VISIT TO MAKOGAI

Evening Post, Volume CXIV, Issue 90, 13 October 1932, Page 9

VISIT TO MAKOGAI

WORK AMONG LEPERS

MANY SAD SCENES

The Very Eev. Father T. J. McCarthy, S.M., has returned to Wellington after a visit paid to Fiji and the Central Leper Station at Makogai Island. Iv a statement to the "Evening Post" he gives au interesting description of the island and the humanitarian work being done there. "Makogai is a small island of the Fiji Group, about seventeen miles from Levuka, purchased in 1911 by the Fijian Government from native owners for the purpose o£ establishing' there a leper ' station. It has since become the central leper station for all lepers in the South Sea Islands, including New Zealand, tha respective' Governments contributing pro rata for the upkeep of their subjects. Thus the New Zealand Government hold* itself responsible for the maintenance of the natives of the Cook Islands, Samoa,Maoris, and the few New Zealand whites," resident lepers on the island, numbering about 100. This centralisation has resulted m more efficient treatment to the lepers, and has facilitated their segregation—a very effectual check to the spread of th» fell disease. In villages along the beach. re* Bide lepers who have been segregated in the early stages of the. disease, and most of whom i are able to work. Attached to these compounds are plantations of yams, taros, bananas^ manioc (tapioca), etc., where the natives grow the food they require for themselves, and sell the balance to the hospital or the store, which, is run by a sister on the co-operative system, the profits at the end of the year being divided among the patients. Last year each received in this way 4s Id. .In this store the'" natives can purchase also household necessaries, which, being duty free, are cheaper than the ruling prices in New Zealand. The authorities require the' able-bodied natives to devote two days of the: week to public works, road construction, etc. Each > village is presided over by a headman responsible to the medical superintendent tor the good conduct of his village. i MODELS OF CLEANLINESS. "These villages are models of cleanliness; in fact, this is the outstanding feature of the whole settlement. Every day, incinerators burn all food refuse, thus the pest of flies is unknown. In the hospitals, the most arresting feature; commented on. by every -visitor, is their scrupulously, clean condition. In this respect they rival our^ own hospitals. The less-afflicted patients here occupy their time in variou» works; the native women being expert in needle work and flax matting. One cannot but be struck by the spirit of. charity manifested on all sides—the less active being ever on the alert to afford help and comfort to the bedridden and helpless, whilst the place resounds with merry peals of laughter and outbursts of song. "As one proceeds the more serious cases are disclosed, till finally the victims in the last stages of decay are met with. Theirs is a condition that beggars description. Horror, repulsion, and fear instinctively awaken within'one. Bandagedstumps where once were hands and-feet;' sightless eyes and eyeless sockets, nosa and lips eaten away, oft head and face a mass of rotting sores. Yet more depressing still is a visit to the mental asylum,for here added to the ravages of physical disease is the wreck of the brain that has snapped under the strain of torture. The mournful cries and waitings of these •unfortunates breaking on the stillness of the night fill one with shuddering horror and vividly recall descriptions of Dante* Inferno. FIVE HUNDRED LEPERS. "But saddest and most heart-rending ol all tis the sight of some CO children on. whose young lives has fallen the blight ■.of this fell disease. Fortunately with most of these, the symptoms were early discerned and hopes are held out for thei* complete recovery. Three children born of leprous mothers on the island and taken from them at birth have been nursed by the sisters in the convent and show no signs of contamination. I met three New Zealanders (whites), two-soon to be released, completely cured.'- The other—a dear old saintly man in the last stages of decay, eagerly awaiting the re* lease of death, yet patient and resigned. In all the population in the lazaretto num* bers just on 500 lepers. ."And now what words can adequately] express one's admiration for the devoted^ heroic band of French nursing sisters who have consecrated their lives to the afflict* ed ones and the alleviation of their' suf* ferings. Dr. Austin, the medical superin* tendent, and Mr. McNair, the lay super* intendent, are beyond all praise for their devotion to the sufferers and their Tinwearied solicitude for their comfort. Thesa heroic men and yjomen find their consolation in that their care and treatment result in i the Telease on an average of 25 a year—wholly cured. Yet this joy i»tinged with the sadness of parting from.' those whom they have learned to love ns a mother does her own child, and has its counterpart in the grief of the cured taking affectionate farewell from a homar they had learned to love so well. THANKS TO NEW ZEALAND. -■, "Accompanying me on my return froni the island on board the Government steamer —Progress—was Dr. Austin . ; and two sisters who were proceeding through the various island groups' to visit those who had been released to ensure that their recovery had been complete. When one remembers that practically every one ofthese 500 lepers must have his (or her), bandages removed daily, his sores washed, tended, and- re-bandaged; that each village must be daily visited by two sisters who. ride out on ponies in all kinds of weather, that the more helpless must be fed and cleaned; that rotting members must be amputated; that children must be taught in school, and all be kept cheerful and bright, one begins dimly to realise the heroic spirit of sacrifice, of Christlike charity, that has impelled thesenoble women —fourteen in number—missionary, sisters of the Marist Order, aided by ten native sisters, to devote their lives toi this noble work of self-abnegation. Two of the native sisters have contracted the disease, and their regret is chiefly that they can no longer render service, but must now instead be ministered unto. We in New Zealand owe these heroines a debt of gratitude, for of the 500 patients, 100, as has been stated, are from New Zealand or its dependencies. Yet what ask they of ns in return? Nothing for them* selves. ' "'Tell New Zealand,* said the Key« llother Agnes on my departure, *we ara grateful to it for all it has done foe. Makogai. Thank especially Mr. S. 'J. Smith, of the Cook Island Department J the Australasian Film Co., and the "Even* ing Post." We cherish the memory ol Sir Maui Pomare.' By the way, the picture people who keep the lepers supplied with a change of pictures twice a w^eefc aft the year round would rejoice could they see the splendid Tiouses' accorded the pictures at Makogai. The screen is hung between two huge coconut Ntrees; the lepers squatting on the lawn, or resting on mattresses, greet with peals of laughter every amusing item on the programme.

"Let us help to lift for a fleeting moment at least the dart cloud of pain, loneliness, and sorrow that shuts out the sunlight of health, companionship, and joy from the lives of so many of our fellow mortals."