GFA World Blog

“No one was there to take care of me. No one was there . . .”

That’s something most people affected with leprosy can repeat over and over again. The chronic, infectious disease has left them shunned, cast out of their homes, without family, without friends, clustered in colonies with others suffering from the same disease.

Today, tens of thousands of people across the globe suffer from leprosy, also known as Hansen's Disease. This bacterial infection initially does not have symptoms and typically remains this way for 5 to 20 years. It not only affects the skin and destroys nerves, but it also brings incredible, unbearable...