In August 2006 the Senior Chaplain of the Grand Commandery of the Castello, Malta, H.E. Fr Colin Westmarland, was travelling on the London Tube during a visit to the UK. He picked up a discarded Telegraph Magazine and happened to notice an article about a remarkable young woman who was working with leprosy sufferers in India. He cut the article out and, once back in Malta, showed it to the then Commander of the Grand Commandery, H.E. Chev Geoff Fosberry. Thus, serendipitously, began a long and fruitful relationship between the Grand Commandery of the Castello and the "Women in Need" (WIN) charity which has enabled the Order to make a real difference to lives of many individuals suffering from leprosy and other difficulties in central India.
Part of the original magazine article cut out
by Fr Colin Westmarland
Leah's story
Leah Pattison grew up in Weardale, County Durham and after graduating with a Fine Arts degree she undertook some voluntary work in India in 1995. This involved working at a Leprosy colony in Dattapur, Wardha, where her task was to teach English to young girls at the hostel there. This experience altered forever her original life plan to become an artist. Leah was so moved by the particular plight of the women and children she encountered suffering from leprosy that she found herself returning to India and to Dattapur to continue working there. In 1997 Leah was to experience first hand the ordeal of her new friends when she herself contracted leprosy. It required a year of treatment before she was pronounced clear of the disease. At Dattapur she had met and become close friends with a young Indian woman called Usha Patil, who had suffered severely from leprosy from the age of ten and who had undergone nine years of treatment and reconstructive surgery before being freed from the disease. Their friendship became a special bond formed through the sharing of adversity. Usha was the first person to notice the symptoms of Leah’s leprosy and so, as Leah had supported Usha through her illness, Usha now sustained Leah through her own crisis. The outcome was that they both decided to devote their future to the care of leprosy sufferers and, towards this end, they both qualified as leprosy paramedical workers at the Gandhi Memorial Leprosy Foundation in Wardha in 1999.
Leah established the Women In Need (WIN) charity. Through WIN she not only treats the discarded women of India for leprosy and AIDS, but also strives to rehabilitate them back with their husbands, children and families and into productive work after successful treatment. This often means weeks of painstaking and frustrating arguments and persuasive discussion with family and employers alike to take the patient back into society to live a normal and useful life once more. WIN also provides help to the wives and children of men suffering from leprosy. From its original scope the charity has expanded to support women who are victims of AIDS and others in dire circumstances.
Leah (right) and friends
The first ambulance
Following initial donations in 2006 and 2008, in March 2010, the Grand Commandery agreed at its Annual General Meeting to buy an ambulance for use by the WIN Leprosy centre in Nagpur, India. Funds were subsequently provided to maintain the ambulance for at least the next three years.
Further support was given in succeeding years including setting up a small but essential hospice in Dattapur, equipped with beds and other support equipment for a clinic designed to treat chronically ill patients, especially those suffering from Leprosy.
The ambulance continues to be an invaluable asset to WIN's work. They continue to provide primary health care to impoverished areas across the city. The mobile clinic enables WIN to provide health checks and treatment to up to 200 women a week who may be suffering from malaria, TB, HIV, leprosy or any other ailment.
The advantage of the mobile clinic is that it can reach a population of people in areas where there is no local Primary Health Centre. They are often able to detect ailments at an early stage, thus saving lives.
The ambulance also transports women to and from clinics and hospitals throughout the city and even from Wardha to Nagpur, which is a one and a half hour drive.
Leah (right) and Usha with the ambulance
(Note that the ambulance bears the logos of both WIN and the Grand Commandery of the Castello)
WIN has a collaborative initiative with the Indian Cancer Society in screening women for the early signs of breast, cervical and oral cancer. The majority of cancer patients referred to the charity for financial assistance are terminally ill, therefore it’s crucial that the charity addresses this by encouraging women to be screened. This is not an easy task as many women are unwilling to undergo screening due to fear, ignorance and certain religious constraints. The charity’s social workers work hard in encouraging women to attend the organised screening sessions.
The ambulance is used to transport 20 women every week to a local hospital, Mure Memorial, where they are screened. The ambulance is again invaluable because the logistics of gathering and transporting the women would be otherwise very difficult. The ambulance makes two journeys with batches of 10 women per trip.
Women on the way to the Breast Screening Clinic
The motorised rickshaw
In 2014 the Grand Commandery donated an auto rickshaw, or "Tuk Tuk", to Women In Need.
WIN’s shelter for homeless women in Wardha is eight kilometres away from nearby hospitals and four kilometres from the local town centre. Public transport is unreliable and especially in the event of an emergency.
The auto rickshaw has a 4-stroke engine and provides efficient and convenient travel, thus eliminating all the previous difficulties.
The motorised rickshaw with our intrepid Hospitaller at the controls
Funding of businesses for women in difficulty
Ten women were recipients of businesses funded by the Grand Commandery if the Castello. These ranged from general stalls and chilli stalls, to a variety of sewing machines, all enabling women to earn a decent income from home whilst looking after their children.
The majority of these women are single mothers, for whom balancing work and home has been a constant battle.
Leah reports that one candidate, suffering from cervical cancer, has found a sense of purpose through her jewellery business. Her elder daughter is able to continue the work in her mother’s absence on days when she is unwell.
One of the businesses whose set up was funded by the Grand Commandery of the Castello
The sandal workshop
In 2015, the Grand Commandery of the Castello donated a substantial sum to set up a workshop to manufacture sandals for leprosy sufferers. The soles of these sandals are made of micro cellular rubber which is very soft and reduces the chance of blistering the feet, a common problem for leprosy sufferers. The plan is to manufacture custom made sandals in extreme cases and also to manufacture sandals in standard sizes for general sale as a way of raising funds.
The Hospitaller has a pair and can vouch for their comfort!
The second ambulance
Although WIN is a separate entity, it has close links with the main leper colony at Dattapur. The Dattapur Colony is in the country about 75km South West of Dattapur in the Wardha Region.
In 2015 the Grand Commandery provided the leper colony at Dattapur in India with a much-needed ambulance. The new ambulance will be a great asset for transportation to and from hospital, as public transport is not reliable.
Second ambulance from the rear
Direct involvement by the Hospitaller
The Hospitaller of the Grand Commandery, Chev Paul Warren, travels regularly to India, at his own expense, to see our projects at first hand and to work with Leah to identify the most effective use of future donations by the Grand Commandery.
The generosity of the confrères and consoeurs of the Grand Commandery of the Castello has provided over €60,000 in support of Women In Need and the Dattapur leper colony over the past five years alone.. The regular personal contact and long-term relationship between the Grand Commandery and WIN has enabled donations to be made in a highly effective and efficient manner, ensuring that all monies are applied to specific projects with tangible results.
Hospitaller Chevalier Paul Warren and Leah Pattison outside the hospice at Dattapur