This Easter your gift of love heals more than leprosy!

When Suman was just 15 years old, she was given away in marriage to a much older man.

In India, a young woman’s parents are expected to pay money to the husband to take care of their daughter. Suman’s husband expected a car and became violently upset when he received ‘only’ a motorbike.

This led to the mother-in-law of Suman subjecting her to abuse and violence for eight long years. Suman had nowhere to seek refuge from the violence, not even when her husband worked in another part of India.

In 2021, during the COVID lockdowns, the violence against Suman increased from her husband and mother-in-law. 

Then, Suman found out her husband was secretly married to a woman in the town where he was working. When Suman confronted him, she was brutally assaulted and beaten and thrown out into the street.

Suman’s injuries and trauma caused her to suffer outbursts of psychoses. She would run wildly in the street, and afterward have no memory of what she’d done.

Suman’s father heard what was happening and came and rescued his daughter and brought her back home.

This was when Suman heard about Self-Help Groups started by The Leprosy Mission. The workers you support contacted Suman to offer support for her mental health problems. They found Suman also had leprosy.

God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die.

John 3:16 (CEV)

Please give a special Easter gift today!

Thanks to your kindness Suman is now using MDT (Multi-Drug Therapy) to heal her leprosy.

She follows the treatment very carefully, and when The Leprosy Mission staff tell her they are pleased with her, her face shines like the sun.

Thankfully, since the leprosy was discovered so early, Suman will most probably not suffer any lasting physical injuries.

Suman also received education on her own rights as a woman and citizen. For the first time she realized that she had had a husband who had no right to treat her the way he had. She reported him to the police, and he is now being prosecuted.

Suman is now planning to do vocational training through The Leprosy Mission, since she was never able to finish school. She hopes to become a seamstress to care and providefor her new adopted daughter, Priya.

At the same time, the Self-Help Group now calls Suman a ‘Champion’. She is spokesperson for the group, teaches other groups of women about their rights, and volunteers to help people with leprosy to have a better life.

Your love for people like Suman
grows and becomes love for life!

When Suman was being treated for leprosy, she heard about a baby girl abandoned at The Leprosy Mission hospital.

The baby had deformed hands and was considered a financial burden by her parents.

Suman asked if she could adopt this little girl, as no one else wanted her because of her disability.

Little Priya is now six months old and lives a happy life blessed with love by her new mum!

Early diagnosis  – to prevent needless lifelong disability

Multi-Drug Therapy (MDT) - that can heal leprosy in just one year

Awareness-raising - so people with leprosy are no longer rejected

Vocational training – to equip someone with leprosy to be self-sufficient

Your kindness through The Leprosy Mission tells the person you help that they are precious, and worthy of love. The ongoing care of The Leprosy Mission team you support reassures them that true love never gives up. This is how you heal more than leprosy, and bring healing for life. Please open your heart this Easter, and pour out your love to someone like Suman!