A PARTNERSHIP between Pick Everard and De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) is set to benefit a community with a dozens of new homes in India.
The ‘Loving Community’ is populated by more than 430 residents, 40 of whom are former leprosy sufferers.
The community has been living on the outskirts of Ahmedabad city in Gujarat for over four decades ago following fears that they could endangering the local healthy population.
DMU’s Square Mile India project, in partnership with Leicester based business Pick Everard, has been working to provide 50 homes for the community through fundraising and staff and student participation.
Since February 2018, DMU’s school of architecture has been working in collaboration with architect Anand Sonecha to develop designs to raise the homes above flood level.
Construction began in early April 2018, with the cost of the works being met by fundraising.
Each house costs approximately £5,000 and these designs include the potential to be enhanced further when funding is available to families.
DMU alumni and architectural assistant at Pick Everard, Nish Tailor, who has been helping to project manage the scheme, said: “The ‘Loving Community’ residents had to fend for themselves after being outcast by society more than 40 years ago. Despite no longer being contagious due to the disease being treated, the stigma surrounding leprosy is so strong that they are still not welcome in their native villages.”
Due to poor infrastructure and local topography, the community is prone to flooding during the summer monsoons and many people have to leave their homes as they become uninhabitable.
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