Friend of Leprosy Survivors
While most people distance themselves from those who have leprosy, Takashima Yuta, 29, gets close and interacts with them. He left behind a comfortable life in Japan to fight the stigmatization that leprosy survivors face in Indonesia.
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The initiator of the Indonesian Leprosy Care Community (LCC), Yuta Takashima (second left), poses for a photograph with former leprosy patients in Liposos Donorejo, Jepara regency, Central Java, in August.
While most people distance themselves from those who have leprosy, Takashima Yuta, 29, gets close and interacts with them. He left behind a comfortable life in Japan to fight the stigmatization that leprosy survivors face in Indonesia.
It has been nine years since Yuta started interacting with leprosy survivors, many of whom are often alienated. For Yuta, leprosy survivors are just like him, healthy people. In August 2018, he visited the Social House for the Disabled (Liposos) Donorojo, in Jepara, Central Java.