A centenarian at Linglong Hospital basks in the sun in front of his home. Photo by Southern ** reporter Xu Shuzhi.
On Si'an Island, Macong Town, Dongguan City, Guangdong, there is a leprosy ** village. In the 50s of the last century, leprosy hospitals were built in deep mountains, isolated islands and other places far away from people, which were used to isolate ** leprosy patients. Today, the leprosy hospital has been transformed into a leprosy ** village, where a group of elderly people with an average age of nearly 80 years old live.
In winter, the island is full of greenery, insects and birds. In the second half of their lives, they rediscovered their self-worth and life energy, and had a peaceful old age.
28 January is World Leprosy Day. On January 27, the Guangdong Provincial Health Commission said that a total of 39 leprosy cases were reported in 2023, and the leprosy epidemic in the province is still in a stable and low epidemic state. Compared with the past, leprosy patients now not only have medicine to eat, but also can achieve **, without centralized isolation, and can work and live normally.
to help others as a healthy person".
Huang Shaokuan contracted leprosy at the age of six or seven, and went to the Chewei Fort Shelter in Guangzhou, the Xinzhou Hospital in Dongguan, and the Dashu Hospital in Jiangmen.
The turnaround occurred in 2011. According to the unified deployment arrangement of the party and **, 44 elderly people on the island boarded the ship and left the island in four batches and moved to Si'an Hospital as a whole. Huang Shaokuan ended his life on the island.
At Si'an Hospital, Huang Shaokuan's life is getting more and more prosperous, he looks ten years younger than his actual age, and hopes to wear brightly colored clothes and remember his birthday and home address clearly. Not long ago, she felt a lump in her chest, and the medical staff took her to an outside hospital for breast cancer removal. After resting for a while, she quickly recovered her spirits, dressed up every day, walked to meet friends, and carefully lived her own small life. Today, at 98 years old, she is the oldest person to live. "I want to live to be 100 years old," she said. ”
After passing the survival hurdle, it is particularly important for the leper to recognize his own value.
Si'an Hospital has held two cultural and art festivals. This is an art festival exclusive to lepers, the paintings on display are all painted by lepers, the photographs are taken by lepers, and the musical instruments, singing, and dancing on the stage are all lepers.
Xu Bin, head of the medical department of Si'an Hospital, said that this day was to prove themselves to them - to prove that they are not just disabled people who accept condolences in the audience, but also ordinary people who shine.
Because of painting, 88-year-old Peng Haidi's life was "lit up". He is already a well-known painter in the circle of ** people, has held exhibitions, held auctions, and once presented his paintings to foreign friends at the International Leprosy Congress. In the past few years, Peng Haidi has exchanged the money from the sale of paintings into rice, charcoal, washing machines, refrigerators or electric tricycles, and sent them to leprosy villages, donating them to patients.
My greatest desire is to help others as a healthy person. Peng Haidi said that he found the value of life in helping others.
Treat the ** person as family".
When a leper is isolated, their network of social relationships in the outside world quickly "disintegrates". But after living in ** village for many years, they support each other and find warmth and hope from the surrounding environment, for them, this is home.
Zhang Enyuan, a leper in Kaiping Linglong Hospital (hereinafter referred to as "Linglong Hospital"), is known as a Linglong barber. He told reporters that the ** people usually don't quarrel when they meet, at most they just say two words, and they forget it after they finish speaking, and there is no "overnight feud" at all. Dong Shumeng, the director of Linglong Hospital, said that they couldn't be more familiar, "Maybe they don't say hello when they walk face to face, because they are too familiar, just like at home." ”
* People cherish each other, comfort each other, and fight against the uncertainties in life together.
During this time, Peng Haidi moved, moving from the second floor of a one-bedroom apartment to a two-room dormitory, just to take care of his good friend Huang Deping, who had a stroke. Peng Haidi told reporters that once he was sick and broke his leg, it was Huang Deping who helped him wipe his body and cook for him. Peng Haidi said that this is his affection for his friend.
In the leprosy ** village, some people found support, and some people found love. In order to take care of Feng Jinhe, who is seriously disabled, Zhang Taolie, a member of Linglong Hospital, submitted an application to the hospital for marriage, hoping to take care of Feng Jinhe in the name of her husband. Later, the hospital agreed to their application and moved them to the same house. Zhang Taolie loves his wife very much, and she always notifies the buyer as soon as she wants to eat, and tells the buyer to remember to buy it back.
In Dong Shumeng's view, the love story of leprosy village is extremely simple and even monotonous, and for them, mutual support and care is the greatest romance.
At many important key points in life, the leprosy ** is accompanied by a group of medical workers who are not related by blood.
They have been treated as old people in the family. Feng Jing, a doctor at Si'an Hospital, said. After graduating from college, she took over the mantle of her grandfather, for her, this was an island of childhood play, neither strange nor afraid, and now every time someone wants to go to a higher-level hospital**, she is the one who signs the informed consent form of the family.
The death of the old man is a difficult hurdle for Dong Shumeng to overcome. Every time, he has to personally handle the funeral, organize the ** person to send the last ride, walk around the residence, then walk to the archway, and finally follow the car to the funeral home, even the ashes are handled by him.
In recent years, Dong Shumeng's focus has shifted from leprosy prevention and treatment to the social and psychological aspects of leprosy patients, helping them to be better accepted by the society and better accept the society.
On the one hand, it's walking in. Dong Shumeng built a leprosy museum and a party member education base in Linglong Homeland, so that more people are willing to enter Linglong ** Village. The appearance of a group of young people brought vitality to the village and opened the hearts of the elderly.
The other side is going out. Dong Shumeng not only takes the elderly out to see the world, but also allows the elderly to get in touch with the Internet, so that they can narrow the cognitive gap with the outside world through the Internet.
Dong Shumeng put forward a kind of "reverse integration" idea - there are currently more than 60 leprosy villages in Guangdong, and with the decrease of leprosy cases, we can further consider transforming leprosy villages into institutions that combine medical care and elderly care, and accept some disabled and lonely elderly people in the community who are particularly difficult. This not only solves the problem of pension for special groups, but also promotes the integration of different groups.
Southern ** reporter Huang Jinhui.