Alupe: The Busia County Village That Was Once a Leprosy Colony
Alupe: The Busia County Village That Was Once a Leprosy Colony
For centuries, Leprosy was the most misunderstood disease in the world; leading to its sufferers being stigmatized by their fellow members of society. In my formative years, I attended a high school located near Leprosy Isolation and Treatment base at Nyarusuria Village. Out of curiosity I and a friend visited Nyarusuria. It turned out to become a tradition as we made friends there. We used to spend some of our free Sunday afternoons paying social calls to the villagers.
Due to the stigma attached to the disease, we sometimes made a long detour through the savanna overgrowth to reach the expansive village, so that other students would not see us. This was after one student reported to the school authorities that we were visiting a “proscribed village”.
Contrary, the Principal, a highly educated and understanding man, assured us that the disease was non-communicable. Although he did not give us permission, he did not also bar us from making our nocturnal visits. During these afternoon visits, we would sit with some of the “detainees”, some of who came from different parts of the country exchanging information and discussing current affairs from the radio. I came to understand sufferers of this disease were some of the most ostracized members of our society. It is an experience that remains etched deeply into my conscience.
The Lost Land of Alupe
As I embark on my recent safari to Alupe Leprosy Isolation and treatment centre in Busia, I feel some sort of deep ache in my heart; a feeling I cannot describe here on paper. On arrival, I learn that the centre is now closed after the Kenya Government together with United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) declared Leprosy a disease that has been eradicated in Kenya.
Leprosy in Kiswahili as Ugele can affect different body organs and limbs of the body. However, it is mainly on the small limbs like toes and fingers where its manifestation is clearly visible to the naked eye. It affects the ability to carry items by hand and limits feet mobility of the affected persons.
Until the 20th-century Leprosy was one of the scariest diseases that afflict human beings. The fact that it is mentioned in the Holy Bible as a sort of atonement punishment does not make the disease any less socially palatable to many communities. Those who got in contact with the sufferers of the disease know that it is one of the most dehumanizing diseases of its kind.
For centuries the only known practiced form of dealing with the disease by science was isolation/treatment. In Eastern Africa, a number of Leprosariums (Leprosy isolation and treatment centers) were established by the Ministries of Health or medical authorities in some cases in conjunction with missionaries in East Africa. In Uganda, some of the Leprosariums included: Bunyani and Buluba. In Kenya, some were established at Kakamega, Sabweni, and Chogoria. In Tanzania, some of the centres were at Makete, Chanzi, Ndanda, Kolandoto and Maketopera; among others. People who suffered from the disease were referred and admitted to these centres for management and “treatment”.
While isolations were used as a form of quarantine and treatment; the centres also served as a way for “prevention of the spread of the diseases” to the un-affected population. It was also convenient and cost-effective as the few expert doctors available could serve a larger number of people affected with Leprosy at one location. This method of handling the disease was not common to Kenya only; it was a worldwide medical and public health practice:
“A leper colony, lazarette, leprosarium, or lazar house was historically a place to isolate people with leprosy (Hansen's disease). The term lazaretto, which is derived from the name of the biblical figure Saint Lazarus, can refer to isolation sites, which were at some time also "colonies", or places where lepers lived or were sent. Leper hospitals exist(ed) throughout the world to treat those afflicted with leprosy, especially in Africa, Brazil, China, and India.” - wikipedia
Through research and care practiced in these centres worldwide, the disease became more understood by researchers and various effective curative regimes were introduced. Thankfully, isolation centres turned into hospitals for treatment of leprosy leading to Kenya achieving the WHO elimination target of less than I (one) cases per 10,000 people in 1989; with few recorded leprosy cases mainly from Uganda. The Leprosarium at Alupe was shut down on 21 December 2020.
The Great Alupe Exodus
The establishment of a Leprosariums, then known as “Leper Colonies” for the Western Kenya region was considered between 1949 –1951. Eventually, in 1953, the Government of Kenya in collaboration with an NGO established the leprosy camp at Itesia which had 2,500 registered patients most of who were being treated as outpatients. This followed with the construction East African leprosy research centre also based at Alupe.
Flashback to those days before the disease was not even “understood” by science. Imagine a deep sleepy local village at the border of Kenya and Uganda suddenly finding itself the focal point for quarantining patients from all over Kenya for the treatment of Leprosy.
Some of the villagers were hearing about the disease and seeing those afflicted with the disease for the first time in their life. Until today, none of the villagers I talked to knows why Alupe in Busia was selected as a Leprosarium.
To them, it was not a welcome move from the authorities. Predictably, the then residents of Alupe reacted to the establishment of the Leprosarium the only way people overwhelmed by calamities do. Most packed their families and fled to different locations.
With the exception of the “hospital”, Alupe became an abandoned land.
However, as the disease became more understood and treatment made possible, the population of persons suffering from leprosy at Alupe became fewer.
The landscape also benefitted from the establishment of the Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organization, KALRO.
The expansion of Kenya Medical Research Institute, KEMRI, and the establishment of its satellite branch at Alupe further brought to fore the viability of the once-abandoned land. The KEMRI Research laboratory called the Centre for Infectious and Parasitic Disease Control Research (CIPDCR) Busia has boosted the quality of health care at the local hospital (Alupe Sub-county Hospital). Both institutes engage a sizable number of experts from different parts of the world and employ a large number of support staff from the local population. This center is continuing in the tradition of Alupe being a home for medical treatment.
The Allure of Alupe
Suddenly, the miracle of Alupe has spouted like a mushroom. The latest addition to the Alupe landscape is the Alupe University; a large campus that is being built 3 km from the main Busia–Malaba road; and within a stone-throw from KEMRI and KALRO and the Uganda border. From the outside, the buildings look impressive.
The effect of the closure of Leprosarium and the establishment of the university campus is the magic wand that Alupe was waiting for.
“What is happening now is reverse immigration,” says Hilary Monyi who works at Alupe; “what used to be an abandoned and undesirable land is now beckoning investors.”
People are going to acquire land and put up buildings as one of the benefits of having a university campus here. The ghost of leprosy has been exorcised and buried in the timeless frame.
Fast forward: “Very soon,” says Justine Emoit, a local hotelier; she predicts: “Busia town will extend to Alupe as one”.