Sometimes a diagnosis is helpful. When a mystery ailment is identified it allows strategies to be explored to resolve it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Such was not the case for Abdou.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Being diagnosed with leprosy as a child was like a death sentence. In Niger, where he lived, leprosy was greatly misunderstood. The disease was thought to be incurable and contagious by touch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The result? Abdou\u2019s family would have none of him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Begging for hope<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was the only one in my family suffering from leprosy,\u201d he says. \u201cThe feeling of being rejected was so burdensome to me, so dramatic in my life. I couldn\u2019t eat with my relatives, and that forced me to go on the streets, begging in order to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Life rapidly spiralled downward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Being rejected by his family, losing the use of his hands and feet, and facing life on the streets\u2014nightly seeking shelter and daily scrounging scraps of food to survive\u2014wave after wave of hopelessness pummelled Abdou.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Broken in spirit and deformed in body, Abdou was tempted to give up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Was anything in life worth living for?<\/p>\n\n\n\n SIM\u2019s Danja Hospital<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n One day Abdou was told about SIM\u2019s Danja Hospital in Niger. When he first stepped inside, he didn\u2019t know how radically his life was about to change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAt the hospital, I spent three years on the treatment,\u201d he says. \u201cI felt accepted and loved. The nurses would touch me. They would care for me, and I had a family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Touch. Love. Healing. They combined to radically change Abdou\u2019s heart toward Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Accepting Jesus Christ<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBefore, I was a Muslim,\u201d he says. \u201cBut because of the hospital, I met Jesus. Today I am a Christian.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As his recovery progressed, Abdou\u2019s new life flourished like a budding flower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI started to make use of my hands. I could feed myself, and today I can walk,\u201d he says, beaming. \u201cTo me, it was a big change, going from the status of being helpless to the status of being self-reliable. I was very, very happy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thankful for the future<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Today, Abdou is married.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWithout SIM I wouldn\u2019t have a family,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI would be nothing. I\u2019m so thankful to SIM and I don\u2019t think I can be thankful enough. I was healed, SIM sustained me and I found the light of Christ. I am thankful to Jesus because of that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n When Abdou\u2019s leprosy was cured he became confident enough to learn French, and his fluency allowed him to become a professional translator, which helps him support his family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can view a video about the medical ministries at Danja here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![](\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52132898197_626d652205_n.jpg\")
The vision at Danja Hospital is to minister to the whole person as exemplified in the life of Jesus, who preached, healed and taught. (Matt. 4:23). Here, Abdou experienced not only radical physical healing, but complete spiritual transformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n