Before I met Padi (my Americanized version of her Indian name) in 2000 she was a woman living a nightmare.   I never knew her full story, but with a diagnosis of leprosy she had immediately lost everything; her home, her friends, and her standing in society.  She was forced to live apart in a crowded colony with scores of others suffering the same fate.  Worse, her entire family was forced to share in her indignity and isolation being, 'lepers' by association.  
​She was a woman without hope.  . . 

---

In 1998 Covenant Family Church began working to improve conditions in this colony.  First, they helped to bring additional infrastructure into the colony and improving sanitary conditions.   Next they began to supply tools, materials  and training in vocational skills to enable various colony members to break the cycle of begging. Soon rickshaws, bicycles, and sowing machines began to pop up in the colony.   Men were trained in woodworking.    Businesses were being birthed. 

When I met Padi in 2000 CFC had just set her up in a business to recycle plastic grocery bags.  Amazingly, there is a market for these used bags.   CFC helped Padi devise systems and processes for gathering the bags, storing the bags, identifying buyers, and transporting the bags to these buyers.  

A BEGGAR TURNED CABINET MAKER, WTH HIS WIFE AND ADOPTED DAUGHTER

HOPE REALIZED!

HOPE -     Padi worked hard and life slowly began improving for her.  I visited the colony every few years thereafter and each time I heard more amazing testimonies of how she was able to stop begging and eventually was able to meet the needs of her family.  

In January 2015 I saw Padi again.   By then Padi was the most successful business owner in the entire colony.   She had expanded her business to include glass & plastic bottles, paper & cardboard, and several other materials.   She was sending material by the truckloads  to various recycling centers as far away as Calcutta.  ​ The profits from this business enabled Padi to pay for her own children to receive and education and break the stigma of leprosy in their lives. 

CW founder Rick Perryman (right) with Padi & her 'teacher' son

Padi is leaving a legacy.  After receiving his eduction, her youngest son has returned to the colony to start a primary school,  since the children of the colony are not allowed to attend public schools.  Historically these children are left to fend for themselves while their parents leave the colony each day to beg, but now their education is providing hope for a future.