Leprosy Village - Dessie

The leprosy communities (189 families) occupy two sites in Dessie and one site in Combolcha, 25km away. One site is used as a rubbish dump by the wider community and the other is on land adjacent to a cemetery. The small mud houses have been fabricated crudely; on one of the sites the roofs are drafted predominately from recycled plastic. 

There are no formal facilities for sanitation and no electricity for either site. Water is sourced from a supply shared by the community.

As a community they are isolated from the general population and within such an unstable and substandard living environment, these people are severely limited in their ability to gain work and support themselves.  Children resort to begging and have little education.  Their life chances are extremely poor.
In partnership with the Local Association of Persons Affected by Leprosy and the Municipality,

Opal Foundation helped to fund the construction of 12 chika (mud plastering) houses with 3 rooms plus latrines for destitute families living in Dessie.

The Municipality has already allocated 12 plots of land to some of the families so they can be integrated with the mainstream communities.

Future homeowners were required to contribute to the process, supplying labour and taking responsibility of the quality of their own home. The local association is currently providing an education program in coordination with NGO’s specialising in leprosy to overcome the discrimination these people currently face so that current attitudes can be shifted ensuring a successful integration of the community, including integration of children into education. 

Providing housing within the mainstream community will make a tremendous difference to the lives of these families.

Despite some delay caused by heavy rain the building project is now finished.