Open Your Hearts

You don't hear of leprosy much in Singapore now. The Singapore Leprosy Relief Association (SILRA) houses 62 treated sufferers. They had been abandoned by their family and the Association took them in. The Association's last couple of Muslim sufferers have left and the 62 left are Chinese. All of them are elderly. Would you stigmatize them?

You and I live in homes with bedrooms of our own. These elderly each only have a bed and 2 cabinets to hold their worldly possessions. Please don't forget their existence.

Quietly, they go about their business of living, long putting their suffering behind them. For those whose fingers are not ravaged by the disease, they weave huge wicker baskets and sew beautiful traditional Chinese patchwork quilts. The many handicrafts they make help raise funds for this place they call home.

One woman who has stumps for legs, told me how she hated her slow wheelchair. She gleefully led me to her bed and showed me how she gets about with a make-shift wooden plank on wheels, using her hands to propel her along. That is her version of a skateboard. She whizzes around so fast that I worry she'd crash straight into walls.

At 98, this is the oldest resident at SILRA. She is alert and full of mischief. She invited me to take a photo of her, then held my hand to her head and solemnly said she doesn't spend a cent on shampoo. Then her eyes twinkled and asked me how much I spend on hair products.