DAHW worker Martha Barbosa engages for former leprosy patients in Colombia
Everywhere is dust here on the outskirts of Bogotá, the capital of Colombia, but it seems that in the house of Marco Antonio and Olga Maria A. the dirt and misery of the street are far away. However, it was not always like that, Olga remembers, “Last year we still lived in an old hut of corrugated iron. Dust came in through every crack in the iron sheets and during the rainy season the huts did not get dry for weeks. It was a great blessing that God has sent Martha to us.”
Martha Cecilia Barbosa Ladina is a social worker for the German Leprosy and Tuberculosis Relief Association (DAHW) and cares for former leprosy patients – people like Olga Maria and Marco Antonio who do not receive any help from elsewhere. Together they recall the times of their sufferings which started 15 years ago.
At that time, as today, Marco Antonio was working as a car electrician, but 15 years ago he was still employed on a small, but regular salary. He could afford the school fees for the children and a small flat for his family. But then he lost his sensitivity in his left arm. He hurt himself frequently without noticing it and these wounds became infected.
At the health post was given the diagnosis: Marco Antonio had leprosy. The strong labourer’s life had turned upside down. “I cried and cried. Then I heard that leprosy makes limbs rot, before you perish in misery.”
The disease itself was cured quickly and the doctors were able to allay his fears – although his hands remained insensitive, over time he learned to deal with it. Outside his family, however, the old prejudices against leprosy prevailed: friends and neighbours turned away from the family, Marco Antonio lost his employment, could not pay the rent and school fees for the children any more.
Finally, they ended up in the poorest outskirts of Bogotá, in an old decayed hut of corrugated iron. Since many leprosy patients with the same experiences have settled here, Maria Barbosa is here, too. She cares for “her people” in this slum, the former leprosy patients to whom no one else would offer any chances.
DAHW helped the stranded family get onto their own feet again with a micro-credit: Marco Antonio could use the money to buy some tools in order to found his own small workshop. It is true that there are not so many cars in this quarter, but they are old and often need repairing. It was not long before Marco Antonio had gained a good reputation for getting even very old cars to run again for a low rate.
