Our voices were heard, world leprosy day 2018; A success

Have you ever felt loved and dumbfounded before that it made restless, not knowing what to say or do anymore?.

I lack words, when I did.

Article for PALs
pls read

Rose reclines on the tough,
leather seat which has certainly been dealt
with by the passage of time as evidenced by a rugged topography overstated by random tears,
here and there which gapes and smiles with ferocity at everyone who dares to look at it.

"Pheww!"
She is going back home at last.
Life has not been easy.
Life in the city of jingolo was certainly
exaggerated to her ears as what she saw was
a far cry from what she was made to believe.

The story-tellers she had come in contact with seemed to all tell the story of jingolo
No one seemed to make mention the local government Area, as all thought Damn!
Jingolo?

She crinches at the thought of that very name.
The memory of a young lady of her age who disappeared with her tightly-held handbag would not leave her cortex soon;
neither will that of a man who pointed a gun at the crown of her head in broad daylight and collected every penny from her while passersby went about with their normal business
Jingolo is a place she woudn't want to visit again, even as a jail term.

After almost a full day journey, the white coaster bus negotiates into an ultramodern
motorpark and Rose alights.
She recovers her luggage and has a difficult time chosing from a number of eager kekeriders who appealing call out to her in an attempt to win her patronage.
After what seems like eternity, she finally picks on one.
"Caritas Estate," she announces.

"Get in," The tricycle rider orders.
That voice sounds a little bit deeper that normal.
That voice suggests recent contact with "weed" but Rose does not care. "What can he possibly do to me?"
She mutters to herself. "Does the Scumbag know the horrible things I have been through already?"

She drags her luggage along and climbs into the tricycle.
The duo are just 7 minutes into the journey when a seemingly desperate pedestrain flags down the vehicle.
"jungogo 1," He announces.

"Get in here!" The tricycle rider once again commands.

The average aged man seems to have some difficulty climbing in. He is with a pair of clutches and Rose wonders whether she should help or not.

She watches with the outskirts of her eyeballs as the man struggles and struggles.
She finally summons up the willpower to help. On getting closer, she notices the roughness and lesions on the man's face.
Some parts of his limbs are also swollen and uneven.
His right leg has been completely amputated and the left one doesn't look good either.
To be frank, this man is as ugly as a monster.

Two weeks ago, Rose's pastor told her that her uncle was aware thaat she was going home and as such would be scouting for her life.

"This must be him," Rose quickly mumbles..
"Haba Unku. You coudn't even wait for me to reach home?" She yells

"My Daughter, I don't understand." The man manages to spin out, with a trembling voice.
"Ooh will you Shut up?"
Now let me tell you. No weapon fashioned against me shall prosper.
I am covered with the blood of Jesus. Die by Fire." She screams as she tries to yank the man out of the tricycle which was already moving.

The man is both surprised and confused. The tricycle Rider is as confused as the man himself and at this point, is too afraid to look back.

"Die by Fire! Die by Fire!" Rose keeps screaming as she repeatedly tries to forcefully push the man out of the moving tricycle even as the man uses the last atom of his strength to hold on to the vehicle to safe his life.

After a terrible long fight, Rose succeeded. Mr James falls with a giant thud on the tarred road and is alacritously crushed by a fast moving trailer.

Mr James was not a monster.
Mr James didn't do anything wrong.
Mr James was not a wizard transfiguration of Rose's uncle.
Mr James was just surfering from LEPROSY.

Let's stop the Stigma. Leprosy patients need our love and empathy. They have already gotten a bite of the distasteful part of life. They don't deserve any other bite.
They are humans as well.

Appreciation

Thanks to everyone that helped in donations (sbd) for this course. Bless your heart.

Jan 27 and 28, it was world leprosy day, and I wrote about it,
27th was road walk, trust me, it was an awesome experience.

We were there outside from 4pm till 9pm sharing the light and awareness about leprosy.
Check it out 👇 👇

https://steemit.com/health/@magdnrobinson/street-work-all-for-creating-awareness-on-pal-1c4a4d98c4bf8

We had some positive response as well as some negative ones.

