A STRANGE TOUR.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5228, 18 January 1928, Page 3

A STRANGE TOUR.

SEARCHING for LEPERS;

JOURNEY THROUGH AFRICA.

Mr Frank Oldrieve, secretary of the British Empire Leprosy Relief Asso-

ciation, 'has wenitly completed a ' journey through Africa to investigate, conditions with respect to leprosy fof'the association. He thus describes

liis travels :— “I. have just finished a long trip from Cairo to; Capetown looking for' lepers. Starting from Cairo, my wife , and I travelled to Khartoum, then by the; Nile through the Sudan to Uganda, in which protectorate we motored about 1000 miles. Then on to Kenya, and right through that wonderful country to the coast, where we took steamer to Zanzibar. Thence we went via Dar-es-Salaam and BeCra to Nyassaland. After that wet visited Northern Rhodesia and Southern Rhodesia, and we had a long tour through South Africa, visiting all the lepper institutions, in the Union. “We found Lepers wherever we went —that* is to say, inf every British territory, in East and Central Africa they are to be found in varying numbers. I estimate the total number of lepers, in British colonies and protectorates at about 60,000. Great. Britain is entirely responsible for these poor sick sufferejrsi. AU classes rfin the. community are afflicted with' the disease, a well-to-do chief in Uganda is going regularly for treatmen't to a doctor, and the. Governor of Nyassaland told me about a chief whom he knew' wejl who had been a leper for many years. The majority of the lepers, however, are found among the villagers, and it is often difficult to reach those living in faraway places. Leprosy of course, spreads, most rapidly where . sanitary and ordinary health conditions are not gohd, but these matters are being attended toi by the health authorities, and the general health of the community- will tend to improve time passes. , r “Great interest was displayed wherever we went in the, object of our visit. We were received by Sir Daudi Chwa, the Kababa (king) of Buganda,, who expressed warm sympathy with the; work we were doing, and I was glad to have; the opportunity of addressing the Native Parliament in Kampara, when the Prime Minister presided. Alt present promised to do> what they could to help thel epejrs in their own country. When w‘q were in) Zanzibar I was received by His Highness the Sultan, who was keenly interested in what I was able to tell him of the hopes of ridding Zanzibar and Pemba of this, dreiad dis- ■ ease. The Governors of| all the territories showed us the greatest courtesy, and the Governments did every- . thing they could to-make our tpur a success. Wherever we went we carried a message of hope, for a new situation has arisen in dealing witn leprosy to-day. r “‘Doomed to a Leper Asylum” is what a leper woman wrote some time; ago, but not so much stress is being laid on segregation now as it was some years ago. Indeed, compulsory segregation does, little good, as it invariably results in the early cases of leprosy being sent aWay to an institution. The medical authorities in South Africa are to be warmly complimented ons the action that they have taken during the last five years in releasing many of the old people ■ who have been in the institutions in South Africa for years, and. whom Athe doctors have,' now pronounced to Jbe non-infective. .Within four years rtearly 1000' of these cases have been released, and this action has resulted a number of lepers ■ voluntarily coming forward for treatment. - Segregation on a. large scale was undertaken by the Germans in Tanganyika, but beyond placing some 33,500 lepers in more than 40 camps little was done for them, either in the way of proper food supplies or medical attention;

“The message we have delivered wherever we have been is that there, is now hope of recovery for the early cases if they ,• will take the latest treatments. These/ injection, treiit- ' meats are being used with success in many parts of East Africa, but so; far johly about 5500 lepers are being care,d fcor out of the 60,000 who : need help, work is being done, especially by missionary doctors, in some of the plapes we visited. The most . pressing need is for the establishment of treatment centres, where lepers will voluntarily settle for a time. Such centres already exist in ■the Southern Sudan, in Uganda, in Kenya, in Tanganyika, in Zanzibar, sand, most pf all, in Nyassaland. Good work, is also being done/ in Rhodesia. . Government medical officers are keenly .alive to the hopefulness of the situation, and if funds are avil.able for Government and missionary work there is no reason why many thousands more lepers should not be treated within the next year or two. “During our tour we saw many T'r During our tour we saw many won.ders of nature, but the most lasting ■impression is of sad marked faces, broken and bent bodies, of hoarse and sorrowful voices, and these we saw , and heard wherever we went. Especi--.ally ddes one remember the child lepers. I know what the Prince of Wales meant when he told me, after visiting the big leper institution in Basutoland: “ I never shall forget the marred faces of the boys and

• girls.” ' His Royal Highness, who is

ithe patron of our British Empire tfjprosy Relief Association, felt when e saw those children what all feel who see the.m —that if anything can I>e done to help them to recover and tfany plans- can be made to eradicate %he disease, it ought to be undertaken at once. I have no doubt whatever that if the right steps are taken., ■as I believe they will be as a result ,of our tour, leprosy can be eradicated from al parts of British East and Central Africa. But a large; sum of moneyw ill he required if this splendid object is to be achieved.