MAKOGAI LEPERS

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 86, 8 October 1935, Page 13

MAKOGAI LEPERS

APPEAL POll HELP

NEW ZEALAND'S PART

The approach of Christmas brings ■with it again the annual appeal made throughout New Zealand on behalf Of the Makogai leper station. Of the 500 or more patients there, New Zealand and the islands under her administration' are responsible lor' about 100, add it is to their unknown New Zealand friends that many hundreds of the patients look at Christmas every year for the generosity that unfailingly in the past has sent to Makogai '■'■welcome gifts "of goods and money at this appropriate time. Twenty: years- ago the contraction ■of leprosy' meant only one thing—confinement on the island for a lifetime. Today,'thanks : to- the ' advances of .science and the" selfless devotion of the medical staff and the Sisters of the Third Order of Mary resident on the .Island, an- increasing proportion of -patients are able to look forward to the day. of their return to the world, completely cured of a disease that for centuries was regarded as incurable. ' In the providing of one great assistance to the cure of leprosy the outside world can .render valuable help. 'In, addition to expert medical attention' and riursing care," stated "a former medical superintendent, "keeping the patients as cheerful as possible is an important factor in their ultimate chance of recovery." New Zealanders who donate goods' or money have the satisfaction of knowing that in doing so they, are' helping lepers in their light for perfect health, and the Sisters in their life's work. APPRECIATED GIFTS. There were 518 patients on the island "at the beginning .of this year /rod there have been a few additions since then. The patients are of both sexes, about three-quarters of them being males, and there are about .60 children afflicted with the' disease. Among the more welcome-articles on Makogai are •white, calico and all kinds of materials for dresses and, clothing, embroidery cotton and silk-in every colour, rib:bbns, wool, pillow-cases, bed-covers, needles, crochet hooks, scissors, belts, embroidery rings, tools of all kinds, "pipes, tobaccb, toilet soap, and sweets and toys- for the children. . T.Wellington' people may leave their gifts, 'with. the : Rev. Father F. L. Dig- • nan at the Boulcott Street presbytery of St. Mary of the Angels, and they will be acknowledged through the col--umns of the "Evening Post." They .Should- be handed in before the end :of. Noveipb.er.!.; , '"''''. The' efficiency "of the management of Makogai has won the highest praise from visiting[medical men, including several with wide experience of the treatment of leprosy. The island is . of 2000 acres, with an almost ideal climate, the tropical heat being tempered by the south-east trade winds. The staff,, which'includes medical officers, the captain of'the island ship, a farm ' overseer*' bakers, and' several native labourers, live on the farm, Na Sau, a 1 the extreme south of the island, and the; patients and the nursing, sisters al "the northern end at Dalice. Patients are not allowed to pass ..a boundarj a mile from Na Sau. ' , ".... NO. TEMDE FOR BROODING. With a 'few exceptions the ; leper; at Makogai are contented with then lot. They are' housed 'in comfortable quarters and their, immediate beha 'yiour. is-''in;;the -hands -of- intelligeni vSead-irieri' oi '"their ows race.. They re Ceive prompt medical and surgical,; at tention,- excellent' nursing ..and • gooc foodY arid are' for the niost; iiart .bjiiden ed With'no responsibility at.all. idle ness is -discouraged . arid: apparen brooding over their disease ,is.riot;al •lowed.! .The' men are kept- busjr ii any way they desire, although "all cap able of it are required to. spend:soni' small-part of their time eacj?,, wee! on work-for the? good of the.statior Otherwise, they employ^ their, time-pi " public works• (at a. wage), furniture making, the making and sailing: c model boats, fishing, gardening, ani various games^-cricket, tennis, fool •ball, etc. The women dp all thelaur dry work and also make mats, nativ clothj arid hats and do needleworf The children of school age atten school a-few hours a day and occup ■their, remaining time as children d the world over, .