Chesire Home in Katpadi, South India

DSCN1056, originally uploaded by Lisa Tripp.

It just feels too unreal to have found these places after so many years. The Chesire Home is a home for people with leprosy where the residents are given medical care, social work support and job training. It has been long enough since I was here that I didn't even remember the name of the home, so it was especially satisfying to find it.

When I was working here in 1967, I worked mostly in the women's group and really enjoyed my time with the residents. I would do small projects to improve some aspect of the conditions they were facing, and often spend time just visiting.

In this group photo there is one woman who rembered me from 1967, and she gave a report on where other people were. It was good to see how the programs have grown and developed with the changing conditions. Now the men run a print shop to earn money for the organization, and they learn the skills of printing.

My next challenge was to go into the neighboring village and see if I could find any members of a family that I became friends with. There was a thirteen year old boy named Manoharan who would often find me and accompany me when I would go into the village.