Dramaturgical Packet.

Leprosy and Uganda

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Dancing at Lughnasa, Father Jack returns home for the first time in 25 years from serving as a missionary at a Leper colony in Uganda. Upon his return, he is sick with malaria himself, and is confused, often forgetting words in English and forgetting which sister is which.

In the 1930’s Uganda was located in Eastern Africa, and was surrounded by Zanzibar, Sultan, Tanganyika, Mandate, the Protectorate of Uganda, and the Colony of Kenya. People who lived in certain parts of Uganda had what are called Kingdoms, where they had high organization and a system of kings, nobles, and chiefs who ruled the area. This may explain the existence of a house boy as a kind of butler in Father Jack’s memory that occurs in Dancing at Lughnasa. There was also a primitive section of peoples in Western Uganda, who live much like their ancestors did. European type education in this part of Africa had been scarce in the past, and it was not until missionaries had begun to go into the country that they brought their type of education to African citizens, European missionaries had little understanding of the original African ways of learning, so they believed their type of education helped African learning become greater and more organized. Missionaries went to Africa with medical care, knowledge, and religious background to help bring education, health and religion to African citizens. The standard of life had been raised, thanks to these missionaries, who were often catholic priests and nuns.People in Uganda who had once lived in beehive huts, were eventually living in wonderful cottages with 3-4 rooms, windows, furniture and a modern door. Medical attention for people in these parts of Africa, however, had always been difficult. With disease and parasites running rampant, the death rate for infants was between 300-600 per 1,000 infants. Even the missionaries who went to help cure these diseases ended up getting sick themselves, such as Father Jack did in Dancing at Lughnasa (Huxley).

 

Leper colonies are segregated and closed off areas where people with leprosy were basically quarantined, until they unfortunately died off from the disease. According to WebMD, Leprosy is a terrible contagious bacterial disease which causes disfiguration and deterioration of the nerves and skin, and is contracted from a bacterium called  Mycobacterium leprae.