Life of Guangzhou - Japanese Man Rewarded After Caring for Old Villagers with Leprosy

Back in the 1950s, the small village of Linghou, part of Chaozhou in north eastern Guangdong was seriously afflicted by leprosy. Since the 1980s, the situation has been continuously improving and almost all the patients have recovered. But leprosy always leaves its mark and today there are still around 10 elders in the village suffering from wounds left by the disease.

In 2002, a young man arrived from Japan, part of a Sino-Japanese international exchange program. Harada Ryotaro was an undergraduate student in Waseda University at that time, and he had volunteered to raise money in Japan so as to help the villagers build infrastructure and homes. When working in the village, he started living with the elders and came to care for them, nursing their tortured wounds with the affection more often found between parents and a son then a volunteer.

Harada Ryotaro and his wife Cai Jieshan

This dedication soon paid off with the villagers warmly welcoming him each time he returned. Something else he didn't expect to find was true love. Cai Jieshan was his translator in the village and a young local volunteer then at Hanshan Normal Collge. Day after day they worked side by side, nursing the weak villagers and getting closer and closer together. From this encounter love emerged and in August 2006 they got married in the village. It was a memorable day in Linghou with all the villagers gathered to celebrate their union and offering their warmest blessings. It was a happy day in the village with their youth and love making it a wonderful and noisy day in this usually silence and aging village.

On December 5th 2009, Ryotaro was named as one of Guangzhou's ten most outstanding volunteers. Held on the International Volonteers' Day, society recognized his 7 years of selfless devotion and sustained efforts to bring a better life to people the most in need.

(By Jessie Hwang, David Keyton)