The thin gravy that they had to put over their tasteless rice smelled bad and looked like pig slop. Here is cooked rice waiting to be served for dinner after sitting in the heat and exposed to insects most of the day. This amount of rice has to be sufficient for the whole colony of 140 people. This is the leprosy colony's kitchen. It looked like a dungeon and was way below anyone's idea of sanitary.

Many people suffered with hunger and various sicknesses because of their poor diet. For breakfast, they received only two iddlies which are small tasteless rice cakes. The following meals are also small and they have rice with sambar, a kind of vegetable gravy which is thin and looks like pig slop.

They don't ever get meats, eggs, fruits or vegetables, or anything healthy or good-tasting to eat. The rice they get is rationed rice which the government provides freely to the colony, but it is worse food than what many animals eat. The smell is bad and the taste is sickening.

The atmosphere of the place was appalling. A large, eerie Hindu idol temple was sitting in the middle of the common area, built there by the government. There was a constant sewage odor that filled the air.

This is where they wash the dishes.

This woman is re-cooking her portion of the watery gravy, trying to thicken it so it will taste better. Most of the residents are not able to do even this much.

Here are rooms residents live in. Bathroom stalls can be seen in the background. Most of the people at this colony were totally rejected by their families. Many were homeless. If they were found living homeless, they would be brought here and made to stay in the colony. The colony won't allow these people to go out to beg, and it would not be easy anyway because it is such a remote area. Many of then cannot walk, or see, or are to weak to go out and beg, so they just have to stay there and eat whatever they are given.

Faces of the desperate... As we first walked around the grounds, many residents came to meet us, or greeted us from the doorways of their tiny rooms. Many were lame, crippled, or blind.

Learn how you can help to make a life-changing difference in this leprosy colony - please click here.

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