Friday, Jan. 28, 2005 | 11:14 a.m.
Donations to help Rising Star Outreach replace the lost fishing boats and nets to the villagers of Chennai or to help provide treatment for those afflicted with leprosy can be made at the organization's Web site risingstaroutreach.org.
As Las Vegas registered nurse Jenny Slingerland watched TV news reports of the Dec. 26 tsunami that devastated Indian Ocean nations, some of her first thoughts were of 5-year-old Anitha, a child from a leper colony in Chennai, India.
She had met the inquisitive girl while doing volunteer nursing work last summer at a hostel in the ocean-side village of the Tamilnadu state that was among the many communities rocked by the disaster that killed more than 160,000 people.
Slingerland recalled how Anitha would rest her head on her lap and listen intently as Slingerland read in English from a children's book. Although Anitha spoke only Tamil, Slingerland saw in the girl's eyes an understanding that she was getting something that the people of her nation have for centuries failed to give the children of those afflicted with leprosy -- care and affection.
It would take days before Slingerland learned that Anitha and the other children of the leper colony, one of 48 in Tamilnadu -- also spelled Tamil Nadu -- made it inland and survived the tsunami that destroyed the fishing village and damaged the hostel where Slingerland had worked.
"I knew then that I had to go back to help them," said Slingerland of her planned return to Chennai, formerly called Madras, today as part of the relief efforts of the 2 1/2-year-old nonprofit humanitarian organization Rising Star Outreach.
"It was such a culture shock because these people live in absolute poverty -- the degree of which we in the United States cannot comprehend. And the lepers and their children have it a lot worse than other poor people in India. They came to us like wild animals, not knowing anything about hygiene."
When Slingerland first met Anitha and 29 other children, they had scabies on their legs and lacked the simplest health skills, including how to brush their teeth. In their village they had but one glass from which they all drank, increasing the odds of spreading diseases via the open sores in their mouths.
While the children Slingerland treated had poverty-related ailments caused by lice, mites and other parasites, they had not yet developed leprosy, a chronic disease caused by bacteria and characterized by skin patches, nerve damage and blindness.
The disease dates back 600 years before the birth of Jesus Christ, who, according to Biblical accounts, cured a leper as one of his miracles.
Today miracles are not necessary. Leprosy, medical experts say, is curable in many cases in six to 12 months by administering three relatively inexpensive and readily available drugs -- dapsone, rifampicin and clofazimine.
However, because of religious beliefs tied to India's caste system, which was outlawed by the government in 1949 but still is practiced by millions, members of the lowest caste, the Harijan (Untouchables) who have leprosy, believe they must suffer from the disease to pay for sins they committed in a past life.
About 70 percent of the world's registered leprosy patients reside in India, according to the World Health Organization.
Still, inroads have been made in reducing the incidences of leprosy in India from 25 per 10,000 population in the 1980s to three per 10,000 today, according to India government statistics. The World Health Organization says in the past 20 years 12 million leprosy patients worldwide were cured.
Preventing the spread of leprosy to children of lepers is a constant concern.
"During incidents such as the tsunami, the hygiene kits we put together for the children tend to get lost as they flee quickly from one area to another," Singerland said.
"All of that work we did, encouraging them to use their own towels and drink out of their own glasses, may have to be redone if they are forced to go back to their old ways during the time they are away" from the damaged hostel.
Becky Douglas, founder and president of Atlanta-based Rising Star Outreach, returned from Chennai last week and says it was "an act of providence" that all of the people of the 31 Tamilnadu leper colonies her organization assists survived the tsunami, including Anitha, who, Douglas said, was in high spirits.
Douglas said she did not know what to expect before her recent trip, but a Dec. 26 phone conversation she had from her Atlanta home with the manager of the hostel where Slingerland had worked gave her an idea of the magnitude of destruction to the coastline community.
"He said he had to hang up because sea water was coming into the house," Douglas said. "He said it had been the craziest day as two hours earlier there were two earthquakes and now a tsunami was coming in."
Douglas ordered the worker to get everyone out of the hostel and head to high ground. He told Douglas he could not do that at that moment because at least 1,000 people had clogged the streets in front of the building, many crying as they fled inland from their destroyed homes.
"Pray for us," the hostel manager told Douglas as the phone line went dead.
Slingerland had been doing just that as she thumbed through the pages of a scrapbook she had put together from her three-week venture in July, alternately looking at photos taken with Anitha and the other children and watching news coverage of the tsunami.
Although she believed she one day would return to Chennai, Slingerland did not think it would be so soon or that it would come following what has been called the world's worst natural disaster. Her upcoming stay will be for 26 days.
"Jenny was phenomenal when she went there before, and I'm sure she will be phenomenal again," Douglas said. "Mostly she will be working in the mobile clinic based in Chenglepet, about an hour and a half drive from Chennai."
The reason Chenglepet was chosen is because there are eight leper colonies in the immediate area, one with as few as eight survivors and some with as many as 600, Douglas said.
While Slingerland's last mission was to assist the children of lepers, this time she will get hands-on experience treating the lepers, many of whom also suffer from diseases related to weakened immune deficiency systems, including tuberculosis and typhoid, Douglas said.
Douglas said the work that is being done by Slingerland and others goes far beyond cleaning out festering wounds. They also are helping to create an atmosphere that will instill pride among the lepers, she said.
Douglas said when her organization began its work the average Indian leper earned 200 rupees -- $4 -- a month, primarily from begging, which has been their main source of income for centuries.
However, through a loan program started by the organization, hundreds of leper-run businesses have sprung up including ironing services, mini-bussing firms, dairy production, carpentry and even beauty salons.
As a result, Douglas said, the average monthly income for the lepers of the Tamilnadu leper colonies that Rising Star Outreach services has grown to 3,000 rupees, or $60.
Also, lepers do not receive totally free medical care from Rising Star Outreach. To help instill self-worth they are required to pay for medical treatments via a one-time charge of 10 rupees, or 20 cents, per family member.
The organization also has been able to make great strides in so short a time because it has Indian government support. That, in part, Douglas said, is because of the influence of the organization's vice president, Padma Venkataraman, daughter of former Indian President R. Venkataraman.
Slingerland is one of about a half-dozen medical personnel who will be serving on behalf of Rising Star Outreach during the next month. The organization does not reimburse any travel or other expenses, but does provide a home in the Tamilnadu state where volunteers stay for free.
Slingerland, who received her nursing degree five years ago from the University of Utah, is not employed. She has lived in Las Vegas with her husband Ben for just three months and says she is paying out of her own pocket for the $1,700 air fare and $500 in food she will consume during her stay.
Her repayment, she said, will once again be the smiles on the grateful faces of Anitha and the others she will assist.
"The reward at the end of the day is that you have done something to make a small difference in the world," Douglas said. "Jenny will be giving dignity to many people who have never before had any dignity."
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