WORLD LEPROSY DAY 2014 – CHILDREN’S MATERIALS (AGED 6 TO 11)

INTRODUCTION:Leprosy is a disease of poverty. Leprosy not only makes people sick and can cause problems and deformities with their hands, feet and faces, but it also is seen as a curse to those who catch it. People with leprosy are often bullied and rejected by the people around them – they might not be allowed to go to school or work. We don’t find leprosy here in the UK, it is only found in very poor countries and only affects the poorest of the poor.

The Leprosy Mission not only cures people of their leprosy and helps them get back on their feet, but works hard to break the chains of poverty so that leprosy is not a disease of the future.John 10:10 says I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. We want to see leprosy, and all the bad things that go hand in hand with it, gone. We want those already affected by leprosy to have the choices that come with living full and satisfying lives.

You know your group best so feel free to pick and choose whichever activities will suit them best. For more information on leprosy, check out our background info sheet.

GAMES:Choose one or more of the following games (depending on time and suitability to the group)

Pictionary Using pen/pencil and paper the young people take it in turns to draw clues for the others to guess. Once someone has correctly guessed what their picture clue is, the next person has a go at drawing a new picture. It works best with a pre-prepared list of words/phrases/objects to be drawn (full life, love, school, elephant, house, work, spoon etc) rather than leaving it to the young person to make something up on the spot. Full life means, among other things, that we have choices and resources. When our choices and resources are limited, however, it makes life more difficult. In using only paper and one colour of ink or a pencil

communication becomes more challenging for the young people. They are left relying on their gift of drawing (if they have one). Life with leprosy is challenging, poverty; physical disability and stigma restrict a person’s choices and opportunities for life.

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Chain Stories

The rules consist of one person saying a sentence in the style of a story and then moving onto the next person, who continues the story. This continues, until a designated end point (eg once/twice round the group) where the story reaches its conclusion.

For this to work, everyone must agree on a few basic guidelines like not using names of people present and keeping it kind and respectful.

Variations:

Constant Characters: Characters may only be removed by the participant who created that character - this stops people removing your character before they've had a chance to do anything interesting, but remember that too many characters battling for attention never looks good.

Control Freak: Characters and locations may only be changed by the player who initiated the story - this leads to a more structured story, but it's dull and can lead to rebellion among the ranks.

Set words: Certain words or phrases agreed beforehand must be used in the story at some point. Eg. disaster, life in all its fullness, choices, hope, leprosy.

In order to make the story work, the participants need to make choices to either work with the storyline as it is developing or to change it completely. The decisions that we make change the outcome of our lives. When we have access to education, healthcare, decent housing and amenities (like clean water) we have greater choice over the story of our own lives.

Dots and Boxes The traditional game starts with an empty grid of dots. Players then take turns, adding a single horizontal or vertical line between two un-joined adjacent dots. A player who completes the fourth side of a 1×1 box earns one point and takes another turn. (The points are typically recorded by placing in the box an identifying mark of the player, such as an initial). The game ends when no more lines can be placed. The winner of the game is the player with the most points.

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Our variation will help young people to understand that with limited choices we are unable to take advantage of the opportunities others have, allowing them to live full lives.The game in our variation is like the one above except one player can only use vertical lines whereas the other player can use both horizontal and vertical lines. The player restricted to vertical lines has a much limited chance of winning the game!

BIBLE STORY:Looking at the issues of how resources affect choices and our ability to live a full life can be difficult with young children. But they may be able to understand how our resources can make a difference to the outcome of a situation.We suggest introducing the parable of the sower in Luke 8:4-8 to help with this.

Depending on where the seeds fell they either had the chance to grow well or not. We have access to decent homes, clean water, good food, good education, and good healthcare. All these things mean that we can choose what we like to eat; we can choose what we want to do when we grow up. So long as we work hard in school and learn the things we need like reading and writing we have the chance to do anything we dream of; because of this ability to make choices we can live full and happy lives. People affected by leprosy do not have so many of these choices.

What can we learn from our story? Let’s ask some parable questions :

Have you ever planted anything?

If so, how well did the plants grow?

What choices did you have to make to help the plants grow?

What stopped the seeds in the story from growing well?

What helped the seeds in the story to grow well?

If you were a seed what do you think your soil would be?

Introduce Mohammad’s story to the children…

Mohammad’s story

Mohammad is 17-years-old but first noticed the signs of leprosy many years ago, when he was around aged 10. He had patches of skin that were lighter in colour to his normal skin colour which were also numb so he couldn’t feel people

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touch him where he had patches. Unfortunately people thought he had a different disease so he wasn’t given treatment. A couple of years later, his symptoms had got worse and leprosy caused him to have clawed hands and a drag his feet on the ground when he walked.

He said: “When I found out I had leprosy I was very sad. My clawed hands meant I couldn’t write anymore, so I had to leave school. My friends stayed away from me and I couldn't play cricket, which I love.”

Mohammad’s family heard about The Leprosy Mission’s hospital in Shahdara, on the outskirts of Delhi in India, but they had to travel hundreds of miles from their home in Bihar. At The Leprosy Mission’s Shahdara Hospital, he had surgery on both hands meaning he can now grip a pen again. He has also had surgery on his left foot so that it no longer drags on the ground. He is awaiting similar surgery on his right leg as well as surgery to both of his eyes that will help protect his eyesight.

Mohammad is now looking forward to the future and would like to continue his studies once his treatment has finished. He is particularly looking forward to taking computer classes and playing cricket again. He hopes to be able to study at The Leprosy Mission’s Vocational Training Centre in Faizabad.

