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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Thaslima Begum in Sylhet and Kaamil Ahmed

‘Spreading faster than ever’: Bangladesh’s tea pickers have world’s highest rate of leprosy

Aloka Gonju, a tea picker in Sylhet
Aloka Gonju, a tea picker in Sylhet, was diagnosed with leprosy a year ago. Now she can only pick leaves with her right hand, which limits how much she can earn. Photograph: Ruth Towell

Aloka Gonju didn’t take much notice of the discoloured patch of skin on her left hand until her fingers began to stiffen and hurt. It became a struggle to pick leaves at the tea plantation where she works in Bangladesh.

“I had no idea what was happening to me,” says the 47-year-old, whose wages support her husband, four children and three grandchildren.

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