The Leprosy Mission Australia ABN 52 354 004 543 ACN 067 616 193 PO Box 293 Box Hill VIC 3128 Fax 03 9890 0550 Phone 03 9890 0577 Tollfree 1800 LEPROSY (1800 537 767) Email hello@leprosymission.org.au www.leprosymission.org.au
It’s caring people like you who make me think about the Bible’s call for us to "Love thy neighbour."
You've already shown yourself to be a loving and caring neighbour to the people we help in countries as far away as India and Nigeria.
But geographically, your neighbour also includes those closest to Australiapeople affected by leprosy in Indonesia. May the joy of the Lord be in your heart as it's kind people like you who make it possible to start your healing ministry in this country.
The Leprosy Mission Australia ABN 52 354 004 543 (TLMA) is a member of the Australian Council for International Development and is a signatory to the ACFID Code of Conduct. The Code requires members to meet high standards of corporate governance, public accountability, and financial management.
TLMA is committed to full adherence to the ACFID Code of Conduct. More information about the ACFID Code of Conduct may be obtained from The Leprosy Mission Australia website: www.leprosymission.org.au or ACFID’s website: www.acfid.asn.au.
The Leprosy Mission Australia is an international organisation that works in partnership with governments, public health officials, non-government organisations, the World Health Organisation, churches, Christian partners and others to achieve its vision of a world without leprosy. The Leprosy Mission is the oldest and largest leprosyfocused organisation in the world today. The Leprosy Mission Australia complies with the Voluntary Code of Practice for Public Fundraising in Western Australia.
Your kindness helps to start the leprosy friendly villages and reduce leprosy transmission in urban areas and amongst children. You can read all about this on page 3. They're all designed to help eradicate leprosy by 2035 - and you're part of the faithful ministry team dedicated to bringing this vision to reality. Thank you for loving your neighbour by ensuring these people overcome stigma and get the care, compassion and acceptance they so desperately need.
The rest of this magazine further shows your love for your neighbour in action. Like revolutionising aids and prosthetics through 3D printing in India. And seeking Tertiary Student Sponsors to raise up the next generation of Leprosy Champions in Nepal.
Your selfless and loving acts of support are such a beautiful blessing to the people affected by leprosy... whether they are near neighbours or far.
Get in early! With delays in freight and supply from many retailers still ongoing, why not simplify your Christmas shopping and support people affected by leprosy at the same time?
When you get your Christmas cards and presents through the Gifts of Love Catalogue, you’re not only buying a gift with a deeper meaning and purpose for your loved ones. You’re also giving leprosy cures, treatments, education, and livelihoods to a personaffected by leprosy. Visit https://shop.leprosymission.org.au/collections/gift-of-love.
Will you give a little TLC to someone affected by leprosy?
Indonesia ranks third in the world for the highest number of leprosy cases behind India and Brazil. Now your kindness and compassion means several new projects are starting up to help eradicate leprosy in Indonesia.
They say it takes a village to raise a child. You probably have your own “village”, a community of loved ones who you care about and who care for you.
But what if your village ostracises you because you have leprosy? What if you’re afraid to seek treatment for leprosy because of the stigma which says you’re unclean? What if you have nowhere to get help for leprosy because nobody in your village is trained to diagnose and treat this disease?
That’s where Leprosy-Friendly Villages come in. Through this new project, field staff are working with 20 villages in rural Indonesia. With your kind support, they aim to fight against misinformation and increase knowledge of leprosy through:
• Education to recognise signs and symptoms of leprosy
• Spreading the message that leprosy is curable
• Debunking the myths the disease is unclean
• Encouraging people to get diagnosed and treated for leprosy
Your loving care will help create supportive, discrimination-free villages. Here people affected by leprosy can seek treatment without fear of stigma. And with
early diagnosis, people can reduce transmission and avoid permanent disability.
Thank you for loving your neighbours in Indonesia in the leprosy friendly villages. You are a true blessing.
Fighting transmission in urban slums – by training local health workers in leprosy diagnosis and management. This is urgently needed when many medical staff don’t realise leprosy still exists in Indonesia! Plus poor housing, sanitation, hygiene and overcrowding increases the risk of leprosy transmission. Your love shines a light in the darkness of leprosy.
Your compassionate heart is helping to make a world where ALL people can be loved, cared for and accepted. Thank you for loving your neighbour!
