愛，沒有懼怕   愛，可以洗去烙印                                      

文／張平宜   攝影／林國彰

    我叫張平宜，曾在台灣中國時報擔任十二年專題記者，一九九九年因為採訪的關係，初次接觸到中國西南偏遠地區的麻風村，除了深感麻風病人與世隔絕的淒苦外，最讓我內心震撼的是麻風村內一群正在成長的生命。

    那些孩子隱匿在麻風村，一般人看不見他們，還沒長大，已經沒有未來，雖然身體健康，未受感染，卻因身背社會歧視，疾病烙印，只能跟著父母被流放在社會邊緣，沒有身分，更無法就學。

    麻風病在今日，已是人類可以控制的疾病，麻風病院及麻風隔離村遲早要遁入歷史舞台，問題是麻風老人終將凋零，但是那群背著父母原罪的孩子們卻不知何去何從？他們幾乎淪為文盲，有人販毒，有人搶劫，衍生不少社會問題，參考國際麻風防治的經驗，我認為要終結麻風村的悲劇，打破疾病的藩籬，必須讓麻風村的孩子有一條回歸社會的道路，而這條漫長崎嶇的路，唯有透由「教育」，才能推開第一扇希望的窗口。

    二千年底，我前往探視四川省涼山州唯一一所建立在越西縣高橋麻風村的教學點（涼山州十七個縣共十九個麻風村），當時兩間破舊教室已經搖搖欲墜，唯一的代課老師是個種蘋果工人，學校成立十二年來沒有出過一個小學畢業生。有感於麻風村的孩子需要一條真正的希望之路，我決定發動國內外社會救援的力量，以大營盤小學作為試點，建立涼山州第一所蓋在麻風村的完全小學。

    二千零三年，我在台灣成立中華希望之翼服務協會，一個立案的NGO組織，專心協助這群麻風村的孩子逐步踏上與社會接軌的道路；二零零五年三月，大營盤小學歷經努力終於變成一所正式的鄉村小學，同年七月，第一批小學生畢業，畢業時並拿下越西縣第三類小學第二名的優秀成績。

    第一批小學畢業生也與當地政府斡旋一年後，暫時進入附近新民中學就讀（還是寄宿在大營盤小學，每天來回走讀三個半小時），第一學年，新民中學全校前三名全是大營盤的學生，表現十分優異。

    這幾年來，在國際慈善力量與兩岸媒體正義的聯合援助下，涼山所有麻風村已揮別幽靈角色，轉變成為正式行政村，麻風村也進行人口普查，村民相繼取得合法公民的身分，而繼越西縣大營盤小學後，涼山十六個縣的麻風村也陸續建立了不少教學點，為麻風病人子女送出希望。

    二零零六年，中國政府為普及中學教育，全面實施「兩免一補」的政策，為偏遠地區的教育注入活水力量，然而麻風村的地點都相當僻遠，從各個教學點畢業的孩子們，為了上中學得翻山越嶺來到社會，但身處社會底層的命運和經濟弱勢，就算中學開了窄門，學費全免，家長也無力負擔孩子的生活，最主要的是根深蒂固的社會歧視，麻風村孩子，一旦身份曝光，很難見容於學校。

    有鑒於此，我們一度嘗試為涼山州麻風村點校即將畢業的孩子們興建一所庇護中學，然而歷經波折，遲遲無法獲得政府各種資源，中學計畫無奈被迫喊卡，直到二零零八年，四川省扶貧辦撥款兩百六十萬人民幣在大營盤小學基地興建中學，二零一零年，中學教學樓、學生住宿樓、教師住宿樓陸續完工，我們才又萌生以大營盤學校為「核心學區」的概念，打造一座希望學園，跟涼山州十七個縣市，十九個麻風村的學童一起分享。 二零一一年，在涼山教育局支持下，大營盤首度對全涼山州麻風村校學招生，為了「一個都不能少」，三月一次，七月一次，五百里路，千里迢遙，辛酸坎坷，兩次長征，共有六十九名學生跨縣前來，年紀從七歲到十六歲，踏進希望學園，成為大營盤小學的一分子。  

