On my recent visit to our beautiful campus in India, I was also privileged to take a drive four hours south to Trichy and meet the new staff of the first expansion operation of Rising Star Outreach of India. On June 1, 2014, Dr. Kuppusamay, a retired pediatric physician who desires to assist the vulnerable and needy, began the work of leading our medical team as they now serve the leprosy affected in 10 different colonies in the Trichy area. This humble yet very capable team are engaged in a work of service by elevating the residents of these 10 colonies, who struggle physically and who suffer emotionally from the stigma associated with the disease that has left them permanently marked. 

The medical services being provided mirror those of the mobile clinic our volunteers have come to know so well. Social welfare services are already underway to develop self-help groups and provide increased opportunities for micro-enterprise. These colonies are already being provided opportunities to apply for Perpetual Colony Education Grants, to assist them in sending their children to school and keeping them off the streets. 

Dr. Susan Hilton, the Managing Director of Rising Star Outreach of India beamed as she reported to me the tangible differences already being felt in some of the most difficult and desperate of these colonies. We visited perhaps the most challenging of these colonies that afternoon. I had heard the stories of how these residents had tried to push us away, told us not to take their pictures, and how they did not trust us. I saw first hand the change that Dr. Susan had been describing to me. Their countenances had lifted. They recognized Dr. Susan, welcomed her graciously, and thanked her for the support of Rising Star Outreach. 

These people who had obviously struggled for so long now manifested something that I doubt they'd felt in a very, very long time, but I could feel it. In the colony of Panchapur, Rising Star Outreach has brought hope. 

Tyler Vigue