Khokana Leprosarium was established in 1910 BS (1857 AD) . In Khokana leprosy patients were to be isolated with the provision of shelter, food and cloths. It is on the way of Dakshinkali. In past time, there are two separate buildings for males and females. But of 1990 BS (1934 AD) earthquake, one building was destroyed. Then all the occupants shifted to the present existing place. Which at that time was occupied by male patients. In past khokana was running by His Majesty's Government but in 2041 BS, His majesty gave the responsibility to NELRA. From that year Nelra are running Khokana. Nelra was established in 1969 under the chairmanship of HRH Princess Shanti Singh for the welfare and help of leprosy affected persons and their families. Nelra is running different program like Medical, Hostel,Scholarship,Vocational Training, Rehabilitation etc for leprosy affected people and their families.
Sergey Stroitelev came to Nelra Office to take permission for photo shoot at Khokana Ashram where he subsequently made the series of portraits presented below.We would like to appreciate and thank him for his great job.
Here are his short bio, contacts and comments about the work that has been done.
Sergey Stroitelev was born in 1985 in Saint-Petersburg, Russia.
He is a documentary photographer working on long term projects in Russia and Asia with the particular interest in human rights.
In May 2014 He graduated from Saint-Petersburg school of Photojournalism and received Golden Mark - award for the best diploma covering Ukrainian revolution on Maidan.
In June 2014 He won the Young Photographers of Russia 2014 photocontest.
e-mail:
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facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sergei.stroitelev
Sergey's comments :
The current project was executed in August 2014 in Khokana colony - the oldest leprosy colony in Nepal.
I decided to shoot the series of portraits there on the second day of my work.
I talked to the patients and realized that I wanted to photograph and work with each of them separately.
The thing that I became interested in was the individuality of the patients, their characters.
In the beginning of November 2014 the exhibition was organized at the colony consisting of the portraits made during the execution of the project.