But that didn't stop our motives, the PALs won't come out to the street, people will run or throw things at them calling them hideous,

someone had to talk for them, we did and we raised contributions for them, by going to churches and other organizations as well as tasking ourselves when we saw that donations were not forth coming.

Though at first, contributions were not forth coming and we felt discouraged, I felt discouraged, I told @Juliakponsford, about this movement, she helped in resteeming the post.
Thanks so much.

See more 👇 👇
https://busy.org/@magdnrobinson/street-work-all-for-creating-awareness-on-pal-1c4a4d98c4bf8

Sadly we couldn't visit the home of the PALs, because of finance, so Dr Usen the chief organizer decided we make it next week Sunday,
But during the week, we intensified our efforts and we got sponsors, some donated bag of rice, drugs all for PALs.

See more 👇 👇

https://steemit.com/charity/@magdnrobinson/help-for-the-pals-309e329e21d41

It was no way what we expected, our budget didn't meet up, but we did something, and it was awesome.

our visit to the leprosy hospital

That's me and a beautiful lady on the bus to the hospital of the PALs.
My eyes was already heavy, didn't sleep well last night, 😂.

We got to the hospital, I felt my friend holding me tight, guess she was scared of what to expect.

The hospital compound was really, really big, I later learnt that, it's not just hospital for leprosy patient, that's like a section, it's actually a real hospital where other medical activities are carried out, like Child delivery, treatments etc.

We went straight to the chapel, one of the member of the church ⛪ rang a bell to announce our arrival, seems they do so to get the attention of people living in the hospital.

Walking into the chapel.

We were given sits to sit on.

When they people were settled, the pastor introduced us to the crowd, they were not just people affected with leprosy that were present, nurses came as well as other church members, children were present in mass.

We introduced ourselves as medical students and non-medical students from the University of uyo, with the heart to help, stop the stigmatization of leprosy, fight leprosy through medication and awareness campaign.

We brought out our little token

Kids were just dancing joyfully.

I felt it was not enough, but what more can we students do!

Then the pastor prayed for us, before leaving as he said he had other engagements.

We were given some time to talk.
Gabriel (yr 6 medical student) spoke for the team.

Then, the leader of the PALs, (male)
Spoke, thanking us

His fingers were gone, but he was still praising and giving thanks to God.

Church view, see the kids.

It was time for us to go, but they said we can't go like that, they have nothing to give us in return, so they decided to sing and dance with us.

I don't know how to dance, but I did move my body, Who wouldn't, seeing this guys happy, and thankful.

She danced without discrimination.

@gidionline, selfie while dancing.

After the praises, we went outside, I saw the kids waving 👋 goodbye, it was heart walming,

We went outside to take pictures

Photo speak

Picture outside

Then we went to where the PAls live.
It was not a good sight, seems the government were not doing anything for them.

That's the window of a room there.

We wrote to the government for support, and we were heard.

Read more 👇
www.planet101fm.ng/pdp-akwa-ibom-state-visits-leprosy-hospital-ekpene-obom-etinan-lga/

I don't know if the people's Democratic Party (pdp) are using their visit for political gain, all I know is that we were heard.

We left with a heart to do more.
Next year will be greater.

some captions
from leprosy to leap up see
I am a leper does not mean I can't leap
leprosy is not caused by cockroaches, it's caused by a bacterium called mycobacterium leprae .

I really want to appreciate @demarth (you deserve a big hug) @juliankposford (😘 😘 😘, bless your heart)
@nairadaddy (you are amazing)
@onequality @pangoli @yoganarchista @ausbitbank @gbenga (thanks so much) @good-karma @eeks @indian-mon @steemhelpinghands @ifioklee @air-clinic @johncalvin.

So much names to be mentioned,
I just want to say a big thank you, seriously,

Thanks for visiting my blog
Feel free resteem, upvote and comment.

I am @magdnrobinson
love will fall a frozen heart

I am you guys are amazing.