Meet Noorul Islam, who refuses to be overtaken by his leprosy

He has set up a big nursery at the hospital in Manghopir to support his family, keep busy

KARACHI: For years, people covered their faces as they passed by the Lepers' Colony where pus from the patients' wounds would smell putrid. Now, there is a fragrance of fresh flowers of various colours and types in the area.

Noorul Islam, a leprosy patient whose success story started in the hospital in Manghopir, walks through a maze of wild grass, thorny branches and plants as he leads The Express Tribune to the backyard of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) Leprosy Hospital in Manghopir.

"There are raat ki rani [night-blossoming jasmine], motia [jasmine], champa [plumeria], roses, palm, lemon and many other flowers planted here," says a man wearing a cap and clad in shalwar kameez as he continues to count the flowers.



Earlier, he proudly narrated stories of being a black belt Karate winner in his youth.

"I am a black belt winner. Many times, I was locked up in Karachi because I had made many men bleed during fights as I was an angry young man," he says smilingly, sporting a small beard.

Sadly, however, he said that having leprosy had left him worth nothing. "Our [leprosy patients'] veins, muscles and joints are so weak that it is difficult to do any physical hard work," he says, explaining the helplessness felt by fellow patients who might have recovered from the disease, but still could not return to having a regular life.

Among them, Islam has proven to be strong enough to not only fight the painful disease but also return to his regular life.



He has set up a big nursery at an open space in the premises of the hospital where there are bushes and grass. In the middle of the space, lay carefully arranged saplings of different kinds of plants.

"I have around 10,000 to 12,000 plants of different flora species," he proudly tells The Express Tribune.

In Dhaka, his family had lands that, he says, they used to cultivate with his father and siblings before the country's eastern wing (now Bangladesh) was separated from the western wing (now Pakistan) in 1971.

"Since leprosy patients lose strength in their bodies and limbs, they just end up sitting idle," he says while explaining the trauma that continues post-treatment.





Observing the social boycott of the patients by their families because of the patients' physical constraints, the hospital's management has given jobs to many patients in the hospital.

"The jobs keep them busy and engaged in some physical activity which is easy to perform rather than doing other manual work which would require physical strength," says Islam, who is also the president of the patients' welfare association.

"Secondly, the patients can earn some money to meet their minor expenses," he adds before disappearing behind big lemon trees.

He picks up a big, fully ripe yellow lemon and says, "I've sold these lemons at Rs200 per kilogramme."



In the middle of the nursery is a small house and two children play outside. Islam, the father of seven children, has four daughters and three sons - all of whom are of school-going age.

He explains how running a nursery has helped him meet the daily living expenses of such a big family. "You have to have something for your children. With these nurseries, I can better meet the expenses of my family instead of begging others for help," he says with a sense of contentment. He has also set up another small nursery in the city from where he is able to earn a handsome monthly income, enabling his family to survive.

There are saplings of papaya, tall palms, miniature palms and others.
The land on the hospital premises is provided to Islam by the health facility's management without any charge or fee.



Karate-black-belt-turned-gardener, Islam explains in detail how much time and money was spent on the nursery.

"Despite the fact that I cannot work so hard, I have done a lot of work here," he says.

The toughest task for a patient like him was digging up the water well, which is located at a few yards' distance.

"It's [the water well] 60 feet deep. One day, the labourer gave up digging up the well because it was so deep and hard to continue," says Islam. "So then I started digging and left only after it was finished," he said, mentioning it as another one of his accomplishments.



Today, the water from the well is being pumped by large electric motors that supply the same to all the blocks of the big hospital, he said.

"Khuda ka shukar hai [Thank God]," he murmurs with contentment before seeing us off to get back to his work for the day.