The Hindu : Giving a new lease of life to leprosy patients

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 23, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore

Giving a new lease of life to leprosy patients

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE Dec. 22. For V.Kalyan Kumar, life has turned a new leaf. He was presented with the President's Award this year for ``Best Self-Employed Person". This being a great achievement in itself, Kalyan Kumar's struggle is praise worthy as he has risen above ostracisation and the stigma of being a leprosy patient.

Today, Kalyan Kumar, who was treated for seven years at the Sumanahalli Society for the Welfare and Rehabilitation of Leprosy Patients, is fully cured and runs his own telephone booth at the Bangalore City Railway Station. "I plan to write a book on the issues connected with Leprosy and make people aware that it is curable,'' Kalyan Kumar says. He has authored two books in Tamil on the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Kumar was felicitated here on Sunday at the Silver Jubilee Curtain Raiser and Christmas 2002 programme organised by the Sumanahalli Society. Ignatius Pinto, Archbishop of Bangalore and Chairman of Sumanahalli and Mathew Pottemparampil, who celebrated the Silver Jubilee of his Ordination, were also honoured. Earlier, the Archbishop Ignatius Pinto laid the foundation stone for the Sumanahalli Prayer Hall and he, along with Minister for Small Scale Industries and Haj, Roshan Baig, inaugurated a candle making unit on the Society premises, which would provide training to leprosy patients and enable them to lead independent lives. George Kannanthanam, Director, Sumanahalli Society, was present. Carol singing, a tableau on the birth of Jesus Christ and Bible reading were the highlights of the programme.

The Sumanahalli Society has been working for the welfare of leprosy patients for the last 25 years. Till now, 3913 persons in urban areas and urban slums have been treated by the Society. The Society has conducted survey and created awareness among almost 25 lakh people in the City.

The organisation has leather-craft, tailoring, printing, knitting and other units to train leprosy patients. Sumanahalli Society provides shelter to many leprosy persons who have nowhere to go or have been ostracised by their families.

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Giving a new lease of life to leprosy patients