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

TURISTS

 Letter No. 12, Bombay, November 1978

 Dear Friends,

    As I start writing this letter in my mind I have a lot of faces of people who recently paid a visit to our project here in India, or faces of people that I met in my recent journey to Italy. With the development of tourism we see that more and more people, coming to India, they also stop in Bombay to meet us. More then twenty in these summer months. Some people stay more than one day, sometime weeks, with the good intention to give a hand. We are grateful to all, for your friendship, for your company, for the esteem you had shown to us.

    With the help of three visitors we have prepared a perforated card for all our patients, and with all the data necessary for a quick assessment. This will help us to make quickly reports and statistics.

Our work is always increasing. The weekly dispensaries had become ten. The leprosy patients under control are now 1261. More then one thousand are residing in the area allotted to us by the Municipality, other are coming from other parts of the city.

    The kindergarten are now three with 230 children enrolled. Sr. Luigina think that this is the best way to control the children who lives in endemic areas and prevent the development of leprosy in them. For all this work the number of staff is now 26, but surely it will increase. Salafia is finishing his medical studies in Bangalore, after he will come to work with us. Beside these leprosy patients, every month we have in our dispensaries around 520 general patients for skin diseases. This our policy in order not to isolate the leprosy patients. Although this takes away time and money that we can use for leprosy patients, in the long run it will turn out in favour of them: they will not feel isolated. What make them suffer more is not the disease but the segregation.

    If any of you is interested to see more about our work, you can ask Amici dei Lebbrosi of Bologna the documentary film “Non Chiamarmi Lebbrosa” (Do Not Call Me Leper) which had been shot here last year.

    Fr. Torriani, beside the work for leprosy patients he dose also pastoral work for the many Catholics, 240 families, living in Everard Nagar, where we have the office of LSS and  for the 700 Tamilian Catholics in Cheeta Camp. There he is building a chapel. Since the people had been shifted from Janata Colony slum in l976, we were celebrating Mass in the open or in our dispensary. In Bomaby we are lucky because from October to June there is hardly any rain.

    At the end it is a must for us to thank all and everyone. Let us pray that we can always work together in the Kingdom of God.