John Martin's Notebook

Leprosy stalks

There's a strange little window on the north side of the ancient St Mary's church Perivale, just down from our house. Curious I asked one of the volunteers working on restoration of the churchyard with its assortment of graves about it.

Apparently this little window was originally a peep hole that local lepers could use during service times. Leprosy is no longer a disease affecting people in the UK, but obviously it wasn't always such.

For thousands of years even breathing the word "leprosy" was enough to fill people with terror. Sufferers faced incurable disfigurement and physical disability and were cast out from their homes, families and communities.

According to the World Health Organisation it's caused by Mycobachterium leprae, "an acif-fast, rod-shaped bacillus." It attacks the skin, the periperal nerves, the respiratory tract and even the eyes, as well as hands and feet. Each year there re between 200,000 and 400,000 new cases and most at risk are rural people in south and south east Asia.

One of the marvelous things about Jesus was the way he flew in the face of all the fear and superstition that surrounded leprosy and those suffering with it. 

Food Futures. What will we be eating in 2030?

Cheap food will soon be a thing of the past. Through a combination of population growth, global warming, drought and land degradation, the world is hurtling towards a food crisis.

A leading scientist, Sir David King in his 2010 City Food Lecture report has said:

• The world needs to increase food production 50% by 2030 to feed a rapidly expanding population
• Global warming is real and will hit food production capacity, even in the northern hemisphere
• Water depletion is as big an issue as oil depletion, and better global governance will be needed as the tensions mount
• The commodity price hike of 2007/08 was driven to a large extent by the push to convert grain into ethanol
• Using wheat or maize to produce fuel creates as much carbon as fossil fuel and makes little sense
• Soil erosion is a massive problem in some parts of the world, though relatively simple responses can correct it
• These challenges are all interlinked

Click here for video

So is there a Christian angle? CMS (with the John Ray Inititiative and Agricultural Christian Fellowship) is a co-sponsor of an important conference at Redcliffe College, Gloucester. 6 March 2010.

Speakers:

Dr Mike Rayner, British Heart Foundation Health Promotion Research Group

Patrick Mulvany, senior policy adviser, practical action

Ruth Valerio, Arocha Living Lightly project

Details and registration info: http://www.redcliffe.org/standard.asp?id=5245

Grateful thanks to jonny baker for this picture Flickr: bread