Road tripping through the South and Southwest U.S.

A road trip? A good old-fashioned road trip!

Sep. 20, 2023

Imagine that you are a fifteen-year-old girl or boy who lives with your family in a remote part of Ethiopia. You go to school and you help around the house and on the farm with your brothers and sisters. Then everything changes for you overnight. No one will touch or hug you; you have to eat your food separately from your family and your dish and cup must be separate. You are called names and you are ostracized. And then you are told that you must leave your family and go to the far-away capital city of Addis Ababa to get treatment for your leprosy. A relative will go with you, but it may be years before you see your family again. You are an outcast because you have caught leprosy- and your world has just been shattered.

In this talk, Miriam will share the stories of men and women who are leprosy-affected. The story above happened to most of them and even decades later, the trauma of leaving their families is still there. They are grateful to have received treatment for their leprosy, and many met and married their spouses in the slum of Kore, home to many leprosy-affected people. Kore is built around one of the largest garbage ‘mountains’ in Africa and is home to the koshe, or people who sort through garbage to make a living with recycling and even as a source of food.

In interviews conducted in November/December of 2022, volunteers talked to men and women about their families, their housing, and how they make a living. They talked about whether they had any friends, and how they felt about their lives and about the lack of support from the government. Come to hear Miriam’s present their stories, their struggles, and whether there are any glimmers of hope for people who feel as if they are outcasts.