     二零一一年五名中學老師進駐，大營盤中學開辦，第一屆中學生四十八人，大營盤終於蛻變成一所九年一貫制的學校。我也在台灣繼續發動兩岸人道關懷的力量，積極協助中學生寄宿就讀的管理與生活費用（除了大營盤的小學畢業生外，也將對全涼山州其他麻風村小學畢業生開放，並以獎學金吸收成績優異的社會特困生），以一年五十名封閉式教學的方式逐年增加，希望三年後培植出第一批優秀的中學畢業生，建立大營盤中學的品牌，累積這所學校永續發展的力量。

    目前，大營盤中小學共五百人，二十三名公辦老師，擁有多媒體教學資源，綠色生態校園，學生橫跨涼山州十一個縣市，我們真心希望大營盤這所嶄新的學園可以成為全涼山、全四川，甚至全中國麻風村希望工程的示範點。

或許在醫療科技文明的現代，大家對麻風並不再像過去那般排斥與恐懼，但對這群被麻風烙印的小孩卻還存在一定的偏見與疑慮，想跟大家分享的是，這幾年來我親自參與每個孩子的成長，和他們一起歡笑，一起流淚，更和他們一起攜手挑戰命運，大營盤的表現，讓我看到了麻風村的希望，也讓我堅信只要給這些可憐的孩子一個公平就學的機會，他們一定有機會變成社會有用之人。

    愛裡沒有懼怕，愛可以洗去烙印。給一份真正的需要，才能建立一個真正的希望，而有了希望才能建立真正的尊嚴。

    一個人的夢只是一個夢，但如果是很多人的夢，那一定夢想成真。

▲ 大營盤的舊貌。 The original Dayingpan school.

▲ 蛻變中的大營盤。 The transformed Dayingpan campus.

▲ 2002年大營盤已開辦營養午餐至今已十年。We have been offering campus-wide free lunch since 2002.

▲ 今日大營盤已成九年一貫制的希望學園。As of 2011, Dayingpan is an officially administered school offering classes from grades 1 through 9.

▲ 坐擁綠色山林的校園。A view of the environmentally friendly Dayingpan campus from afar

▲ 夕陽中的校園美景。The sun sets on Dayingpan campus.

Love, has no fear; Love, can wash away stigma

From Chang Ping-i/Director
Translated by Teddy Liu and Howard Shih

       My name is Chang Ping-i and I was a correspondence columnist for Taiwan’s China Times newspaper for twelve years. While on a special assignment in 1999, I had the privilege of visiting several leprosy villages in the remote areas of southwest China, resulting in an unforgettable experience that changed my life forever. Apart from the despair of witnessing the destitute living standards of villagers completely isolated from civilization, I was stunned and heartbroken by the abandonment of their innocent and leprosy-free children who were condemned to lives without hope.

 
     These children had been hidden from society and forgotten by the rest of the world since birth. Despite being perfectly healthy, they remain trapped in a vicious cycle of discrimination and poverty that offered no future. With the government refusing to grant them legal identification, the children were forced to stay in the villages with their parents and unable to seek even a basic education.

 
     Today, leprosy is a very curable and controllable disease, and the terms “leprosarium” and “leprosy isolation” will soon vanish into the pages of history. While the older generation of leprosy sufferers will eventually fade away, their healthy descendants continue to be burdened by the stigma of the disease. Most are illiterate, with many taking wrong turns in life and eventually turning to drugs or even drug trafficking and robbery. I sincerely believe this vicious cycle can only be broken through proper education, the key to defeating the stigma of leprosy and returning the children to society where they belong.

     In the winter of 2000 I visited the only school for children of leprosy sufferers among the 19 leper villages and 19 counties of Liangshan prefecture in China’s Sichuan province. The so-called “educational depot” in Yuexi county was essentially a dilapidated two-room house manned by a single substitute teacher who once earned his living as a fruit grower. The school had not produced a single graduate in its 12 years of existence. Realizing the children from these leprosy villages desperately needed a path of hope, I decided to launch a domestic and international rescue campaign, transforming Dayingpan primary school into the first complete primary school program (grades 1-6) in Liangshan, and developing it into a base model for other education depots around the province and country to learn and copy from.

