Former leprosy village escapes from poverty

When Ahe Tiequ was just 15 years old, she was kicked off the bus during her first trip down the mountains to the outside world and had to trek for two days to visit her relatives in the neighboring township.

That was the only time that Ahe, now 54, had ever left her home village of Wajiji, which sits on a cliff-side in the remote Daliang Mountains in southwestern China's Sichuan province.

Wajiji used to be called leprosy village, after lepers who were banished from their hometowns gathered on the isolated and barren land decades ago.

Amid China's efforts to eradicate absolute poverty by 2020, Wajiji announced last month that it had eradicated poverty.

Leprosy is a contagious chronic disease that can cause nerve damage, leading to muscle weakness, atrophy and permanent disability. Lepers are also discriminated against due to their disability.

The Yi ethnic group used to believe the disease was caused by "demons", and regarded leprosy patients as "ghosts".

Brought to Wajiji by her ill father at the age of 3, Ahe was called a "second-generation leper". Although she did not contract the disease, she remembers how she and the other villagers were looked down on.

"Nobody dared walk on the same path we had taken," she said. By the 1980s, almost half of the 300 or so villagers had leprosy.

"Many of them had physical disabilities," said Luo Qingguo, former director of the disease control center in Meigu county.

Over the past 30 years, Luo has climbed the mountain over 100 times to treat patients in the village. The leprosy was preventable, noninheritable and curable with proper treatment, Luo said.

Luo also contacted government departments and NGOs to raise funds for the village and welcomed volunteer services.

In the late 1990s, the village finally had power supply, and an iron bridge to connect it to the outside world was built. The village was renamed Kangfu, meaning rehabilitation. In 2008, when most of the patients were cured, the village was renamed Wajiji, which means "under the cliff" in the Yi language.

In 2014, when China unveiled targeted poverty alleviation measures, the remote village geared up to battle poverty.

The winding mountain path that took villagers hours to climb was replaced by a 6-kilometer concrete road. Impoverished households were allocated two-story houses with flush toilets and water heaters, said Aer Ermo, Party chief of the village.

A clinic, small library and recreational room were built.

The local government has encouraged villagers to raise goats and grow Sichuan peppers, a popular spice. Last year, the per capita annual income of the village exceeded 5,000 yuan ($731).

The village now has a kindergarten where two teachers take care of preschoolers and teach them Mandarin. Many children walk from the village to primary and high schools in the neighboring county.

The 13 remaining leprosy patients－mostly elderly people with no family－have been cured and moved to a rehabilitation center funded by the county government.

Qumu Eri, a 76-year-old veteran, lives in the center. Qumu moved to the village after he was diagnosed with leprosy. Now, he likes to wear his military uniform and sing the songs he learned in the army.

"Although I get older and older, my life has become better and better," he said.

Yang Xiuming, 28, comes every year as a volunteer, taking care of the elderly and helping out with chores at the center.

"Over the past eight years, I have witnessed great changes in the village," Yang said. "I am so delighted to have been a small part of it."

Xinhua