I remember the sensation of dread running as much as Tuesday 19 July 2022. Meteorologists had warned for a lot of days that temperatures would exceed 40 degrees. This was the primary time this had happened within the UK and the Met Office even issued a red ‘extreme heat’ warning.
We were deluged with advice on easy methods to stay cool. People kept their curtains closed and ready meals prematurely to avoid cooking. Generally most individuals planned their lives so there was minimal movement for 2 days. Anything to maintain as cool as possible!
India is in the course of a heatwave with the mercury soaring to as high as 45 degrees across swathes of the country. The intense heat has continued for days and I’m struggling to grasp just how life can carry on as normal. The majority of individuals in India live hand to mouth so not working equates to not eating. So they endure the blistering temperatures, putting themselves vulnerable to heat stroke.
When we asked our hospital leaders in India for his or her prayer needs last week, each mentioned the warmth. This is telling as these leaders have many pressures on their time and resources. Yet they were so concerned for the comfort of leprosy patients. Many have restricted movement and are struggling in wards with no air-con. Their limbs are sometimes bandaged to maintain deep wounds clean. Staff stoically do all they will for the patients, working 12-hour shifts, six days per week.
Meanwhile people queue outside within the blistering heat at our outpatients’ departments. Leprosy Mission hospitals are often the one place they will see a physician freed from charge. Crucially they are sometimes the one places where leprosy patients are loved, accepted and cared for. So, although terribly uncomfortable, a wait under the burning midday sun is a way to an end.
Thanks to our amazing supporters, constructing work is being carried out at a lot of our hospitals. This is needed to offer essential care and future proof leprosy services. I received the photo above from my colleague in Salur in Andhra Pradesh yesterday. It shows women labourers enduring 45-degree temperatures. They are ending the scholar accommodation for the primary specialist leprosy nursing college. There is a race to do that as the faculty opens its doors in September. Looking immaculate of their brightly colored saris, I felt for these women a lot. I simply couldn’t comprehend carrying out such physical work in insufferable temperatures.
The World Meteorological Organization warned on Tuesday that Asia is bearing the most important climate change brunt. The warning from the United Nations agency sadly got here as no surprise to us here in our Peterborough office. Over the past few years we now have witnessed our colleagues in Asia struggle with severe heatwaves, floods and storms.
In fact we now must budget for extreme climate emergencies which occur every 12 months. Last 12 months we provided emergency food and medical supplies to communities affected by leprosy in Myanmar. This followed Cyclone Mocha which made landfall in Western Myanmar on 14 May. With wind speeds of as much as 250km per hour, it was certainly one of the strongest cyclones to ever hit the country, destroying homes and livelihoods.
The news that Asia’s struggle with climate change is larger than the remainder of the world’s got here a day after Earth Day. I do not find out about you but I like taking a look at the photos that NASA release annually in celebration of our incredible planet. Taken from satellites, aircraft and deep-space missions, they leave me in awe and wonder at God’s beautiful creation.
How to guard our beautiful planet, and the people suffering essentially the most from climate change, is a monumental challenge. The World Meteorological Office is asking for national weather services across Asia to enhance disaster planning. There are renewed calls for governments to implement net zero emissions by 2040 to assist quell rising temperatures. In our own lives we’re encouraged to scale back our carbon footprints by flying and driving less and switching to renewable energy.
We pray by doing our part we are able to someway improve life for the people we serve in the approaching years. As for now, we keep our colleagues and patients in any respect our hospitals across India in our prayers. The summer monsoon will bring relief, nevertheless it’s still weeks away. Until then, we pray they stay strong and well.
Peter Waddup is Chief Executive of The Leprosy MissionÂ
