What use is $5 for a child like Shanti? (Impact)

You might ask, what use is $5 for a child like Shanti, threatened by leprosy?

The answer is: life-changing! Especially when your $5 gift is multiplied by a new 5:1 Government Grant!

When I was in Nepal a few weeks ago I saw the value of $5. That’s all it costs in Jhapa, Nepal to screen a child for leprosy – so the disease can then be cured early with Multi-Drug Therapy (MDT), and lifelong disability prevented.

Buying gifts from The Leprosy Mission shop, shows you have a true heart for helping people with practical care.

With your support now, The Leprosy Mission aims to run a School Screening Blitz! in one of the poorest parts of Nepal for 50,718 and 1,391 teachers in 107 schools!

Those are big scary numbers. Until you see it costs just $5 to screen each child AND a new 5:1 Australian Government Grant increases your impact 5 TIMES!

Join the School Screening BLITZ now! Simply mail add a $5 Gift of Love for Contact Tracing onto your order. Or a $200 Gift of Love for School Screening.

For just $5 per child, you go into a school and run what we call a ‘Skin Test Screening’. This name is used because in some communities, just the word ‘leprosy’ can subject children to teasing and rejection.

When I was in Nepal, I heard many heart breaking stories, just like Shanti’s. She is in Year 7 now, but recalls with great pain what she suffered at school:

“When blisters started to develop on my face and body, I began feeling anxious around my friends.  I no longer wanted to leave my house and I no longer saw my neighbours and classmates.”

You can imagine how much that must have hurt. Not just the fear of disease, but the rejection by friends.

That’s why your Gift of Love to be multiplied 5 TIMES by the 5:1 Government Grant, is vital.

After you have run the ‘Skin Test Screening’, any child with signs of leprosy can be referred privately to a Doctor – and kick-started on a 12-month course of MDT to completely cure the leprosy, before it can cause needless lifelong disability.

Your kindness doesn’t run out after the $5 ‘blitz’ to check for skin disease and leprosy.

You’ll see that when Shanti tells you what happens next, after she was prescribed the MDT that people like you distribute through The Leprosy Mission:

“Since taking medications, my blisters have reduced, and I’m no longer scared to see my friends. I attend school every day and I want to graduate. The Leprosy Focal Person taught us how to care for our wounds and ulcers, and made sure we took our medications.They told my sister and I that if we take a full 12-month course of MDT that we can be cured of leprosy.”

All this starts with love and kindness from you, and a gift of just $5 per child in our School Screening Blitz!

Your Gifts of Love are critical now to make full use of the 5:1 Australian Government Grant to reach the children and teachers still waiting.

Dr Greg Clarke | CEO – The Leprosy Mission Australia

Shop Gifts of Love to help children like Shanti