Behind his broad smile, Guédé, 14, hides a heavy secret. This Ivorian schoolboy was diagnosed with leprosy in early December.
A year ago, Guédé got burned grabbing a pot. The sensation ignites his left hand, but not his right. His fingers itch, but when he bites down to test their resistance, he feels nothing. The boy keeps these strange sensations to himself for months, not daring to talk about them to his uncle, with whom he lives in Abobo, a poor district of Abidjan. It is only when his mother visits – she comes to this town in the south of the country once a year, taking care of her other children alone in her rural village – that he dares to speak.
Guédé’s secret
At the hospital, the diagnosis is rapid: paucibacillary leprosy….