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Tichilești is a leper colony in Isaccea, Tulcea County, Romania, having 9 inhabitants in 2019. [1] Although officially a hospital, Tichilești appears to be more like a small village, and is formally administered as a village by Isaccea. Tichilești was founded as a monastery, in 1875 becoming a leper colony.
Tichilești's name is derived from the Turkish name of the settlement, Tekeli is derived from the Turkish word teke , meaning "he-goat". [2]
Tichilești was founded as a monastery, in 1875 becoming a leper colony. [3] A legend says the monastery was founded by one of the Cantacuzino princesses who was affected by leprosy. Another theory of the history the settlement is that a group of Russian refugees (see Lipovans) settled there and founded the monastery, but soon became outlaws who were eventually caught. [4]
In 1918, for unknown reasons, a part of the lepers moved to Largeanca, near the Bessarabian town of Ismail, while the rest of them being allegedly killed and their bodies being burned or thrown in a lime pit. [4]
Following a 1926 newspaper article by F. Brunea-Fox, a journalist who lived with the lepers for three weeks, a hospital was built in 1928 at the monastery. [4] The houses and the central courtyard were built in the 1930s. [3]
In July 1932, a group of 25 starving lepers from Tichilești threatened to march to Bucharest and entered the town of Isaccea demanding food. Local grocers and farmers had stopped supplying them food because the government had not been providing funding. The Isacceans barred their houses until the military escorted the lepers back to their colony. [5]
Initially, the lepers were not allowed to leave the colony. This changed in 1991, but many residents, who had lived most of their lives in the colony, continued living there. [6]
European Union funds came to Tichilești in the decade following the year 2000, and they were able to install bathrooms, refrigerators, and satellite television, and to put air-conditioners in the canteen. [3]
The last case of leprosy in Romania was diagnosed in 1981 and the age of the patients in Tichilești in 2002 ranged between 37 and 90, [7] most of them having an age of more than 60 years. [4] In Tichilești there are two churches, an Orthodox one and a Baptist one. [6]
A cure for leprosy has been known for a long time, however the disease was too advanced for these people who live in Tichilești. As a result they were not cured but it made it no longer contagious. [8]
Isaccea is a small town in Tulcea County, in Northern Dobruja, Romania, on the right bank of the Danube, 35 km north-west of Tulcea. According to the 2011 census, it has a population of 4,955.
Lepra is a UK-based international charity working to beat leprosy. Since being founded in 1924 they have helped to diagnose, treat and rehabilitate people affected by leprosy. Lepra currently works in India, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.
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Sainte-Enimie is a former commune in the Lozère department in southern France. On 1 January 2017, it was merged into the new commune Gorges du Tarn Causses. It was founded in the 7th century by Énimie, who started a convent there after being cured of leprosy in the surrounding waters. It was the site of several monasteries, some of which still remain. Located in the Gorges du Tarn, it is a member of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France association.
Islam in Romania is followed by only 0.3 percent of population, but has 700 years of tradition in Northern Dobruja, a region on the Black Sea coast which was part of the Ottoman Empire for almost five centuries. In present-day Romania, most adherents to Islam belong to the Tatar and Turkish ethnic communities and follow the Sunni doctrine. The Islamic religion is one of the 18 rites awarded state recognition.
Marius Constantin Niculae, nicknamed Săgeată is a Romanian retired footballer who played as a centre forward.
Leprosy was said to be first recognized in the ancient civilizations of China, Egypt and India, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease, was officially eliminated at the national level in China by 1982, meaning prevalence is lower than 1 in 100,000. There are 3,510 active cases today. Though leprosy has been brought under control in general, the situation in some areas is worsening, according to China's Ministry of Health. In the past, leprosy sufferers were ostracized by their communities as the disease was incurable, disfiguring and wrongly thought to be highly infectious.
Ion Mincu was a Romanian architect known for having a leading role in the development of the Romanian Revival style. Most of his projects are located in Bucharest, including his main works, the Palace of Justice, the Kiseleff Roadside Buffet, and the Central Girls' School.
Worldwide, two to three million people are estimated to be permanently disabled because of leprosy. India has the greatest number of cases, with Brazil second and Indonesia third.
MORHAN or Movement of Reintegration of Persons Afflicted by Hansen's disease in English, is a non-profit organization that operates to reduce leprosy and the stigma of leprosy in Brazil. This organization was initially created to ensure the rights of patients from leper colonies due to their isolation, and today it is one of the most successful Brazilian social movements, with representation in the National Health Council. The group has used several methods to disseminate information about leprosy including, but not limited to, handing out pamphlets, hosting seminars, and organizing puppet shows for children. Morhan also creates its own publications as a means of mobilization and news regarding leprosy. Furthermore, Morhan has worked with anthropologists to provide explanatory models and lay explanations of leprosy within the Brazilian context. Morhan's work has been exemplary in creating partnerships between social groups and the government and received an award from the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals. The current National Coordinator is Artur Custodio Moreira de Souza.
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Ștefana Velisar Teodoreanu was a Romanian novelist, poet and translator, wife of the writer Ionel Teodoreanu. Encouraged to write by her husband, she was a late representative of Poporanist traditionalism, which she infused with moral themes from Romanian Orthodoxy, and also with echos of modernist literature. Her works of youth, coinciding with World War II, comprise mainly novels centered on the internal conflicts and moral triumphs of provincial women such as herself. Forming a counterpart to her husband's own books, they won praise in their day, but were later criticized for being idyllic and didactic.
Nikodim Tismanski also known as Nikodim Osvećeni, Nikodim Vratnenski, Nikodim Grčić, and in Romanian, Nikodim de la Tismana is an Orthodox monk scribe and translator who was the founder of monasteries, one in Serbia and two in Romania. In Serbian medieval history he is remembered for conveying hesychastic monastic traditions and as a member of a diplomatic and ecclesiastical mission to Constantinople in 1375. He was one of the followers of St. Gregory of Sinai. Sanctified in 1767 by the Eastern Orthodox Church Nikodim is commemorated on 26 December. Also, he was canonized by the Romanian Orthodox Church in 1955.
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