KKM and their path to sustainability - World Food Day 16 October

There is a disease that comes along with leprosy that is often looked past, and for people like K. Shanmugam, it can lead to fear, shame, and even fleeing one's home. That disease is the discrimination and stigma around leprosy.

K. Shanmugam was diagnoses with leprosy in his home, Savukadi village of Sri Lanka. Apart from the disease itself, Shanmugam experienced shame so great that he had to leave his home and move to Colombo to seek anonymous treatment. Although he found medical care and was eventually cured of leprosy, the discrimination lingered. His scars and deformities effected his confidence and pride.

Shanmugam returned to his empty, unused agricultural land in Savukadi that he could no longer tend to because of the weakness of his hands. He felt useless and ashamed.

“I was a shadow in my own life.”

When his hope had almost completely diminished, he received a visit from Kaveri Kala Manram (KKM). They approached him with the idea of becoming an agro-businessperson. Although he had little confidence in himself and his physical abilities, the faith that KKM had in him was enough for him to believe in it himself.

“If you can think it, if you can dream it, you can become it.”

Today, Shanmugam manages two acres of thriving land, practicing nature friendly farming as a full-time farmer and nursery plant developer. But not only did KKM provide agricultural support, but they also trained him to be able to detect early signs of leprosy, playing an important role in the lives of the people around him.

Shanmugam is now a member of the Leprosy People Association in Batticaloa and a community volunteer with the health department. In 2025 alone, he was able to detect nine cases of leprosy, preventing those people from the scars and stigma he endured.

Once an outcast in his own home, he is now known as the ‘village doctor’ to many who gained hope and received treatment because of him. KKM’s support gave him more than just resources, it took his greatest shame and transformed it into his greatest gift.

Because of KKM’s care for Shanmugam, apart from the leprosy he experienced, he was able to find a place where he not only finds purpose, but where he can use what was once pain, as something that brings hope.