Raxaul, Nov. 21: They fight against the stigma associated with their disease back home, but the products they weave are much in demand among khadi connoisseurs across the world.

Over 150 leprosy patients have not only found a home at the Raxaul-based Little Flower Khadi and Village Industry Leprosy Rehabilitation Centre, but also the scope to earn with dignity and survive on their own. At the centre, set up by Baba Kristo Das in 1981 and situated on the banks of Sariswa, the inmates make the raw material — khadi and khadi silk — and the finished products as well.

Much to their accomplishment, the products that they stitch with much finesse are transhipped to various countries, including the UK, the US and Sweden. The rehabilitation centre earns anything between Rs 35 and Rs 40 lakh by selling these products every year. The trade figure hovered between Rs 30 lakh and Rs 38 lakh last year.

While orders for silk scarves and silk blankets are regular from the UK, the US, Austria, Sweden, Canada and Australia, the centre also meets requirements of other organisations for khadi silk products such as shawl, chadar and other dress materials in the state and neighbourhood. “These orders mostly come from Gaya Khadi Bhandar, East Champaran Khadi Bhandar and Tiril Ashram, Ranchi,” said Sheo Shankar Kumar, the project manager of the centre.

Products of the Little Flower Khadi and Village Industry Leprosy Rehabilitation Centre also find their way into hospitals in the state capital. Kumar told The Telegraph: “We supply napkins and bed sheets to Kurji Holy Family Hospital and Tripolia Hospital in Patna. Our centre also takes part in the International Trade Fair organised at Pragati Maidan in Delhi.”

The raw materials prepared from charkhas and the finished products are a big boost for the residents of the centre because they find ways of self-sustenance. The centre also ensures a co-ordination between education and self-dependence as 450 students — the wards of the patients — of Little Flower School get technical education.The demand for khadi products made at the centre comes at a time when a similar unit is struggling for survival and the charkha appears to become an outdated tool to spin a cloth. Madhubani Khadi Ashram, established by Mahatma Gandhi to rehabilitate earthquake victims in Champaran in 1934, is on the verge of extinction for want of care. But Little Flower Khadi and Village Industry Leprosy Rehabilitation Centre is abuzz with the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi amid the sound of the charkhas.