New Day Magazine. Issue 2 - May 2026

THANK YOU FOR SOWING SEEDS OF HOPE FOR ANJALI

Welcome

Dear friend

Welcome to the spring edition of New Day. I often think that spring is a lovely reminder of God’s steadfast faithfulness. We can trust in a God who never changes, even when all is changing around us. Spring brings renewed hope, doesn’t it? After the long darkness of winter, new life emerges, and we can see our way into the light and warmth ahead. It’s a season that beautifully reflects the difference you are making too!

The theme of new beginnings runs throughout this edition, and I hope you can see the joy that you have brought to so many lives – both young and old! Over the last few months I have been privileged to meet some of the people you have supported. People whose lives have completely changed thanks to your blessings of prayer and generosity.

At Salur Hospital, tucked away in rural Andhra Pradesh, I was able to chat to the student nurses at the new college you funded. It’s a real story of God doing immeasurably more than we could have imagined! A new generation of leprosy nurses are being trained on this bright and bustling campus. With the first intake now in their second year, these students will carry the legacy of devoted staff like Sister Irene.

After 40 years of faithfully loving and caring for patients, Sister Irene will soon retire. She used to carry the burden of not knowing who would continue her work, but now she is overjoyed to see young students being equipped to continue this vital ministry. What a testimony of God’s faithfulness that Sister Irene’s legacy will live on in the next generation of nurses. All made possible because of your compassion.

Just as close to my heart, and I know yours too, are the people living in Odisha’s leprosy colonies. When I first visited just 18 months ago, my heart broke for forgotten communities living in the worst poverty I had ever seen. You responded in such an incredible way as we shared the stories of hopelessness. You opened your hearts. Together we declared that 'Jesus is the hope of the nations' and we began to share his love in practical ways.

On my return in February, hope had been revived. Communities had grasped the opportunities you had provided for them, invigorated with new purpose and the

knowledge that someone cared enough to help them. I hope you will be so encouraged as you read more about clean water, safe housing, and the acres of vegetables that are now growing!

Our mission is to find and treat leprosy as early as possible. This is the only way to prevent disability and the heartache experienced by so many in Odisha. No child is born for a future like this.

As our ‘I Am Nisha’ appeal comes to an end, I want to say thank you on behalf of the thousands of children now being screened for the disease. If you have children in your life, you’ll know how eager they are to share what they’ve learned. And you’ll also know how wonderfully persuasive they can be! When children understand that leprosy is curable and is nothing to fear, that message quickly spreads to parents and grandparents, rippling through entire communities. Our heart to end child leprosy continues, and we’ll share more about the impact of your compassion for children later in the year.

While your giving is helping communities move towards self-sufficiency, we will never turn away from those who cannot help themselves because of age or disability. With temperatures in Odisha already at 40 degrees, please keep dear friends like Sunitra and Bonita in your prayers. You’ll remember that last year, we lost elderly people across the colonies due to starvation. They simply couldn’t walk the distance to sit and beg in the extreme heat.

If you feel able, would you prayerfully consider reaching out to them once more? An emergency food parcel will help them to survive the worst months.

Thank you for continuing to be Jesus’ hands and feet, reaching out to those most in need.

With every blessing

Peter Waddup Chief Executive

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23

Because of you, thousands of schoolchildren – like these youngsters in Nigeria – are being screened for leprosy. You are giving them the chance to be cured early and live healthy lives free from disability.

Meet India’s future leprosy nurses!

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask and imagine, according to his power that is at work in us.

Ephesians 3:20

"We serve a God who hears our prayers."

Nurse Irene

Back in 2023, we shared about a wonderful leprosy nurse called Irene. When she was young, Irene believed she had been called to serve as a nurse. Her family was too poor to pay fees for her to study so she began to pray. God opened every door for Irene, and she has worked at Salur Hospital for 40 years. As she prepares to retire, on this special anniversary, Irene wants to thank you for answering another prayer.

