The Happy City – Leper Colony Documentary Educational Video

The Happy City – Leper Colony Documentary Educational Video. Sponsored by the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, Bill Deneen traveled three days by bullock cart to the remote leper colony run by Father Cesare Columbo in Ken Tung (Kyiang Tong), Burma. Intended to be a film to be used for fundraising, the film is a fascinating documentary about a humanitarian effort that would soon be terminated by the Burmese government. Discusses the work of Father Colombo as priest, doctor, bricklayer and guiding hand of Kengtung. In mid-2003, AFA director Geoff Alexander went to Kengtung, Burma, to see what had become of the hospital and programs. Here is his report: Kengtung (Kyiang Tong) is best accessed by air, as much of the surrounding area is essentially a war-zone, populated by armies from Burma, separatist movements, and drug traders. The city itself has no electricity for much of the day and night, and a cold beer is not to be found here. I took a motorcycle taxi to the Catholic mission, and asked for the person in charge, who happened to be, at the moment, Vicar Mario Matu. He was aware of Father Colombo, and offered to take me to Columbo’s hospital, which still has patients, and where a nun who had worked with Columbo still lived. The hospital in the film sits just outside the village of Naung Kan, seven miles from Kengtung. Now referred to as Hansen’s Disease, leprosy is a condition that effectively eats away at skin and bone. The 395 patients are mostly older, with …