stopped before it ravages a body and ruins a life.  The ancient perception of Leprosy, found in almost every religion, saw the disease as a God-given curse. To this day, Leprosy in India carries with it a stigma that adds terrible emotional trauma and extreme social ostracism to physical effects of the disease.

Although the forced quarantine is unnecessary—and can be considered unethical—a few leper colonies still remain around the world, in countries such as India (there are still more than 1,000 leper colonies in India!), China, Japan  and until recently, Romania, United States, Egypt, Nepal, Somalia, and Vietnam.

Leprosy is curable, and Rising Star Outreach seeks to defeat it.  Even so, people who have contracted leprosy must often are forced to spend their lives completely isolated from society, although they may have been cured.  They, and members of their families, sometimes find it impossible to marry, receive education or find work. An estimated 100 million people worldwide are victims of this discrimination.

Rising Star’s mission is to help the Leprosy colonies become thriving, self sufficient communities in three major ways.  1. to educate the colony children in a safe, healthy environment, 2.  to provide leprosy patients with their own small businesses using micro-finance, and 3.  to address the unique health challenges of the colonies with mobile medical units.  Leprosy has traditionally robbed its victims of all that is precious in life: their families, homes, self-respect, emotional well-being and physical health. It has long been acknowledged as one of the most devastating diseases known to man; in effect, it was a curse worse than death.

Rising Star Outreach has a plan to eradicate this!

To find out more about Rising Star Outreach and how you can help, click HERE

Nunjaka had a daughter secretly married outside of the colonies. If the daughter's new family learned that she came from a leprosy colony, her life would be in danger. Her mother, therefore, has been left to suffer her fate alone.