Ensuring leprosy expertise for the future

Working in a leprosy hospital can feel like the harvest is plentiful and the workers are few! With many nurses coming up to retirement, ensuring that leprosy expertise continued was a real concern for Irene. The hospital team at Salur had a dream, to build a state-of-the-art nursing college where everyone would learn about leprosy. They would offer places to people from all over India, including young people affected by leprosy themselves.

The team prayed. We launched an appeal. You responded and God blessed the funds that you sent in an incredible way. Today, a fully equipped nursing college welcomes the second intake of students from across India. Beaming faces from as far north

as Assam and as far south as Tamil Nadu, show the excitement at starting a BSc in Nursing. This fouryear course will open up a world of opportunities for these young people. Some want to work for The Leprosy Mission, some for a corporate or government hospital. Wherever they go, they will take vital knowledge about leprosy treatment with them.

There are 13 boys in the latest cohort, studying nursing and also a new lab technician course which has been added to the curriculum. As you can imagine, they have to stick together to have their voice heard and stand up for themselves among so many girls!

Friendship is so important for young people who are away from home for the first time. Lots of extra-curricular activities are organised to build confidence and make sure there is always some fun at the end of a hard day! A modern coffee shop has been built outside the college building, to encourage young people to stay on campus. Serving everything from chai and soft drinks to chocolate brownies, it’s a lovely and safe place for friends to meet.

New accommodation

He does immeasurably more!

Thanks to you, residential students have a clean, bright and spacious place to stay while they are studying. Once a dank, dark and crumbling building, it has changed beyond all recognition! The girls share dorms and giggle together as they tell us about the fun they have with so many new friends. It is lovely to see the camaraderie, and even more encouraging to see Bibles next to beds. Dr Surjit and his wife Dr Pushpa who run Salur Hospital know from personal experience that seeking God first, is the only way to ensure success. Nurse Irene’s story testifies to this too!

The student’s accommodation is next to what was a very old run-down church building. When we visited back in 2023, it was unsafe to enter. Broken windows, holes in the roof, and a perfect place for snakes to hide! When a Christian doctor from another hospital heard about the work that was being done, God called him to renovate the church as a place of worship for students. The team at Salur, including Nurse Irene, were overjoyed. God was not just answering one prayer, He was answering many. Dr Surjit says “we are so humbled by the grace of God. Our faith has grown because we have seen His provision, despite all the obstacles. We are so thankful for everyone who has prayed and given to make this dream come true. Thank you for being our brothers and sisters in Christ.”

Building sustainable projects to ensure sustainable futures

You may know the well-known saying, ‘give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime’. It highlights the lasting impact of self-sufficiency over short-term help.

Everything we do is rooted in the belief that all The Leprosy Mission has been given is entrusted to us by God. Your giving, so often sacrificial, is something we never take lightly. It is a gift we are called to steward faithfully, prayerfully, and with integrity. Like the Parable of the Talents, we strive to ensure these precious resources don’t get buried or wasted. Your kind funding is invested in individuals, communities and projects in ways that transform lives and bring glory to God.

Social Sustainability

Much of the work you so generously support is based on social sustainability. Equity and inclusion mean fair treatment and opportunities for everyone. In everything we do, we want to build local capacity and knowledge so that communities can flourish without help in the future.

When we start a new project, we encourage participation and collaboration with the community which we are serving. They are supported to take the lead and advise on processes and timelines. This ensures ownership, and means that everything you fund is appropriate and effective.

To strengthen local health systems, our medical teams train government health staff where possible. We also train local community volunteers

and health workers. This increases medical expertise, which means more people can be found and cured. Training a new generation of leprosy nurses at Salur Nursing College is a powerful example of social sustainability in action.

It is only when the voices of people affected by leprosy themselves are truly heard that discrimination can be challenged and overcome. Pastor Elisha (pictured) is disabled by leprosy and uses his experience to tirelessly serve as an advocate for people living in leprosy colonies across India. He has transformed communities through securing electricity, sanitation, rice rations, and entitlements like bus passes. He’s now training others affected by leprosy to work with local governments and advocate for communities.

