At the Ramgarhwah leprosy colony

I visited the leprosy colony that is closest to Little Flower. 

It's about two hours away on the rough roads and going through Raxaul, where pedestrians, bicycles, motorcycles, horse carts, jeeps, and trucks weave through and past one another without troubling themselves with lanes or particular sides of the road. 

The colony was constructed in two sections. This is the older one, with buildings slightly spread out. 

This is the newer section, which seems to be a few decades old.

I asked to see the children. Their behavior seemed strange: they all acted like dazed sleepwalkers. The only exception was the tall boy in the center of the picture, a Little Flower student. I thought he looked and acted confident and eager, very different than the others.

Mediocre as the school and hostel are at Little Flower at this point, it made me think that it's infinitely better than the colony environment.

The simple living conditions were humbling, to say the least.

At the edge of the newer section is a long row of latrines with squat toilets, in various stages of cleanliness.

My job was to sit down with the colony leader and ask questions for my survey. Others soon crowded around.

Accompanying me were my driver, Motilal; my translator, 19-year-old Anurag (who unfortunately just left for Bangalor for school); Mariam, my "female companion" as I have been advised not to travel alone with men; and her little granddaughter who in the picture is sleeping on the wooden bed.

The colony leader told me his name was Ramsevakmhoto (maybe there's a typo in there somewhere!).


Some of my questions, with the answers:

How many people live in this colony? About 172.

How many have leprosy? About 37.

Do you get government assistance? They pay for house construction. And each person gets 5 kg of rice per month.

How many of the adults are illiterate? About 60-70%.

How many adults went to high school? Maybe 10.

How many new cases of leprosy are there each year? 10-12.

Where are they treated? At the Little Flower leprosy clinic.

What other major diseases are there here? Tuberculosis.

What is the average income of a family per month? 2,500 Rupees [36 dollars]

What is the main reason for unemployment in the colony? They don't have money to start a business. They work in the fields or do other day labor but don't get paid.

What is the main occupation of colony members? Farming and begging.

How many adults go begging? Just about all of them.

Do you feel discriminated against? Yes, people outside the colony won't come here. They won't touch our food or our water.

What sources of communication do you have? Computer, TV, phone? No one owns a computer. There are maybe 15 TVs. 20 people have a phone.

I learned that a source of conflict is that the older section of the colony has a total of only three toilets. There are long queues. The latrines don't have running water, so people have to bring buckets of water with them. Most practice open defecation beyond the buildings.

The newer section, on the other hand, has that row of latrines.


The great news is that progress is being made. Only the older generation is visibly leprosy affected. I see this in Little Flower too. Only people who are around 50 or older are missing fingers and toes. After that, medications for leprosy became more readily available.

There's a child in 7th class at Little Flower who has leprosy, but she takes the medication and no one knows.

Another important question in the survey was about truancy.

How many kids here are not in school? About 10.

This boy, Ashok Kumar, is 13 and is not in school. I asked his father why he didn't send him to Little Flower. "I tried, but he didn't feel like going."

I asked what he did. "Nothing. His friend isn't in school, either. But he sells water."