Featured Exhibit/March 4, 2009

Claudia Wiens Documents the
Abu Zaabal Leprosy Colony in Egypt

Although leprosy is on the verge of extinction and currently a curable disease, there still remain some leprosy colonies. German photographer Claudia Wiens documents Abu Zaabal, Egypt's leprosy colony 40 km north of Cairo. Built in 1933, lepers were brought in by police and were not allowed to leave-- isolation was seen as the only treatment. Now, living conditions there are much better than in patients' poor rural villages. About 750 patients and another 3,000-4,000 cured lepers living in the adjoining Abdel Moneim Riad village don't want to leave. Here they don't have to fear stigma or harassment. This is not a story about suffering and misery, but rather about daily life in a forgotten place. View the Exhibit

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