Photo © Sabrina Dangol

[Left] The new Outpatients’ Department at Purulia Hospital in India is designed so there is no need for air conditioning, lowering costs and protecting the environment.

The people you enable us to serve have some of the smallest carbon footprints on the planet. It is a terrible injustice that they are among those most affected by climate change. In many of the communities you support, climate change is already a matter of life and death. Rising sea levels in Bangladesh are destroying livelihoods, while droughts, floods, and cyclones wreak havoc across Asia and Africa. Environmental sustainability is about doing all we can to protect the beautiful planet God entrusted us with. The planet which we all share.

At Purulia Hospital in India, specialist architects designed the new outpatients’ building you funded to have natural airflow, which reduced the need for expensive air conditioning. Across our hospitals, solar panels are harnessing the sun’s energy. Biogas systems are also being introduced, which turn food waste into renewable energy.

Environmental Sustainability Economic Sustainability

Costs in many of the countries you support are rising. Conflict, disaster, inflation, government regulations around staffing ratios and equipment in hospitals, and increasing maintenance costs all mean that money goes nowhere as far as it did ten years ago.

We are deeply grateful for your generous support. However, income has not kept pace with these rising costs. This means we need to look at our strategies to keep our work going. Our hospitals have now opened their doors to general patients as well as people affected by leprosy. By using the skills and expertise of our medical teams and laboratory staff, we are able to treat others in need. Nonleprosy patients pay a small fee for this care, reducing deficits while offering much-needed services at a fraction of the cost of private hospitals.

To save water in countries with low rainfall, communities learn how to harvest rainwater. Some of The Leprosy Mission’s hospitals even have small water treatment plants so that water can be re-used.

We seek to protect biodiversity and preserve natural habitats. One of the ways we do this is by promoting green campuses and protecting trees. Your funding also enables us to teach families about local seed selection and climate-resilient farming methods. This helps to secure food for the future.

Waste management is also important, from recycling and reduction of single-use plastics to safe disposal of medical waste. Diesel vehicles are gradually being replaced with electric, and a new electric vehicle mechanics course is now offered in India’s Vocational Training Centres. This ensures students learn relevant skills for an environmentally conscious market.

In a similar way, a limited number of places at our Vocational Training Centres in India are now offered to young people who are not affected by leprosy. Their fees help to cover escalating costs. Mixed classes are also great for social integration and breaking down stigma.

It is important to say that leprosy is, and always will be, the reason for our existence.

Thank you for making sure these services are offered free of charge to those who need them.

We have also recently partnered with an experienced Indian doctor, who has worked as a consultant with leading private hospitals and trained at Harvard Business School. He has provided business planning training for our hospital and Vocational Training Centre managers. Through this, they are learning how to strengthen financial sustainability, while remaining firmly rooted in their mission.

Girls are learning to be electricians at Vocational Training Centres in India. Some are paying their own fees which help to support those affected by leprosy.

Photo © Sabrina Dangol

Last but not least, we share skills to build and support local fundraising activities. As you know, there is untapped wealth in countries like India. Please pray especially for this work, as teams work together to approach potential funders.

You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on a stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:14-16

When the light breaks through

Compassion connects one person to another. It’s one way we show the love of Jesus and shine His light into the darkness. Have you ever noticed what happens when you share a cheerful smile and offer a helping hand to someone? A smile is returned, and suddenly there’s a ripple of warmth – that’s your light shining!

Right now, your compassion and connection are being felt in the once-forgotten, remote leprosy communities of Odisha, in India. Your light has permeated a blanket of darkness that has hung over these fragile communities for decades. Because of you, everything is changing. In the space of just one year, an incredible transformation has taken place. Joy now lives where hope had once been all but extinguished.

