Born into a farming family, 40 year old Durga learnt how to farm the land and grow her own food.  However, when she was 7 years old, she started to lose strength in her legs and small tumors started to grow all over her body.  

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Down many bumpy dirt roads and fields of wheat, a long way from the nearest town, at just 20 years old, Rupa has started a successful small business, but life has never been easy.  As a child, Rupa developed a condition that made her look different to other people.  Her relatives told her that nobody would ever want to marry her.

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When Saru received a late diagnosis of leprosy, her fingers had already started to become deformed.  She became very self conscious about her looks, unsure about herself and isolated herself in her home.  She needed encouragement and work to regain her confidence.

But a self-help group and the gift of a little piglet turned that all around for her.

How did a self-help group and a simple gift of a little piglet transform Saru into a busy business women, a confident disability advocate and a leader in her local community?

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20 year old Rubina worked on a tea plantation plucking tea leaves to earn money to contribute to her large family consisting of her mother, father and 7 siblings.

When a side of her face started to swell, droop, become paralysed and her eye couldn't close properly, Rubina was terrified.  She didn't understand why this was happening to her and she was scared to let other people see her face like that.

How can she go to work? 
But more importantly, who would want to marry her with her face like this?

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Ubed strongly believed in the power of traditional healings.  When he started to see patches on his skin and felt tingling sensations over his body, naturally, he went to see a traditional healer to ask for help to remove the evil spirit plaguing his body.  When this failed, Ubed didn't know who to turn to next.

But one time, on a night out, Ubed saw a movie that changed his whole life.

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17 year old Noor is from a close knit community.  Several years ago, she stepped on a nail whilst playing at school.  The wound never healed, growing increasingly deep and infected, causing Noor to drop out of school when the smell became too much.  This wound turned out to be the catalyst for a long, confusing journey for Noor and her family, as they sought treatment from large medical centres, whilst trying to find enough money to pay for expensive treatments and juggling the pressures from their community.
But all along, the cure was just up the road from their home, in the small local health clinic and best of all, it was free.

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'I heard that they give free food and let you stay for free at Anandaban Hospital. You should just stay there. Don’t come back home, it bothers all of us and you no longer have a place here.' 
This was a conversation Leprosy Mission staff overheard between Sultan and his family.  Home is often where your family and loved ones are, but what happens when they no longer want you because you have leprosy?  
Multiple misdiagnoses, a toe falling off from infections and a fearful community has left Sultan without a place to call home.

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Kumar was diagnosed with leprosy when he was 5 years old.   Being so young, the doctors keep him in hospital for the 2 years of his treatment.  After the 2 years, unable to find his family, Kumar continued to live at the hospital.  Growing up in hospitals surrounded by sick patients, doctors and nurses, drawing and painting became Kumar's outlet to finding peace and calm in his life.

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Ayush was born through a homebirth in the comfort of his own home.  At first everything was perfect, but when Ayush started crying a lot and didn't feed properly, his mother knew something was wrong.
Taking him to the hospital, the family was told to abandon his treatment as he would not live for much longer.  However, his mother went against this advice and 12 years later, Ayush continues to be a thriving, curious boy.

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As a teenager, Bibek's diagnosis of leprosy left him rejected by his classmates and frequent hospital visits meant he was never able to finish year 12.  
20 years later, Bibek now has a family and a successful business, but these scars continue to hurt deep.

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