        In 2003, I set up the Wings of Hope Association, a registered NGO in Taiwan, dedicating our efforts to helping the children of China’s leprosy villages return to society. On March 2005, following years of efforts, Dapingpan primary school finally became recognized as an official rural school of the province. In July the same year, the school’s first batch of students graduated from the program and, to everyone’s surprise, won the second place award for Outstanding Achievement among third-class primary schools in Yuexi County.

      After working closely with the local government for a year, this first batch of graduates were finally allowed to enroll into a “nearby” secondary school that required a three-and-a-half hour commute to and from Dayingpan campus every day. Notwithstanding their daily struggles, Dayingpan graduates performed well academically, taking the top three positions in their class in the very first year.

  
     In recent years, through the joint efforts of international charities and media organizations on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, leprosy villages in Liangshan have gradually stepped out of the shadows and have been transformed into officially administered villagers, giving residents recognized legal status for the first time in their lives. Following our successful pilot program at Dayingpan campus, 16 other villages in Liangshan also have established their own educational depots, offering hope to more and more children across the region.

   In 2006, the Chinese government launched an educational campaign targeted at secondary schools, infusing tremendous energy into secondary education programs in rural townships. However, many of the leprosy villages deep inside the mountains were still too remote. Even though the government sponsored programs were tuition-free, the cost of room and board for the children alone still proved to be too financially draining for most families. In any case, few secondary schools were willing to welcome these children out of fear of complaints from the parents of other students.

       Accordingly, we shifted our efforts into constructing a new secondary school for the children of leprosy villages in Liangshan, but limited resources and other obstacles forced us to put the initiative on hold. It was not until 2008, when the Sichuan Poverty Alleviation Bureau offered a grant of 2.6 million yuan (US$400,000), that we were able to begin building a secondary school on the existing premises of Dayingpan campus. Two years later, in 2010, a middle school building as well as new student and the faculty dormitories were finally completed, steering our grand plan of growing Dayingpan into an “Academy of Hope” back on track.

        In 2011, with the support of the Liangshan Department of Education, Dayingpan campus launched a “Leave no child behind” recruitment campaign targeting every leprosy village in Liangshan. In March and July that year, our volunteers and I traveled more than 500 miles to successfully recruit 69 children (between the ages of 7 and 16) to come to Dayingpan campus and become members of our growing family.

        With the addition of five new secondary school teachers, Dayingpan middle school officially commenced in the second half of 2011 with 48 students, finally becoming a normal elementary-middle school with classes from grades 1 through 9. In the meantime, I continued my crusade, working closely with cross-strait humanitarian organizations, actively assisting in the management of the school and, of course, trying to secure funding support (including scholarships) for the living costs of students who have come from all parts of Liangshan prefecture. Our goal is to offer a growing group of middle school students the opportunity to receive a quality on-campus education and introduce our first batch of outstanding middle school graduates within three years, and in turn establishing Dayingpan middle school as a trusted brand.

      Dayingpan campus currently has more than 500 elementary and middle school students from 11 townships across Liangshan, 23 teachers, multimedia classrooms and facilities, two student libraries, and an environmentally friendly campus with its own water tank and solar powering.  It is our sincere wish that Dayingpan campus can become a model of hope for the entire Liangshan prefecture, Sichuan province or even all of China.

     With the advancements in modern medicine, technology, and of course, education, people no longer need to treat leprosy with fear and rejection, which is why it is so disheartening to see children from leprosy villages continue to be subjected to lingering prejudices and suspicion. Watching these lovely students grow and develop at Dayingpan campus over the last 12 years has taught me that there is undoubtedly a bright future awaiting these children as long as we give them an opportunity. I firmly believe that as long as giving these bright young children a proper education with plenty of love, they all can live normal lives and become pillars of society.

   Love, has no fear; Love, can wash away stigma. Give your love to those in need and infuse their lives with hope. It is only through hope that people can develop true dignity!

    The dream of one person is just a dream, but the dream of many has the power to become reality.