What We Do
Joseph Malini
When Joseph was a young man his parents ‘gave’ him a wife from the same village and they set up home together having 3 sons. He was fit and healthy and spent time in his shamba to support the family. The leprosy began at 34yrs but it was some years before it became a noticeable problem and for a long time he tried to use local medicine as a cure.
Then in 1985 his wife left him with the 3 children age 1/3/5, and the neighbours stopped visiting. He left the children with the village elders and went to receive treatment, when this was finished he collected them and they lived together for 10 yrs at BCC. The cook used to provide the meals but he was the main carer for his boys.
Latterly Joseph decided that BCC was not the place to bring up his children, as he was worried about the leprosy stigma, so he took them to his brother’s home in Shinyanga, where he left them. The last time he visited Shinyanga was in 1989 but the boys weren’t interested in spending time with him and were frightened of the leprosy and what their friends would think if they found out. He once heard from someone in Mwanza that his children had left Shinyanga and no-one now knows of their whereabouts.