The world of Tzu Chi February 2020 (Vol.119)

2020 • 02 12 eature About the Sungai Buloh Leprosy Settlement In the 1920s, Dr E. O. A.Travers, the Senior State andHealthOfficer of the Kuala Lumpur Leper Asylum, advocated for better living conditions for the patients in the overcrowded asylum and suggested building a more spacious leprosarium with adequate facilities to accommodate all leprosy patients in the Federated Malay States (Selangor, Perak, Negeri Sembilan and Pahang). As a result, the Sungai Buloh Leprosy Settlement was established on a 570-acre site in 1928 and officially opened in 1930. It is the largest leprosarium in the British Commonwealth and the second largest in the world. It was renamed as the Sungai Buloh Leprosarium in 1965 and was officially designated as the National Leprosy Control Centre in 1969. The settlement, with its well-planned infrastructure, is commonly known as the “Valley of Hope”, for admission to the ward brought hope of being cured to the patients. The patients and staff of the settlement formed a self-contained community that thrived on its own water supply sourced from the surrounding hills as well as internal currency. Furthermore, the settlement was equipped with a range of facilities and amenities, including shops, places of worship, recreational clubs, public halls, markets, parks, a school and a prison. The patients were employed as inmate workers in the settlement’s The wooden chalets circa 2009/2010 [Photograph by Tan Ean Nee]