Hidden Lives

19 year old Amrita has seen how hard her mother works to provide for the family and how illness has taken away her father's independence.  When an opportunity for a university scholarship presents itself, she takes it knowing this may be the opportunity she needs to help create a better life for her family. Send us Fan Mail

Maya lives in an informal settlement on the outskirts of a rural village.  She lives a quiet life, doing household chores, chatting to neighbors and tending to their small veggie patch at the back of the house.  Maya lost both her legs in a bus accident many years ago. She has grown adept at maneuvering her wheelchair over the rough terrain to get to the market and attend community events.  Howeve...

We are excited to be participating in Podcasthon 2026, a platform creating awareness of the amazing charitable causes from around the world.   This special episode talks all things leprosy and why it still matters today.  Please join us for a fun, and slightly nerdy deep dive into the world of leprosy. You can also check out Podcasthon: https://podcasthon.org/ Send us Fan Mail

When Shanta started to feel her body get increasingly weaker and pain grew more intense, she thought she was going to die.  She spend many hours crying, not because of her fear for herself, but out of fear for her 8 year old son.  If she was no longer around, he would not have a future. Send us Fan Mail

Kshitiz is certain that he is cursed to have leprosy for the rest of his life.  He's ready to face it head on.  But now that he has a daughter, he's worried that she will inherit the same curse.  He will do anything to stop that from happening. Send us Fan Mail

10 year old Raju was happy doing all things normal 10 year old boys do in his village.  But one day, on the way to school, he met a traditional healer who told him to drop out of school because his dad had no money for his schooling.  This was untrue, but it set off a chain of unexplainable changes in Raju's behaviour that left his family baffled and afraid. Send us Fan Mail

48 year old Khem has never worn a pair of shoes in her life.  Born with a problem that prevents her from placing her foot flat on the ground, she was never able to wear a pair of normal shoes.  But this hasn't stopped her from living her life.  Find out how she reacted when she was finally gifted a pair of custom made shoes. Send us Fan Mail

Rekha has known of discrimination all her life but she's tough.  She's built an independent life and won the respect of her neighbors.  When a cow stepped on her foot and caused a small wound, Rekha thought she would heal and simply move on.  But the wound grew so big doctors had no choice but to amputate her foot.  Will people still respect her now?  Or will they judge her by her missin...

16 year old Sujan looks like he's 8 years old.  A few days out from heart surgery to fix a hole in his heart, Sujan receives bad news that a suspicious patch on his skin is leprosy and surgery is cancelled.  Having waited in hope for over 8 years for surgery, this news is devastating to Sujan. Send us Fan Mail

Growing up with an abusive alcoholic father, Janam had no choice but to start working when he was 9 years old.  He had barely been outside his village.  When he started to get sick, he didn't know how to get to the hospital but kindness came from unexpected places. Send us Fan Mail

When Khagisara started to show signs of leprosy, the village she had grown up in, turned their backs on her.  Forced to leave, Khagisara and her young family ended up living in the forest in a makeshift shelter with no money and no food. Send us Fan Mail

46 year old Tina has know of illness and disability ever since she can remember.  Finding a workplace where she felt she belonged was incredibly difficult.  Learn how fair trade social enterprises and supportive workplaces can transform lives, like it did for Tina. Send us Fan Mail

Shakti has been in and out of hospital ever since she can remember.  However, this hasn't stopped her from getting good grades and working hard towards her dreams of becoming a doctor.  But one eventful visit to the hospital changed everything. Send us Fan Mail

When 11 year old Satendra found light coloured patches on his skin, it kickstarted a long journey of treatment that disrupted every part of his life.  Through it all, the question on Satendra's mind was, why me?  Why am I sick when no one else is? Send us Fan Mail

12 year old Disha loves her home in the rolling green hills, full of colourful flowers in spring and hearing the birds chirp outside her bedroom window.  But other people may see her home as a busy sterile place, where sick people come for treatment.  A place smelling of disinfectant, different medications and full of medical equipment.  Disha has lived all her life in a hospital.  Send us Fan Mai...

Even before Amar knew what his diagnosis was, the symptoms had already isolated him from his family and friends, leaving him homeless and living under a bridge.  When an opportunity to get free treatment and free accommodation appeared, Amar didn't want it, too afraid as to what people might say or do when they saw him. Send us Fan Mail

When small patches started to appear on his face, 8 year old Kamal was told he was cursed by a snake god.  4 months of animal sacrifices and rituals didn't take the curse away.  By the time Kamal arrived at the hospital, his face  was covered in red patches, so swollen, he could barely open his eyes. Send us Fan Mail

Prem discovered a hidden talent when he attended bee keeping training.   Buzzing with ideas and excitement from his training, Prem ventured into the jungle to catch his first wild bee hive and he hasn't looked back since. Send us Fan Mail

Mina was studying at university when she first started losing strength in her hands.  It got so bad, Mina ended up in a wheelchair, with no strength left to walk.  Having to go through treatment whilst studying for university exams is hard, but it's even harder when your friends no longer speak to you after you tell them about your diagnosis. Send us Fan Mail

For the last 35 years, Pratima has been working as a community health volunteer, educating her community on good health practices, delivering vaccinations and health checks. She views her job with pride and she is well respected in her community but it was not always like this.  When Pratima first started, people did not welcome her, they would shut the door in her face or hide in their homes when...

When we first visited Ritu at home her, she peered at us through a hole in the wall of her house, too shy to come out to meet the strangers who had turned up in her village.  Ritu grew up in a community where men and women have set roles, where reputation is linked to how well each performances their roles. When disease strikes, it threatens to  destroy their reputations. Send us Fan Mail

At 12 years old, Rina had never heard of leprosy when she was diagnosed with it.  Diagnosis is a complicated process and the medical journey to a cure takes a long time.  Rina was simply happy to take the medication without really knowing what the disease was about.  Is it better to know or not know about the disease you have? Send us Fan Mail

13 year old Rhitik found a small cut on his big toe.  He thought nothing of this, expecting it will heal soon.  But 6 months later, the wound hadn't healed.  Instead it had gotten bigger, an infection had set in and soon the infection had gone right down to the bone.  His doctors had no idea what was happening. Send us Fan Mail

When her father passed away, Aarati's mum worked hard to keep Aarati and her brother at school but financial pressures mean that Aarati had to drop out of school to support the family.  Now at 16 years old, Aarati has a chance to go back to school.  She wants to pick up where she left off in Year 6 and even though she's older now, her determination has not left her and she still has big...

Born into a farming family, 40 year old Durga learnt how to farm the land and grow her own food.  However, when she was 7 years old, she started to lose strength in her legs and small tumors started to grow all over her body.   Send us Fan Mail