日本財団 図書館


Greetings by Mr. Hu Shou Ming Anqui Village, Weifang, Shandong Province, P.R. China

 

"Donation of the Love Is the Pursuit for My Life"

 

Ladies and Gentlemen:

 

First of all, please allow me on behalf of all leprosy and ex-leprosy patients to warmly offer congratulations for the successful opening of the 15th International Leprosy Congress in China. I hope every delegate will have a wonderful stay in Beijing and I wish the Congress complete success. As a cured leprosy patient, I feel very happy and excited at having the Opportunity to attend this international congress. Our participation to the congress shows that the social stigma and discrimination towards leprosy has gradually been replaced by modern science and civilization. This replacement will be the victory of progress in leprosy control and human civilization. My name is Hu Shou Ming and I am 53 years old. I contracted leprosy in 1969, I felt terrible on hearing this news and once had the intention of committing suicide. Because the people in my village feared leprosy very much at that time, I was admitted into the Anquie Leprosy Hospital for treatment. The medical staff and leaders in the hospital expressed their enthusiasm to me and often talked with me about the scientific knowledge of leprosy. Their behavior of staying with the leprosy patients made me learn that leprosy was not a terrible disease. At the same time, I knew that among hundreds of cured leprosy patients, some had been promoted to village leaders or managers. All of these heightened my courage and confidence to fight against the disease, reduced the psychological pressure I was under, and started a new chapater to my life.

During my stay in the hospital, I got free medical care, and besides that, I was cured by careful treatment. At that time I found there were many homeless disabled patients who needed daily care. Under permission of authority of the hospital, I decided not to go back home and continued to stay at the hospital and to serve other patients. I had only been educated in middle school. When I stayed at the hospital I read many medical books and learnt many medical skills including injection, dressing, simple description and so on under the guidance and help of professional doctors. Therefore I could not only help the disabled patients get daily meals, clear bed pan and wash clothes, but also coordinate medical staff to deal with some simple medical care. Because of these, I was often praised by the hospital and enjoyed the love and esteem of the patients. In 1970s, there were more than 200 leprosy patients in the leprosy village, and many of them left the village after their clinical cure.

 

 

 

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