It is difficult to comprehend that there are still 88 leprosy colonies in Odisha, one of India’s poorest states. These communities are remnants of a bygone era, from a time when there was no cure for leprosy. They became places of exile, where people were abandoned, often never to see their families again. Although an effective cure has existed for more than 40 years, deep-rooted prejudice means these colonies still remain. Even now, they are often the only places where those affected by leprosy can find acceptance.

At the beginning of last year, we shared how God had called us to Odisha. When we got there, we

knew why. What we encountered was beyond what we could have imagined. Elderly people, disabled by leprosy, malnourished and weak, surviving on little more than a bowl of rice each day. Children falling ill after drinking polluted river water. Fragile, makeshift homes on the verge of collapse. Infected ulcers and lifelong disabilities left untreated. People treated as cursed and rejected by the outside world.

Yet the greatest poverty was not physical, but spiritual – an overwhelming loss of hope. Some, in their despair, would even sleep on railway tracks, willing a train to come in the night and bring an end to their suffering.

These were the realities that led to the launch of the Revive appeal in January 2025. Its vision was simple. To transform these communities, to lift people out of extreme poverty, and to restore hope.

We so often underestimate the goodness of God! We could never have anticipated your extraordinary response to this need, nor the transformation that has already begun in the colonies. Because you gave, seeds of hope were planted – and those seeds have flourished.

Communities have come together to build something remarkable. Where there was once unsafe housing, there are new homes. Where there was sickness, there is access to healthcare and clean water. Where there was hunger, fields

of produce are beginning to flourish. People have nurtured all you have provided, and the change is nothing short of astonishing.

Where spirits were crushed, hope now shines brightly. Through you, God’s light has flooded places that were once filled with despair. Lives are being restored, and dignity and joy abound.

Do you remember Anjali’s story? When she showed signs of leprosy at just 12, her grandfather tried to kill her. Eventually he took her to a leprosy colony far away from home and abandoned her. She never saw her family again. Alone and rejected, Anjali was forced to rebuild her life from nothing.

Today, she lives with her husband Sanand, who grew up in a neighbouring colony, and their two young sons. For years, the family has struggled for survival in a crumbling home. Anjali was desperate for a better life for her boys, but there was little hope for the family until you stepped in! Thanks to you, Anjali and her family are about to move into a brand new house of their own, with a proper roof and a toilet. For the first time, they will have a safe and comfortable place to call home. Anjali is overjoyed, and she can’t thank you enough for all that you have given to her family.

A living

The United Nations defines poverty as more than a lack of income. It includes deprivation in education, food, healthcare, shelter, political inclusion, choice, safety, and dignity. This was the daily reality faced by people living in the leprosy colonies of Odisha. Yet today, because of you, their story is beginning to change. In just one year, lives are being transformed – and hope is being restored.

NURTURING HEALTHY BODIES AND PEACE OF MIND

To ensure sustainability and maximise effectiveness, where possible Leprosy Mission teams work alongside and train government health workers. Sharing leprosy expertise helps to increase skills and break down stigma. The more people who can understand and treat leprosy, the more likely it is that people affected by the disease will receive the care they deserve and are entitled to. Thanks to your generosity, 329 government health workers in Odisha were trained in 2025 to diagnose and treat leprosy, a new and important skill.

Teams running medical camps and a two-week leprosy awareness campaign found and cured 87 people, including children. Because of you, these youngsters can look forward to a future very different from the lives of struggle their parents and grandparents have endured.

Training in how to care for hands and feet with no feeling was also provided. People learned how to prevent injury and also how to look after wounds to minimise infection. A total of 1,316 sterile ulcer dressing kits were given out to people who needed

Indrajit is one of 1,025 leprosy colony residents in Odisha who, thanks to your kindness, has been fitted with a pair of protective sandals, helping to shield his numb feet from injury.

them in the colonies. Just a year ago, they only had strips of dirty cloth to tie around open wounds. As you can imagine, it didn’t take long for infection to set in.

Another way of preventing injury is simply wearing sandals! 1,025 colony residents were given a pair of bespoke protective sandals. These simple gifts from you carry a profound blessing. With every step, they protect vulnerable feet from cuts and blisters.

