Carlo Torriani

SWARGA DWAR

The conversion of a catholic missionary

presented by

Card. Simon Pimenta

PIME Publications, PIME Regional House, Eluru - 534 0-07, A.P., India

GANDHI

 Letter No. 16, Bombay, March 1981

 Dear Friends,

    I want to start this moment together, this letter, with a quotation from Gandhi.

“If a man grows spiritually, all the world grows with him.”

Our presence and activity in India should not make us forgetting that the first work of conversion and rehabilitation should be done within ourselves. Gandhi taught us this with the example of his life spent for his people. Looking at our work under this perspective, which is not new but very often overlooked, we can see a growing of responsibility on the patients who take care for their rehabilitation in society, on the children who make an effort in going to school.

    Not many things new to tell you. We opened the fourth balvadi in the slum of Lal Dongar were, after our usual survey, we detected more than one hundred cases of leprosy. Some weeks ago, in our dispensary in Lal Dongar, came a lady with already signs of deformity on her face. But the most painful discovery was to find that both her children had been infected with lepromatous leprosy. A rare case in children of eight and ten years. She was now afraid of losing also the husband. This case had given us the courage to start a new balvadi to keep the children of the leprosy patients under observation.

Unless we brake this vicious circle of parents who give their disease to the children we will never win the fight against leprosy. We cannot prevent contagion, but if the children are under observation, treatment can be given immediately and no sign will remain.

During the last months we had a lot of visits of friends and relations. A new volunteer is with us, Fidelma, a girl from Ireland, who intend to remain for one year. Another volunteer, Franco Aresi, a young bank employee from Treviglio, Italy, is in Wardha, Gandhi Memorial Leprosy Foundation, preparing with six months course on leprosy.

From all of us greeting to you in the common effort to achieve a spiritual progress.