Punch
TOPE OMOGBOLAGUN visited the lepers’ colony at Oke-Eriwo, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State to feel the pulse of the inmates as World Leprosy Day holds today
The Ijebu-Igbo lepers’ colony is tucked on the outskirts of Oke Eriwo, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State. It is by the roadside and marked with a green coloured signboard announcing the facility.
A bike is the best means of transportation to the place from Ijebu-Igbo town. The inmates at the Ogun State Hospitals Management Board Hansen disease settlement in Ijebu-Igbo told our correspondent that they inhabited the place when it was still a forest.
The structure has a brown fence on the right without a gate. The road is tarred and its inside is neat. It could be mistaken for an old colonial quarters built for civil servants. The tiny road leading to the quarters is tarred while the red sand appears neat.
An elderly woman, later identified as Mrs Stella Titus, sat on a bench under a tree in one of the blocks in the facility and being assisted by a petite lady helping her to loosen her wool-braided hair.
Surprised and welcoming, she spoke about her long stay in the building.
Titus is the oldest female inmate in the settlement but she said couldn’t tell how old she was.
She said, “I can’t recall the date I got into this place but I know I have been here for over 40 years. The first child I gave birth to after I got here is over 40 years of age.”
She also said she was with her grandmother at Epe, and they were into cassava processing and used a certain kind of drum to fry garri.
Titus added, “I realised one day that I had burnt a part of my skin and I got scalded. I thought it was a minor wound but that was how I started to treat burns and the endless years of treatment started.”
According to her, when the treatment continued without a solution, she went to her parents’ home in Ijebu, Ogun State, to receive treatments.
Titus stated, “At the time, traditional medicine was the basic thing. We started to move from one herbalist to the other but there was no solution for years. I wish I knew this kind of place existed long enough I would have recovered from it a long time ago. But we were on it, not knowing it was leprosy till it affected my hands and legs. I do not have a single finger left till again as you can see. It affected both my finger and toes.’’
She paused to unbuckle her rubber slippers converted into sandals with a rope to walk as there are no toes.
Titus stated, “I was in Lagos nursing my second child when the issue started. By then, my grandma had moved to Lagos State. They took me from place to place. It was someone who earlier brought someone to the facility that told my mum I was battling leprosy when she saw me. The person advised my grandma to bring me here. That was how my grandma called my mum and some few relatives who knew what I was going through and took me here. I have been living here since then.”
According to web.md, leprosy also known as Hansen’s disease is an infectious disease that causes severe, disfiguring skin sores and nerve damage in the arms, legs, and skin areas around the body. If not quickly treated, it could lead to permanent deformity in some parts of the body including the skin, nerves, arms, legs, feet, and eyes.
The leprosy patients’ tales
Hanah Robot is another inmate of the home who has been living there for some time. Dressed in ankara embroidered with a blue taffeta, Robot’s leprosy patches weren’t visible until one sights her hand and legs. She also took shelter under a tree where our correspondent and Titus earlier sat for an interview.
Like Titus, Robot couldn’t tell her age but recalled that she started living at the facility when white people were our caregivers.
She said, “I was in school when I got infected by leprosy. Initially, my mum thought it was measles but with time we found out that it was more than that. My parents spent a lot to get me treatment. She was told to kill a goat.
“Eventually, people called my mum’s attention to the fact that it wasn’t measles but leprosy. She was scared on hearing the news and moved me from one place to the other and we were swindled. ”
For another inhabitant, Mr Ganiyu Obisanya, he recalled his experiences through significant national dates. His spine appeared affected and he could no longer walk straight, bending while he moved around aided by a walking stick.
He stated that he got to the Ijebu-Igbo during the second republic.
Obisanya said, “I was in primary two when the infection started. It first started on my forehead. It became red and we tried to see how we could get rid of it when all attempts failed and it became worse. I couldn’t return to school any longer. I had to stay back at home but the sickness hadn’t worsened then. It was only the reddish forehead and peeling.
“I used several medicines to no avail after I stayed back at home. I moved to Ibadan, Oyo State, and stayed for 10 months. After that, I left for Lagos and stayed there for a while. I was in Lagos during the civil war before returning to Ibadan where I spent 13 years.”
Obisanya narrated that he learnt shoe-making in Ibadan because he didn’t let the situation weigh him down.
“In those 13 years, I learnt shoe-making; I got married and gave birth to a child during the Murtala Mohammed regime,” he stated.
For Mrs Femi Adeiye, she had been badly affected by the disease and unable to walk properly. It took her a long time to cover a short distance despite using a walking stick. Adeiye has a bent back like Obisanya.
After a few minutes of struggling to join her colleagues under the tree, she settled down on a pavement to share the story of her life with our correspondent.
She said, “I got here in 1981.When the leprosy started, my right leg was swollen and toughened. I couldn’t stand nor walk. I was in Lagos then, so, I was taken to the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi and I was there for three months.
“When I was discharged, some people saw me and said I should go to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba. From there, I was referred to the Eko Hospital, Lagos and later to another place. While I was receiving treatments my hands were normal. In the process of cooking my fingers often got heated by fire and became sore. That became a routine until I lost all my fingers.”
Adeiye explained that she was working with an architectural firm before the disease struck and he lost everything in the process.
She said,” I used to work at an architectural firm. It was the money I got from there that I used to start a business. I started to sell slippers and sandals across hospitals but when the sickness started, I had to stop the business. Amid it all, I lost everything including my family. My husband left one day with the children. He could have thought I would die but this is me today telling my story.”
Tosin Adeleye is one of the youngest inmates at the facility there and should be in his late 20s or early 30s.
He said the facility has two young persons, explaining that two had died out of four of them that came into the facility.
Adeleye added, “I was in Lagos when the disease started. I cannot count the number of times I visited the Ikorodu General Hospital for treatment. I took several injections, drugs but none helped me. I was advised to go for traditional treatment. I went to my maternal grandma at Ago-Iwoye, Ijebu, Ogun State where they also started another round of treatment. It was in the course of visiting different treatment that we located this place.’’
Nigeria’s leprosy burden
The world celebrates Leprosy Day every January 30.
Across the world, Around 200,000 people are diagnosed with leprosy every year and two to three million people live with leprosy-related disabilities. Leprosy is the leading cause of preventable-disability in the world, Leprosy Missions International stated.
Despite the Global Leprosy Strategy by the World Health Organisation on ‘Zero leprosy, zero discrimination, and zero disability by 2020,’ Nigeria still recorded 2,424 new leprosy cases in 2019, of which about six per cent are children and about 13 to 15 per cent experienced WHO ranking of ‘grade two deformity.’
Paying high to get a cure
Robot said beyond being swindled, she did several things to overcome the challenge.
She narrated, “They made me do many terrible things including drinking herbs, urine etc.’’