While physical wounds can be dressed easily, emotional wounds are so much harder to heal. Many people in the leprosy colonies of Odisha carry deep emotional scars, shaped by years of stigma, rejection and hardship. Your support meant we could train 406 people in inner wellbeing. They then went on to start 23 peer support groups. These are caring spaces where people are encouraged to share experiences and coping strategies with one another. Sometimes, simply knowing you’re not alone breaks fear and worry. A safe place to talk, an understanding ear, and a shoulder to lean on are the first building blocks on the long journey to recovery.

living hope

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.

1 Peter 1:3-4

STREAMS OF HOPE

Access to clean water is essential – not just for drinking, but also for hygiene and caring for wounds. A safe, reliable water supply, coupled with proper sanitation, restores both health and dignity. Thanks to your generosity, six borewells have been dug to provide clean drinking water and nine broken borewell platforms have been repaired. Twelve community toilets, that were previously unusable, have also been renovated.

For many elderly and disabled residents like Kuni (pictured), having clean water within easy reach has been life-changing. When your feet are disabled, it’s a real struggle to walk the distance across rough terrain to the river to wash. It’s also impossible to carry water pots back with bodies that are weak and hands that don’t work. The women said they felt

ashamed that they couldn’t keep clean, especially in the hot summer months. They were only able to wash once or twice a week. Can you imagine how that must feel? How it adds to their lack of self-worth?

It’s only because of your support that Kuni, abandoned at a leprosy colony at the age of 10, is still alive today. When our Odisha team found her during last year’s heatwave, she was dangerously thin and malnourished. Too weak to walk the three kilometres to the nearest town to beg by the roadside, Kuni survived thanks to benefiting from some of the 2,688 emergency food parcels you provided. Now, thanks to you, she is thriving with a nearby supply of clean drinking water and a new home!

HOPE GROWS

We wish we could take each one of you to Odisha to see the hive of activity in the leprosy communities you are helping to transform. For many residents, decades of harsh survival have meant enduring the indignity of begging for their next meal. But because of your generosity, life is flourishing in every way.

These families don’t want handouts – they want the chance to provide for themselves. And thanks to you, they now have the tools and support they need. The fruits of their labour are emerging, and they are bursting with pride.

A total of 1,338 kitchen gardens have been started with great enthusiasm! Along with seeds and plants, you have provided families with the tools to cultivate the land. Community farms are also taking root, with 63 acres now planted with fruit trees and vegetables. On this page, you can see neat rows of cauliflowers growing. Eventually, these communities hope to sell any surplus produce, creating a small income while ensuring everyone in their colony is fed.

Your kindness has funded thousands of nutritious saplings, including mango, guava, papaya, coconut,

banana, and curry leaf plants. A total of 126 goats, cows, and chickens have also been distributed. Here, along with coops of happy chickens, you can see Anjali tending a goat you helped provide, which now supplies her family with milk.

We can only imagine the joy and excitement that fresh produce brings to people who have survived for decades on little more than a small cup of rice offered through begging. Through you, God’s provision is bringing nourishment, hope, and dignity to these communities.

Arun and Dama, both disabled by leprosy, plant a coconut tree in their leprosy colony.

Laying the foundations for a better life

For most of us, our homes are a safe place. A secure sanctuary where we can rest, cook and stay clean. You’ll remember the harrowing photos of crumbling shacks in Odisha. No toilets. Monsoon rains pouring through broken asbestos roofs. No secure doors or windows. Snakes were regular visitors, and mosquitos a constant threat.

Thanks to your generosity, and the skill of Pastor Elisha who got match funds from the local government, 45 families have already moved into brand-new homes. The houses have their own toilet, which is such a blessing to the ladies in particular who had to venture into fields at night. The joy these homes have brought is immeasurable.

We’re really excited to share that a further 115 homes, including Anjali’s, are currently under construction.

