Jaya Kala Khadka, 65, is dealing with the social stigma for over 25 years oblivious to the fact that the government provides free treatment for the disease. Her husband Kripe died 12 years ago but not before condemning her to a life of misery by transferring the property to their two daughters, who threw Jaya out of her house. [break]
The daughters--married and blissful with the inheritance--have now left her alone to deal with the problems of old age and the crippling disease. Her fingers rotten with pus-filled wounds, she faces difficulty having her meal let alone work for a living.
Her younger daughter throws chapattis and vegetables, twice a day, on her plate from a distance as if feeding a dog. To add insult to her injury, she has to contend with the accusations of sins committed in her past lives and called a leper.
“They have thrown me out saying that the disease is a divine retribution for the sins I committed in my past lives,” Jaya Kala said and wished that death had taken her instead of the husband to relieve her of the agonies. Her husband, she reminisced, tried a lot of shamans to please the irate gods but never thought of taking her to the hospital.
“I wish I had sons,” she said. But the problem is much due to the attitude of the ignorant society, that doesn´t know that leprosy is just another disease. “The younger daughter kept the mother with her but had to abandon her after she was threatened with social ostracism,” said Bala Ram Oli, a neighbor.
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