View of the bridge

A quick shot taken on the way to work, I took some at work today, but not really happy with any of them, but will be taking more tomorrow. What actually made me laugh with this one is the minimalist approach to salt and grit application! I do love the quantity and quality of light in this shot too.

Very busy but very good day of meetings with two of our overseas guests, Terver from Nigeria and Rajeev from India telling supporters about what The Leprosy Mission does in their countries. So privileged to be part of such great work.

Some of the stories are so touching, like the 16 year old who had to quit school when her father's leprosy meant he lost his job. She finally managed to finish primary school this year with a scholarship from TLM Nigeria, and in her exams finished 9th out of 335 students. She is now going on to secondary school.

Or the elderly lady in India who had been abandoned by her family and was living in a 'Snehalaya' or Mercy Home, until advocacy and education work with her family meant they were no longer afraid of the disease and the family was reunited.

I particularly liked the leprosy village in Nigeria, where the electricity supply had broken, and after 2 years nothing had been done to fix it. They asked TLM to go to the company and try and get things sorted. TLM trained the community in advocacy skills, and the community leaders were able to go to the electricity company (and other disadvantaged groups affected by the fault followed their lead and got involved too), and were so effective that not only was the problem fixed and the supply restarted, but the company offered them a discount of 75% on their bills. They were very grateful for TLM Nigeria having taken the time to train them to advocate for themselves, rather than just do what the village had asked and go to the company directly. Now the villagers not only have electricity, but also new confidence and self belief, two things which leprosy can take away completely.