World Leprosy Sunday Evensong

There are over 13 million people with leprosy in the world, including 214,000 new cases last year.  Leprosy is a disease of poverty affecting the skin, the peripheral nerves, upper respiratory tract and also the eyes.  Because people with leprosy cannot feel their limbs, they are prone to injury and disfiguration.  Over afternoon tea in the Chapter House at Bristol Cathedral, Regional Manager Jenny Foster, pictured here with National Director Peter Waddup, informed the audience about how leprosy affects its sufferers.  Peter set out the aim of The Leprosy Mission which is to offer healing and rehabilitation to leprosy-affected people, provide education and job training to those cured of leprosy and increase the supply of clean water to hospitals treating people with leprosy in Nepal and Niger.  He said, ‘This is a day where ultra-poor communities affected by leprosy across the globe lobby governments for their basic human rights'.  Evensong, led by the Dean of Bristol Cathedral, the Very Reverend Dr David Hoyle, followed the tea.