The power of prayer

We have seen God moving through the power of your prayers, particularly with securing land rights. Most leprosy colonies are built on governmentowned land, leaving residents without legal rights even though many have lived there for over 50 years.

We cannot build homes without ‘land pattas’ which secure ownership, otherwise there is a risk land could be reclaimed. The Odisha team has worked tirelessly to secure land pattas for the homes built so far.

There are still strongholds to be broken where land hasn’t been released. Please join us in praying for land rights, especially for the colony where Sunitra and Bonita live. We know that like us, you so desperately want them to have a new home and toilet. Through prayer, God can make a way when we can’t.

Someone to call for help

Those who are still waiting for homes and real transformation do at least know the peace of not being on their own anymore. When something needs fixing, or someone is sick, they call a member of the team. A local government health worker has really taken these communities to heart and also visits regularly to make sure older people are well. This can only be God moving, as He opens doors and breaks hearts for His people.

When a Leprosy Mission team member visits, they are treated like family. This is what you have given to these dear people, a sense of belonging and being part of a family that cares about them. Perhaps that is the most important thing of all – showing the love of Jesus.

Will you help provide emergency food parcels for elderly and disabled people living in the leprosy colonies of Odisha?

Thank you for all you have already done for precious people in Odisha. Because of your compassion, wells have been installed, small community gardens planted, and new homes are being built. The foundations for positive futures are in place! You are truly a blessing to people who thought they had been forgotten forever.

As you will have seen in this edition of New Day, thanks to you there is now real hope across the communities you are supporting. Sustainable change is happening. But there are still serious challenges, particularly for the elderly who cannot dig or tend plants because of disability. Many don’t live close to communities who are growing food they can share.

Right now, an urgent threat is approaching.

Temperatures have already risen to over 40 degrees, and an intense heatwave is expected in the next two months. Last year, starvation because people couldn’t beg in the blistering heat meant that many lost their lives. People are still grieving the loss of precious friends. People who had become like family over many years of shared struggle.

With that same level of heat, there is a risk that history might repeat itself. It’s a frightening situation. Like you, we want to do all we can to protect older people disabled by leprosy in Odisha. People like Sunitra and Bonita.

Together, we must act quickly to protect the most vulnerable who

continue to beg or rely on the kindness of neighbours to survive.

That’s why today, I’m asking you to provide a food parcel. One parcel costs just £20 and lasts a month. This gift will be a lifeline to someone who can’t go out and beg because of extreme heat.

Together, we can prevent people dying from hunger. With your help today, people like Sunitra and Bonita will know that they are not alone. For people like these special ladies, who are unable to grow food because leprosy has disabled them, we must stand in the gap.

We must ensure these precious people have the food they need to make it through. There is so much hope on the horizon because you’ve chosen to act before. Will you act again today, to prevent starvation? Will you keep the hopes of people like Sunitra and Bonita alive?

I know, like me, you won’t ignore this plea for help. Yes! In Jesus’ name we will help Sunitra and Bonita and others just like them. Please provide food parcels for elderly and disabled people in Odisha.

How many people will you reach out to help today?

Peter Waddup Chief Executive

As temperatures soar in Odisha, elderly and disabled residents of leprosy colonies, like Bonita (left) and Sunitra, face growing hardship. The friends are struggling even to beg for the means to survive.

Thank you for helping to sustain so many elderly and disabled people by providing emergency food parcels last summer, when temperatures in Odisha reached 50 degrees. Your kindness will never be forgotten.

a food parcel costs just £20 and gives sustenance for a month

When someone we love dies, their kindness, faith and compassion continue to live on in the lives they touched. Giving in memory through The Leprosy Mission lets the love they showed in life continue transforming lives today.

Your gift in memory helps ensure that children like Pihu can grow up free from fear, stigma and the burden of leprosy. What a beautiful legacy of their love.

To find out how you can honour a loved one in this special way, visit globe leprosymission.org.uk/in-memory or call our lovely supporter care team on  01733 370505.