Gerry Dulac / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Bud Dupree is accustomed to knocking people to the ground. But there he was, lowering himself to the ground, to offer a caring hand, a warm hug.
This wasn’t a football field where Dupree excelled. This was an area of Ethiopia known as Korah, where the smell of garbage lingers in the air and many of the inhabitants have are deformed from leprosy. They live in mud-thatched huts along bumpy, dirt pathways, adjacent to a trash dump.
The nerve and skin damage caused by leprosy restricts their ability to care for themselves and to meet their basic needs.