BITE BACK AT HUNGER
Today around 870 million people are desperate for food. One in eight people will go to bed hungry tonight. One in eight! But Ickenham is given the opportunity to ‘bite back at hunger’ during Christian Aid Week. Working together, we can help communities find ways not only to survive, but to thrive, with enough not just for today, but for tomorrow as well.
Be inspired: go to www.caweek.org, and look out for the envelope that comes through your door next month. Please give what you can to the volunteer who will come to collect it between 12th and 18th May, during the national house-to-house collection campaign.
If you have any queries about the collection – or if you would like to get involved with the collection here in Ickenham – contact coordinator Juliette Guthrie on 01895 622970 or email her at julietteguthrie@gmail.com.
WELCOME TO THE IVY HOUSE
 ICN is prepared, printed and delivered to every household and shop in Ickenham, free of charge. That’s because a team of volunteers do everything except the printing, which is covered by the local business adverts you see in the magazine as well as the donations received from societies, clubs and other well-wishers.
Occasionally, we like to tell you a little more about some of these local business people. This month it’s the turn of Janet Hayward who runs the Ivy Guest House, in Ivy House Road with her husband Peter.
Janet and Peter started their business in 1978, having moved from their previous Ickenham home in Bushey Road. While they’ve made a few changes to the premises along the way, it still retains the features of a friendly house, offering a choice of three twin en-suite rooms, each with TV, fridge, microwave and tea / coffee-making facilities.
“We cater for visitors from all over.” said Janet. “Some stay just one or two days but others are longer term, possibly during weekdays for a year or more if working locally, but away from home. Everyone is welcome. However, we did get a bit of a surprise once when an undertaker arrived from the West Country. He had brought his hearse with him and was due to pick up a body the next day which he wanted to park in our drive. Whilst we try to help when we can, we had to tell him we didn’t think that would be very good for our business!”
Janet tells us she has advertised in ICN for about 15 years. “It is ideal for us because many of our customers are directed to us by residents, typically when their relatives or friends are visiting and need a place to stay. Most of our guests tell us that Ickenham is a very nice place - which of course it is!”
LEPROSY - FORGOTTEN BUT NOT GONE
 The recent Men’s Breakfast featured Revd Martin Davies, now Vicar of Harefield St Mary’s, but previously a member of The Leprosy Mission for seven years, who told the assembled group about the disease.
Leprosy is a familiar word from bible stories, but it is probably not a disease that we in the west have much cause to think about. Yet every two minutes someone new is diagnosed and over three million people worldwide are living with its effects, Martin told us. It is a disease which has been (inaccurately) associated with being dirty, and sufferers have often been shunned as others feared contamination through touch.
We learned that Leprosy is caused by a germ, the bacillus Mycobacterium leprae. It is also known as Hansen’s disease, after G A Hansen, who identified the bacillus in 1878. And it is not that highly infectious: touching a sufferer would not be dangerous, with the infection usually passing from person to person via droplets from the nose or mouth. Leprosy attacks the nerve endings and extremities, including the face. Symptoms are unusual coloured patches on the skin and lack of feeling in affected parts. Lack of feeling brings further problems, as wounds on hands or feet could go unnoticed, leading to infections and abrasions – sufferers must take special precautions such as wearing gloves and not going barefoot.
The good news is that leprosy is curable with multi-drug therapy but it is important to commence treatment as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the stigma associated with the disease often results in victims delaying seeking medical help, thus rendering subsequent treatment less effective.
Amazing progress is being made in treatments, often resulting in sufferers given whole new lease of life. ‘Clawed hands’ can be straightened and ‘Dropped feet’ are made normal with tendon surgery. Eye surgery is available to restore affected sight.
And organisations such as the Leprosy Mission reach out to victims with support that enables them to develop new skills and earn reasonable livings. Elijah, who suffered extreme disablement before treatment and surgery, purchased some farm land with the aid of a Leprosy Mission business loan and is now growing yams, cassava beans and corn. “The Mission”, he says, “showered love on me”. Maya Lama, who grew up in Nepal, felt like “a glass that had been smashed” when she contracted the disease but after taking the medicines and receiving surgery for clawed hands she was given training in tailoring and was helped to buy a sewing machine. She now has regular work and has ambitions to open her own tailoring business. “The mission has done more for me than I could have ever dreamed of,” she says.
But with so many affected there is much more to be done. If you would like to help, please contact post@tlmew.org.uk or visit the website at www.leprosymission.org.uk.
AFN
|
