MAKOGAI LEPERS

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 73, 28 March 1933, Page 7

MAKOGAI LEPERS

WONDERFUL WORK

A RECENT VISIT

PATHOS AND HOPE

Mr. W. E. Hancock, manager for Fiji, Union Steam Ship Company, has forwarded to "The Evening Post" an interesting account of a recent visit to the Makogai Island leper station. It was his privilege, he says, to visit the island in an official party with the DirectorGeneral of Health (Dr. A. H. Pearce). Mr. Hancock describes the trip in a small 10-ton auxiliary cutter from Suva to Makogai Island, and says he and the other visitors were Ijie guests at Makogai of the medical superintendent (Dr. C. J. Austin). Nest morning, after their arrival, they visited the leper patients. "A speech? of welcome," says Jlr. Hancock, "is given by the 'buli,' Chief of Fijian patients, who professes his profound appreciation of all that has been done for him and speeches are then given by the Director-General of Health and Sir Henry Scott, K.C., senior member of the Legislative Council in Fiji, and then the writer is embarrassed, for his name is being mentioned and the fact of his having come-from New Zealand is noised abroad and there is a general outburst of enthusiasm not for the writer so much as for New Zealand and New Zealand people and what they have done for Makogai. They hold New Zealand very dear to them, for has not she and her people./supplied them with such a lot of their needs and on tour of inspection afterwards it was 'Look, this is the moving picture machine and all these films were donated from New Zealand,' 'This Kelvinator and electrical plant were given, us by New Zealand people,' 'all these toys (some of them seven or eight years old and still in good condition) were sent by kindly people from New Zealand'; several things in the operating theatre have been donated by New Zealanders, and the Reverend Mother and her nursing staff and the patients speak with unstinted praise of the kindness of New Zealand'and her people. "As we pass through the wards and compounds we see pathos, tragedy, hope, and relief all expressed on the hundreds of faces of the patients, for there are 480 of them stationed at Makogai, sufferers from that oldest-known disease, about which we read in our earliest Biblical History. ■ / "Our visit means that a board will sit today and certain cases will come up for consideration,! some which are recommended by the superintendent as being definitely/ cured of the disease and ready for release and freedom. But what is this we come to? A door is being held open by a girl of 19 years of age, and she is in tears; when we ask the Reverend Mother what is the matter she, tells us that this girl who is cured and whose name goes before the board today does not want to leave —she is bo happy and contented, and this is verified by a question pui to the girl by the doctor. She has been 12 years on the island, and it has become her home and interest, and she knows little of the world to which she is to be,allowed her freedom. VISITING THE LEPERS. "We are shown buildings containing rows of beds, all neat and tidy, with some of the most wonderful needle-worked bedspreads and pillow slips that it would be possible to find. Some of them have taken years to make and are worked in all sorts •of fantastic patterns and designs, according to the ideas of the worker. We pass from these wards to sadder cases which have been unfortunately left too long before gaining treatment and for which there can only be one relief from earthly suffering. From these we pass to even more tragic cases, sightless and limbless, and,' confined to, a compound with 10 feet of galvanised iron surrounding it and. rows and rows of barbed wire are poor creatures whose sense of reasoning has left them and who are only awaiting the final call. All these cases have to be attended to two or three times daily, and it is this' wonderful'work that is carried on by the noble band of women who have devoted their lives to this cause. "We proceed a quarter of a mile up the hill'and come to a very fine building with a closed-in verandah and several bedrooms. This is the European section—a beautiful position gazing out to the west with the station at its feet. We meet two or three New Zealanders —one a tragic case, totally blind and fingerless, and we spend a quarter of an hour chatting and talking of Christchurch and names of steamers, etc. Is he happy? Oh, yes, very happy, and quite resigned to ending his days on Makogai, where he Teceives such wonderful care and attention. Another talks of Tauranga, and we are able to speak of its pleasantness and beauty, and o£ the surrounding districts and towns. Another mentions Auckland and ships and shipbuilding yards. EXCELLENT ORGANISATION. "The Director-General of Health must take the chair at the board meeting in ten-minutes' time, so Sir Henry Scott and the writer are placed in the care of,the Reverend Mother, who escorts us through the various little colonies on the island, and she shows us what is being done. Hundreds of poultry, ducks and fowls of all descriptions, are being reared, for poultry plays an important part in the food; yams, tapioca, banana plantations, breadfruit, are in abundance. All the villages are spotless, for cleanliness is essential. The grass is well cut and multi-coloured plant life abounds —beautiful gardens—vivid reds and yellows and, bright greens all combining to make a wonderful harmony of colour. The houses, are white, with red roofs, dotted amongst the many palm trees,and the lazy waters of the Pacific fall tired on the sandy beach in front of the homes of the patients. "The board is over, and a boy runs to meet us,- and the news is broken that- 25 patients have gained their freedom; these, with mixed feelings of uncontrollable joy, and also of revulsion —revulsion at the thought of what attitude their fellow mankind are' going to adopt towards them when they reach the mainland, and the news has gone forth, "Oh, he is from Makogai—he has been a lepsr," and so they stand on the brink o£ their freedom hesitating as to whether to leave this colony and world that they have been accustomed to so long, and in which such true love and friendship abound or whether to go out and face the insincerity of the outside world. A SPECIAL TREAT. "We hasten to the administrative block, and after changing our hospital clothes and having a disinfectant bath, we proceed to the quarters of the Reverend Mother and her staff, where we are given a wonderful cup oi' coffee. We return to the village of Nasau on the 'clean' side of the island, and after lunch inspect the store, dairy, and bakery, etc., theu have another swim, and after dinner back to Makogai Station, for on account of our visit the patients are being given a special treat, and an open-air picture show is being held. All convalescent ones sit on the ground on their mats, women segregated from the men, aAd we are given seats in a roped-off area. Such joy, excitement, and pleasure is given to these folk by the pictures, which are carefully censored by the Reverend Mother and staff, and we have travelogues, gazettes, and a good, clean comedy. The performance finishing and the National Anthem having beenj sung, the patients disperse to their various homes; lights are gradually switched off in certain sections, and we bid good-bye to the Reverend Mother and Sister Susanne, both of whom are very wonderful women. We enter our car and wind away up the hill, and on looking back most of "the lights are out —a pale tropical moon is shedding its rays upon the station and its white buildings, where'peace reigns all around, and one and all are participating in the much-needed rest which is required to fit them once more for tomorrow's undertakings. "We sail away in our little cutter at the break oE day on the following morning, carrying with us memories which will remain lifelong, of this wonderful leper station and the good work which is being carried out by the medical superintendent, Dr. Austin, the Reverend Mother, Sister Susanne, and the noble staff of sisters. As the island recedes in the distance our thoughts go out in sympathy to the many patients living on Makogai, together with a prayer of thankfulness that we are privileged to be blessed with the greatest of, all blessings, viz., good health."