33 Years of Trouble


Kollo has lived with the effects of leprosy for 33 years. He has been in and out of Danja for a long time. Because Danja is a center that specifically treats leprosy patients, the staff are not alarmed by the thought of interacting with patients with the disease, and there are usually three or four leprosy patients in and around the ward. It is a place where leprosy carries no stigma, so patients feel comfortable returning year after year for continuing care. Kollo was in a motor vehicle accident years ago and hurt his leg. The resulting wound, in spite of multiple skin grafts, would not heal, so recently when he came for more treatment, the infection was so advanced that he was finally sent to the government hospital in Zinder for an amputation just below the knee. Kollo is back in the Danja hospital now, eating good food, trying to reach complete healing for the stump, and working with the physical therapist to get movement back to the knee joint so that he can be outfitted with a prosthesis. He says, “I have drunk trouble for 33 years.” But he says it with a smile.