If you’d like to spread care and compassion through these projects in Indonesia, then simply make a donation using the form on the back page and send it back. Or visit www.leprosymission.org.au/ indonesia
When Jumiati was diagnosed with leprosy, she was very sad. But at her local health clinic, she was welcomed “like an ordinary patient” and did not feel any discrimination. She received treatment for leprosy and is now cured.
But things could have been very different for Jumiati. Instead of being encouraged to seek diagnosis and treatment by a health worker, she could have delayed getting a consultation. Instead of being loved and supported and getting the right treatment, she could have suffered discrimination and been ostracised by her family and friends. And instead of the loving care of a proper cure and keeping her hands and feet, she could have been subjected to “cures” that didn’t work and eventually ended up with clawed hands or damaged feet - or even amputation.
But none of that needless suffering occurred. Because Jumiati lives in a leprosy friendly village... thanks to your kindness others like her will now also have a better life ahead of them!
“Love thy neighbour” in a leprosy hotspot - among your neighbours in Indonesia
When you give someone an artificial limb, you open up the world to them. That’s what your incredible act of compassion does for a person with leprosy or disability.
And now, thanks to your care and kindness, 3D printing is revolutionising the production of prosthetic legs, fingers, and shoes!
In India, a new 3D scanner has been installed in a mobile therapy van, which travels from village to village. If a patient needs custom-made shoes, the 3D scanner can take precise measurements in minutes. The specs are sent to the fabrication workshop and the personalised shoes made. This is a practical outworking of your love in the lives of these people.
Because it’s all done without the patient leaving their village. Obviously, this is a lot less stressful for patients. Plus, it means they don’t have to miss out on work or school to attend appointments for fittings. You’re responding to true needs – that’s your love in action.
With your help, it’s hoped to extend this service to making 3D print prosthetic limbs. Currently tests are underway to produce prosthetic legs, insoles and fingers. So your kindness in supporting 3D printing overcomes several challenges in making life-changing prosthetics:
• Time – instead of taking multiple visits over several weeks to properly fit and modify customised limbs, now it can be done in a single visit from the mobile therapy van... thanks to you.
• Distance – instead of patients
travelling long distances to the fabrication workshop, now they don’t even have to leave their village... thanks to you.
• Replacements – instead of patients repeating a timeconsuming fitting process every time they outgrow or need new prosthetics, they only need a repeat visit from the mobile therapy van to retake their measurements... thanks to you!
Here’s an example of the difference artificial limbs can make... meet 15-year-old Ishaka (pictured) from Nigeria. His leg was crushed in a motorcycle accident. Infection eventually forced doctors to amputate the limb. But a prosthetic leg meant he could return to school, do household chores, and go out with his friends again.
This is a wonderful example of your love in action. Instead of his world shrinking, your kindness opens up all kinds of possibilities for those like Ishaka! Bless you!
Would you like to give more love and support the ongoing research and development of 3D digits and limbs? Just fill out the form on the back of this magazine or call FREECALL 1800 537 767
The 3D scanner simplifies the process of measuring patients for custom shoes or artificial limbs.
In the fabrication workshop, a computer can generate images of a custom shoe personalised to the patient’s needs.
The custom shoes are then 3D printed and delivered to the patient, who doesn’t even have to leave their own village because you helped make it possible.
Ishaka
In Nepal, custom-made shoes and prosthetic legs helped to get Santosh out of his wheelchair and walking again!
Your compassion raises a young person out of poverty –they CAN fulfil their dreams
When we’ve helped a leprosy-affected child finish primary school, you’ve been there as a compassionate and faithful supporter.
When we’ve helped a child finish secondary school, your kind prayers and generosity have helped make it possible.
And now, today, as a kind person who commits to a Total Loving Cure, you can help a young person affected by leprosy by providing a complete scholarship for their university studies! As part of a new pilot program, your loving monthly support will help a Tertiary Student fulfill their dreams. Each student is or has parents affected by leprosy or disability... they need your care and compassion. And at least 50% will be girls... like Asmita.
Asmita is 19 and both her mum and dad have leprosy. Her parents’ struggle in life has inspired her to become a nurse. But there’s no way her family can afford to send her to nursing school.
When I look at Asmita, and hear her passion, I see someone who can use her nursing skills to help people hurt by leprosy and disability …
… PLUS teach communities that leprosy is not a curse, and families should not be rejected because of this disease
…PLUS help her family increase their income, and break free of the poverty leprosy has caused
… PLUS Asmita can be an inspiration to young women in Nepal, who too often miss out on education, and are forced into early marriage.
