Written by Theresa Chou (Chou Qiuhua), who is responsible for Casa Ricci’s leper rehabilitation programs.
My name is Chou Chiu Hua (Theresa Chou), I work at Casa Ricci Social Services and I am responsible for our programs for leprosy affected people. Because of this I always have many opportunities to serve together with other people that serve the same mission. I would like to introduce the CFG group, of which I am a member. This group was founded to help improving the assistance and service in each of the leprosy centers. It includes priests, (religious) sisters and other lay persons and we all work for the leprosy affected people. We all believe that the quality of the service that is provided in these centers must improve, therefore, in order to accomplish this, we spent almost half a month visiting 8 leprosy centers in Yunnan and Sichuan. This process is very enriching, exciting and challenging!
The leprosy centers of Sichuan are often located in remote areas of difficult access. The time, for example, we had to follow along a small track in a cliff, knowing that a stone could fall down at any time. When it rains, the land-slides often make many stones fall on the road, making the passage even more dangerous or inaccessible. This scares the people. But for me, even more thrilling was to pass a fragile suspension bridge that stretches for 200 meters, before we could arrive at the leprosy center.
This time our specific purpose was to discuss and share the center’s evaluation report with the sisters that serve there. We spent 2 days in each place, experiencing by ourselves the life in the leprosy center, and in the process we always learn something new. We strongly believe that every experience has its own value and meaning, even if it is an experience that involves suffering! Happiness! Conflicts! Struggles! Why not? Through this activity of discussion and sharing we can also train the sisters of the place, broaden their horizons, and also improve their working skills. We hope in the future they will be able to assume roles of leadership and promote an environment of local self-sustained service.
Theresa Chou
2010/08/27
