BRIGHTER FUTURE INTERNATIONAL TRUST
Registered Charity 1110823
© 2019 Brighter Future International Trust
Privileged to Hug
This story was written by one of our sponsors, Mike, following his visit to Brighter Future India in November last year, these are his reflections ..
When I was training to be a doctor, a wise old physician gave me some interesting advice: "always, if appropriate, touch the person who is ill."
Physical contact is so important, isn't it? It makes you feel accepted for what you are.
I was delighted last week when my 11-year-old grandson, who I was meeting from school, rushed out to meet me, and hugged me, in front of his
friends. What a privilege!
The problem with leprosy is that nobody wants to touch you, and this is especially true in a Hindu country like India. Leprosy is seen as a
punishment for sin, and people with leprosy are avoided and bypassed at all costs.
Nobody knows precisely how leprosy is caught, but it seems that prolonged contact
and extreme poverty are both prerequisites. So hugging somebody with leprosy
carries no risks, while doing wonders for their morale!
Visiting leprosy colonies with others from Brighter Future International Trust recently
in Andhra Pradesh, was both a moving and exciting experience for me and my wife.
Our friends from Brighter Future encouraged us to hug these lovely people, to hold
their deformed limbs, and to show them that we did not find them repulsive, but we
love them as our brothers and sisters. I shall never forget the looks of gratitude that
we were given, and neither shall we forget the intense feeling of love that was
generated in us. We found ourselves saying: "I care about you, you matter so
much."
In St Mark’s Gospel Ch. 1 v 41 we read that Jesus ,
"filled with compassion, reached out and touched a man
with leprosy." I realise not only that Jesus was doing
something which was totally unheard-of in his day, but
perhaps also I now have some faint inkling of the
overwhelming love and compassion He must have felt
towards these special people.
Could it be we experienced just a tiny fraction of
how Jesus felt when we touched or hugged
somebody with leprosy?
Wow, what a privilege!
Mike and Lynne
(Mike is a minister and a doctor, his wife Lynne is
a nurse)