Bethesda, Suriname


Bethesda was a Moravian leper colony from 1899 until 1933. 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. It was located on the former sugar plantation Groot Chatillon The Catholic leper colony which used to be at Batavia had moved nearby.

Overview

Bethesda was founded in 1899 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. Weiss managed to visit President Theodore Roosevelt. The mission was clearly successful, because the next set of photographs by Martha Stern display an American flag.
The colony treated between 50 and 60 patients in the period 1910–1921. 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. The care for the lepers was partially financed by donations, and partially by a Government subsidy of ƒ 250.00 per year per patient. 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.
In 1933, the colony was moved, because of flooding, to Livorno, near the present harbour of Paramaribo, and renamed to Nieuw Bethesda., where it has remained in function until 1962.
Lepers are nowadays treated in the Academic Hospital Paramaribo. The Bethesda Foundation is still active, and since 2007 has broadened its target audience to people with a severe handicap in Suriname, because the rate of leprosy has declined.