Wanda Błeńska

1911-2014 20th century

Love that touches what the world dares not touch, and a profession practiced as a gift of self.

Who was Wanda Błeńska?

A Polish physician, in 1950 she joined the leprosy hospital of Buluba, Uganda, where she stayed forty-three years. She examined her patients without gloves so they would not feel rejected, trained generations of African health workers, and made Buluba a center of reference. Ugandans simply called her Dokta; her beatification process has been opened.

In their own words

You must not be afraid of them. You must love them.

Answer about her leprosy patients, documented interviews

To love is to give oneself for others.

Inscription in Luganda at Buluba hospital (Okwagala kwe kwewayo ku lwa'balala)