Fr. Campbell founded the Lepers Aid Committee (LAC), a self-sacrificing, voluntary and humanitarian group of young Ghanaians who are committed to empowering less privileged leprosaria inmates, back in 1993.
The Irish priest, who has lived in Ghana since 1971 has been honored as a less-celebrated person who has touched lives of many victims of societal discrimination against leprosy and changed how people with the disease are treated.
The main focus of Fr. Campbell’s social work has been the support to the inmates of Weija Cured Lepers Rehabilitation Centre and other Leprosaria in the country.
In the interview with Catholic Trends, Fr. Campbell recounted the events leading to his meeting with the Pope Francis, saying, “When I realised I was 50 years taking care of the lepers at Weija, I said, I must do something to commemorate 50 years of serving the marginalized in Weija. So I said, let me go to Rome. Let me go and meet the Holy Father.”
“I always admired him. He’s a man of the poor. A man of the marginalised, you know and I wanted one day to shake hands with him. So, that’s the reason why I wanted to come to Rome and that’s what I did today. I feel so happy,” Fr. Campbell said.
He said the meeting was characterised by warmth and genuine concern.
“It was a little chat with them, you know, we were five of us. He just had a chat with us, he listened to us,” Fr. Campbell said making reference to Ghana’s Ambassador to Italy, Mrs. Merene Botsio Benyah, and her husband, Mr. Henry Benyah, as well as a board member of the Lepers Aid Committee, Mr. Gabriel Asempa Antwi and his wife Mrs. Priscilla Asempa Antwi, who also attended the meeting.
Fr. Campbell said he shared, at the meeting with the Holy Father, insights into his work with the lepers of Ghana, underscoring the challenges faced by the most vulnerable members of society.
“I talked about my work with the lepers. We have been working in different settlements in Ghana. How we take care of them and look after them. How they are marginalised and how they are forgotten,” he said.
Fr. Campbell continued, “I talked about the most neglected people in Ghana. And how I’m always begging for assistance because the cost of drugs, the cost of food, the cost of utilities and others are high. I told him I am a begger priest. Always asking people to come and help in one way or the other. So I told him about the lepers and the hundred thousand street children on the streets of Accra. I work with prostitutes. I work with prisoners. So I mentioned all these people.”
