Dozens of members from the island’s church communities gathered with fresh cakes and home-baked goods for its annual Big Tea Party, dedicated to help defeat leprosy across the world.
Held on Saturday at Vazon Elim Church, Chris Stratta from the Christian organisation, Leprosy Mission, came to talk about the charity’s work.
‘We’ve had links with Guernsey for as long as I can remember,’ he said.
‘We’re really grateful to islanders for their kindness and support. A lot of people in the West are unaware that leprosy still exists, and think it is an ancient disease. But in places of poverty, it’s still a big issue.
‘Our main project at the moment, “I am Nisha”, aims to humanise those with the disease, because there’s a big stigma attached. People are scared of it, and children like Nisha – a girl from India, who has lost her mum and then step-mum to leprosy and now also suffers with the disease herself, alone – are often shunned in their community. Nisha can no longer get water from her well, as she is not welcome.
‘The money that is raised today will go to help cure children, particularly, of the disease. I travel around the island each time I visit, giving talks, but events like this Big Tea Party really do make a big difference, allowing a lot of the work to continue.’
More than 200,000 new cases of leprosy are reported each year across the world, and two to three million people are living with leprosy-related disabilities. A £24 donation can cover the cost of drugs to cure the condition.
‘Lots of churches in the island support the Leprosy Mission and have done for many years,’ said Margaret Scarlet, member of Vazon Church who unexpectedly ended up spending her 70th birthday two years ago helping to clear wards of a leprosy hospital in Nepal, saving its patients from encroaching forest fires.
However, six months later, a landslide killed one of the leprosy doctors living there.
‘The hospital was built in a geologically unsafe area, right up on a hill away from the capital because of the fear that everyone might catch it.
‘And because people with leprosy have been hidden away, many of them don’t know there’s now a cure. Until that message gets out to those countries, it will continue to harm and disfigure them,’ she added.
‘The Americans are working on a vaccine, which would be great, but the main issue is that so many people just have no idea about the disease. The funds we raise are important, but our mission, the Leprosy Mission – which has been going on for 150 years – is to raise awareness.
‘It’s a biblical disease, lots of other awful diseases have been eradicated around the world, and it’s time that leprosy was as well.’