Friday was market day in the rural town in Ghana where I grew up After all these years I still recall one particular vendor Her fingers and toes eroded by Hansen rsquo s disease leprosy she would crouch on her mat and scoop her produce with a hollowed-out gourd Some avoided her My mother made it a point to buy from her regularly I saw her only on market days Then she would disappear outside the town In the time of the ancient Israelites diseases like leprosy meant living ldquo outside the camp rdquo It was a forlorn existence Israelite
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