Social Rehabilitation and the Future of Children in Leprosy Colonies

Mahatma Gandhis dream was to eliminate leprosy from India. My dream is to eliminate the situation in which cured patients must beg for a living. When I spoke about my dream to His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, who is also addressing the leprosy problem and familiar with The Nippon Foundations activities, he replied that it would be a difficult challenge.

In India alone, it has been confirmed that over 11 million leprosy patients have been cured. Many of them live in leprosy colonies, and begging is the main source of income. Without skills or resources, and having been denied the opportunity to find employment, begging is the only work left to them.

But what the parents there all say is that they would never want their children to become beggars. They want them to receive a proper education and hold regular jobs. Although their children have never been diagnosed with leprosy, many of the second generation have no choice but to take up begging.

Sasakawa India Leprosy Foundation (S-ILF) is a foundation based in New Delhi that was established by The Nippon Foundation in 2006. S-ILF provides livelihood programs that promote self-reliance and include training in basic business skills, such as bookkeeping and other technical skills. Constant guidance through mentorship and close monitoring as well as financial lending are also offered to ensure sustainable livelihood.

As of 2016, approximately 250 businesses had been started in colonies with financial assistance, and about 70% of them were reporting successful results. If a business is successful, repayments are not made to S-ILF but to the colony, in order to create new opportunities for more people to work.

Obviously, there are also projects that falter. One group had a plan to raise goats in order to sell their milk, but then the crucial goats were served for dinner at a village festival. Somehow, the goats were not prioritized as assets to continue and maintain business.

Today, thanks to the efforts of S-ILF, the number of recovered patients in India who have to beg is now decreasing. His Holiness the Dalai Lama once came to visit a colony where S-ILF is active in supporting self-reliance among those who have been cured. His Holiness was moved and offered to donate the royalties from his writing to support livelihood programs. I then offered to provide funding from The Nippon Foundation to create a joint scholarship program for higher education for young people living in leprosy colonies. In 2015, this became the Dalai Lama Sasakawa Scholarship. The scholarship program which is still in its early stages will enable young people who once gave up all hope to fulfill their potential.

In the past, a common feature of leprosy colonies around the world was the absence of smiles and laughter. But children were always the exception. When we visited colonies in India, for example, they would first watch us cautiously but soon started following us around with the natural curiosity of all children. And sometimes they would show a friendly smile. On my visits, the smiles of these children were a rare but great relief. But as they grew older, they started to realize their limited possibilities for the future and the smiles seemed to fade.

As people in colonies are empowered to build a sustainable livelihood and experience the joy of doing fulfilling work, colonies become full of life and the future looks brighter. Smiles of children are now returning.

Restoring laughter is another of our activities.