Peter and Annie live in a small village in Maskelyne, Vanuatu. About 8 years ago, Peter began to feel unwell – he had strange sensations in his hands and feet and feared that he had been made ill by some sort of curse caused by traditional practices. In 2018, he was admitted to Norsup Hospital on the island of Malekula. There he was treated for an unidentified condition, rumoured to be diabetes, but nothing definite is known about this.

Peter returned home where his condition continued to decline. In 2023, Antoine – the leprosy nurse for the area – visited Peter and he was immediately diagnosed with leprosy. Sadly, the disease was quite advanced and had already severely affected his hands and feet, and his wife, Annie, had also contracted leprosy. Peter and Annie were immediately put on treatment for leprosy, and when Antoine, and Graham (the Foundation’s country representative) visited them recently, they were responding well to the treatment and their condition was improving.

Peter and Annie have 3 sons who are all married. They live in their own house but depend on their sons to feed them. At times when Annie feels good, she will cook for her and Peter but it is not something she can do every day.

They have requested solar lights for their house as they sleep in the dark and rats come by and eat their sores. The numbness and disabilities to Peter’s hands and feet is irreversible.