If Mohammad were a seed what kind of soil did he begin on? Did his soil change with help?

Then get the children to write a list of differences between their own lives and those of Mohammad. You might want to do this as a group exercise on a flip chart or individually.

If the children are struggling you might want to prompt them with questions such asHow far do you have to go when you are poorly? How far did Mohammad have to go?What games do you like to play? What did Mohammad like to play?What would it mean if you were not able to go to school?How would it feel if your friends didn’t want to know you anymore?What do you want to do when you grow up? Could you still do it if you couldn’t use your hands or walk properly like Mohammad?

Explain that people affected by leprosy are stuck with no hope of living a full life if they do not get the help they need.

The Leprosy Mission provides the medicine to cure people of leprosy. It also does

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operations to help people use their hands and feet again; which means they can hold things like pencils, spoons and cricket bats! It even does operations to help people blink when leprosy has affected their eyes.

The Leprosy Mission pays for children like Mohammad to go to school or get training for a job, once they have been made better, so that they can have more choices that lead to a full life.

CRAFTS:Choose one or more of the following (depending on time and suitability to the group)

Stained glass biscuitsLife is so much richer with a little colour how about making some stained glass biscuits whilst taking about what life in all its fullness would look like. You will need biscuit dough, boiled sweets and access to an oven. There are some good recipes out there… such as:http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/8233/orange-and-ginger-stained-glass-biscuits or http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/stainedglasswindowbi_87505 If you don’t have a lot of time preparing the dough before you get to church would help.

Chatterbox storiesYou might like to make an origami chatterbox to help the young people to tell a story of how The Leprosy Mission gives choices back to people like Mohammad. (See sheet)

Full life rainbows!Try this fun and easy craft idea to explore what helps our lives to be full of rainbow promise, rather than being like dull clouds. (See sheet)

WORKSHEET:There is a downloadable worksheet for the children to take home, which includes puzzles and activities associated with today’s theme. (See sheet)

MUSIC:If your group enjoys singing the following songs might be suitable to use:

My God is so big, so strong and so mightyA farmer takes a seedFather I place into your handsWhen I needed a neighbourJesus hands were kind handsMake me a channel of your peaceLife is a wonderful thing Jesus love is very wonderful

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PRAYERS:

Candle prayersWe have thought about the way leprosy affects the life of people like Mohammed. Imagine what it must feel like to be abandoned by your friends and to be unable to do the things you once loved.

Candles symbolise the light of Christ. In this prayer they symbolise the light of Christ being taken into the dark places that people find themselves in.

You will need a tea light in a jar for each child Black pieces of paperChalk

On each piece of paper write with the chalk words associated with things that trouble the children and other children in the world. For example, bullying; sickness, war, leprosy, loneliness etc.Then invite the children to place their lit candle on a piece of paper bringing Christ’s light and hope to that dark place.You can perhaps do this in silence or saying a simple prayer like Shine Jesus Shine in this dark place, Amen.

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Parachute prayersYou will need:A parachute or large sheetEnough balls for the childrenPaper and pensBluTac or sticky dots.

Children write prayers for people like Mohammad and stick their prayer on to a ball. The balls are then placed into the centre of a parachute. The parachute is then stretched and the balls bounced, when a ball bounces off the parachute someone is chosen to pray that prayer… continue until all prayers are prayed.

Fruit bowl prayersYou will need a bowl with as many different seeded fruits as possible.A knife Plates

Cut the fruits and explore the different sizes colours, textures, tastes and smells. Look at the seeds and think about the potential for new life that is held in each seed/fruit.Thank God for the wonderful variety that he has given so that we can have satisfying and full lives. Give thanks for The Leprosy Mission and all the different ways that we help people to have lives filled with hope and health.

Suggested prayer

Lord of life and choice, thank you for the richness that you give to our lives.Thank you for the wonderful variety that you bless us with.Thank you for our schools; for our families and friends.Thank you for the doctors, nurses and hospitals that are so close to us.Thank you for your provision of all things to make our lives full of blessing.

Lord of life and choice, we bring before you the people of the world who are troubled by want.Help people who have little choice in their lives;Help people who feel lonely.Help people who do not have access to education, health centres, clean water or proper housing.Provide for those who are caught in a place that will not help them grow to be what you created them to be.

Lord of life and choice, thank you for The Leprosy Mission.Help all who work with The Mission to seek out those affected by leprosy.Help them to bring healing and health, hope and choice to those who are in need.

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Root them in your love so that they may share your love with all.Continue to guide them as they seek to bring opportunities to people who have none.

Lord you came to bring life to all, thank you. Amen.

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THE LEPROSY MISSION:Today The Leprosy Mission is working to bring opportunities that make lives more complete for everyone affected by leprosy. We can cure them of this disease and also raise their standard of living in many different ways. We run schools and training colleges, build houses and help people set up in business.All the time we are showing love and compassion, and through this we enable those affected by leprosy to have the things we take for granted like choices.But we cannot bring about this life of opportunity and choice for free. It costs us £30 to educate a child India. Perhaps your group could think of some fun ways to raise just £30 to give a child the opportunity to live life to the full through the hope and potential that an education brings.

Here are some ideas which you might want to try:

Make stained glass biscuits to sell after church or to your friends and family.

Organise a Pictionary challenge night where groups pay to play. Create a giant dots and boxes game where people pay to put three

lines in any place on the grid; tempt them by a small prize like chocolate matchsticks as they look like lines.

With your friends put on a variety concert Be creative and come up with your own fundraising idea. What gifts

and talents do you have which could be used to help someone who is affected by leprosy?

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