Bethesda, Suriname

Bethesda was a Moravian leper colony from 1899[1] until 1933.[2] The name refers to the healing of the paralytic at Bethesda by Jesus. The colony was located near Paranam in the Oost resort on the Suriname River.[3] It was located on the former sugar[4] plantation Groot Chatillon[5] The Catholic leper colony which used to be at Batavia had moved nearby.[6]

Bethesda
Former leper colony
Bethesda (1947)
Bethesda
Location in Suriname
Coordinates: 5.6122°N 55.0641°W / 5.6122; -55.0641
Country Suriname
DistrictPara District
Resort (municipality)Oost

Overview

Bethesda was founded in 1899[1] as a small leprosy colony. In 1902, Henry Weiss left for the United States with some pictures of the colony taken by Martha Stern in order to raise funds.[7] Weiss managed to visit President Theodore Roosevelt.[8] The mission was clearly successful, because the next set of photographs by Martha Stern display an American flag.[7]

The colony treated between 50 and 60 patients in the period 1910–1921.[1] The colony was a little agricultural village with several pavilions, and some residential houses in a park. The patients did not receive any wages, and were expected to work, if able.[9] The care for the lepers was partially financed by donations, and partially by a Government subsidy of ƒ 250.00 (1910. 2018: €2,856[10]) per year per patient.[11] On 25 October 1951, A.C.W. Lionarons, a doctor in Paramaribo, left his entire fortune to the foundation which as of 2002 was worth over a million euros.[12]

In 1933, the colony was moved, because of flooding, to Livorno, near the present harbour of Paramaribo, and renamed to Nieuw Bethesda.,[13] where it has remained in function until 1962.[2]

Lepers are nowadays treated in the Academic Hospital Paramaribo.[14] The Bethesda Foundation is still active, and since 2007 has broadened its target audience to people with a severe handicap in Suriname,[15] because the rate of leprosy has declined.[16]

gollark: Are you making trilaterator things too?
gollark: Mostly obsoleted by neural interface technology.
gollark: It's a computer, but you can carry it.
gollark: I would join "in person" but multiMC isn't working today.]
gollark: Huh. Apparently SPUDNET is disconnected. Oh well.

See also

References
  1. "Groot Chatillon, Bethesda, and Saint Gerardus Majella (Surinam)". Leprosy History. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  2. "Repertorium van Nederlandse zendings- en missie-archieven 1800-1960". Huygens Institute for the History of the Netherlands (in Dutch). Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  3. "Where is Bethesda in Suriname?". Geo Targit. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  4. "Plantage Groot Chatillon". Suriname Plantages (in Dutch). Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  5. "Batavia en de Coppename rivier". Suriname.nu (in Dutch). Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  6. "Batavia in history". Batavia Suriname. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  7. "Machtsverhouding fotocollectie Page 564" (PDF). The E-Journal of the Anton de Kom University of Suriname (in Dutch). 2015. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  8. "Damiaan". Suriname.nu (in Dutch). Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  9. "Bethesda". Leprosy History (in French). Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  10. "De waarde van de gulden / euro". Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis (in Dutch). Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  11. "Encyclopaedie van Nederlandsch West-Indië - Page 55 - Armen en weezenverpleging" (PDF). Digital Library for Dutch Literature (in Dutch). 1916. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  12. "Het legaat van Lionarons". Bethesda Suriname (in Dutch). Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  13. "MAJELLA STICHTING". Pix4Profs (in Dutch). Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  14. "Geschiedenis van Lepra". Bethesda Suriname (in Dutch). Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  15. "Bethesda Suriname". Bethesda Suriname (in Dutch). Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  16. "Leprosy in Suriname". World Life Expectancy. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
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