None of this can happen without the kindness and compassion of people like you.
Asmita had tears in her eyes as she told us:
“I am not able to pursue this dream without help. My family can’t afford to enrol me in a Nursing School. I would only be able to study if someone helped me…”
That’s where your love and compassion are so vital... and you have a special opportunity to DOUBLE THE LOVE. When you commit to giving a Tertiary Student your support, your monthly gifts are matched 1:1 by a generous supporter, which doubles your impact! For example, your $350 a month turns into $700 a month!
Your care and concern will help provide the following to students like Asmita:
• Total Tertiary Support – university tuition, supplies, uniforms, and graduation expenses that they couldn’t afford without you.
• Loving Mentorship & Counselling – given the students are from small villages, they will receive counselling support through wellbeing surveys. This is a practical way to show them love and care as they adjust from rural to city life. And they’ll get mentors who can provide internship opportunities (who have overcome leprosy challenges themselves) to help them fulfil their dreams.
• Cures that Inspire – as these students start to graduate from university, their example will help fight the stigma and perception
that people affected by leprosy can’t achieve the same goals as others. Thanks to you, they will lead the way for others to get diagnosed, receive treatment, and follow their own dreams. Thanks to you, hope multiplies in the lives of others.
Because every day, children like Asmita, from families affected by leprosy and disability in Nepal, face an uphill battle. They are cruelly stigmatised, discriminated against, and unsupported.
Your love through the regular support of their education will transform a bleak future into one free of poverty. Your care will give them a chance to fulfil their potential...
Because of you, girls like Asmita can complete a bachelor’s degree and fulfil the plans that God has for their lives!
Your investment pays off now –in helping these young people overcome the poverty and suffering caused by leprosy in their families … … and keeps paying off over a lifetime, as these young people become role models showing that leprosy is not a curse, but a disease that can be cured. Stigma can and must end!
If you need any extra encouragement, simply listen to what Asmita says she will do with the investment you make in her:
“I will continue working hard in the future, and will pay forward the kindness that is shown to me.”
Asmita, 19: “I want to do a Bachelor of Nursing. I would not have been able to pursue this dream without your help. I will continue working hard in the future and will pay forward the kindness you have shown me.”
Manisha says girls in her village are discouraged from studying. So Tertiary Student support is very important to her: “My father had leprosy from 7 years old... I have joined Bachelor in Business Management. Eventually I want to open my own cafe.”
Amrita 19, sees how hard her mother works at a very difficult job, to provide for the family. She wants to complete a Bachelor of Business. Amrita’s dream is to start a successful business and become financially independent. She says her first pay check will go to her parents in gratitude for their support of her decision to pursue tertiary education. Due to the high cost, her mother initially opposed her desire to go to college but eventually allowed her to go.
want to
girls like Asmita fulfil the plans God has for their
Then please consider a loving commitment to give monthly TLC education for a Tertiary Student today. And the love gets doubled when matched 1:1 by a generous supporter. So:
LEPROSY
When
gifts totalling $4,200 are matched by The Douglas Reginald Warren Testamentary Trust, each student will have their entire year paid for.
These students’
be changed
Bless you for loving your neighbour... for being a faithful prayer partner, a generous and kind ministry supporter and following the call of Jesus to care for people affected by leprosy.
Please tick any statement below that is true for you.
I follow Jesus Christ. By His example I reach out to people affected by leprosy and disability.
I give because I feel it’s the right thing to do
Please tick the areas that interest you below and send it back to us. I would like to:
If the area of need becomes funded, your gift will go where it is most needed.
My heart-felt single gift of $ to love my neighbours affected by leprosy all over the world!
My once-off gift of $432 to Cure One Person of Leprosy now! $
My Total Loving Cure – Standard Monthly Gift $36 a month
My Total Loving Cure – Tertiary Student Sponsorship $350 a month
My Total Loving Cure – Tertiary Student Full Scholarship $4,200 for the entire year!
I enclose my Cheque / Money Order payable to The Leprosy Mission Australia OR –
Please charge my
Card:
(My monthly gift processed on the of the month)
Card Number:
Name on
First
2023
– International
Expiry Date: /
No: 297114729
We are so truly blessed to have supporters like you who honour the heart of God with
generosity.
Guide (when available)
Paid 83988, Box Hill, VIC 3128.