Southampton NHS worker Jill Ghanouni MBE tells the Daily Echo how her team has brought hope to generations affected by leprosy

Jill Ghanouni was just 22 when heavy monsoon rains left the then trainee first aid worker stranded in a leper colony in rural India.

Now, three decades on, her determination to create a lasting legacy helping generations of victims transform their lives has earned her one of the highest honours.

Mrs Ghanouni, from Southampton, was among Hampshire residents recognised in the New Year Honours list, receiving an MBE for voluntary services to the community in rural India.

She is co-founder of the New Hope Rural Community Trust, which supports leprosy victims in the south Asian country.

The infectious disease attacks the skin and nerve endings and, if left untreated can lead to disability, terrible disfigurations and blindness.

Fear and ignorance of the illness in developing countries means many people are ostracised by society and abandoned at a time when they need the most help.

Mrs Ghanouni, now 55, spent several weeks caring for sufferers at an established colony in Andhra Pradesh in 1982.

Jill's daughter Amber meets orphaned children in 2010.

But after travelling north for a short stay in a newly developing colony in rural Orissa, torrential rains washed away a vital viaduct, leaving them largely isolated from the outside world for more than four months.

She said: “It is one of those times in life where you are put in an unexpected situation which you don’t plan for. We had very little supplies, conditions were very basic and we had to dress people’s ulcers and wounds. We also had people coming to us with all sorts of illnesses with no access to medicine.

When you are that age it has a big impact and shapes your life because the experiences were so extreme.”

On returning to Britain she got to work setting up her own charity with five other people.

Branch out The trust was launched in 1990 to provide funding for the already established Indian group the New Hope Rural Leprosy Trust.

She said most other charities predominantly work in cities, but added: “What we wanted to do is branch out to the rural areas and go where the tarmac ends.”

A woman sees for the first time in years after cataract treatment

Her group provides fundraising, awareness and recruits volunteers to support their sister charities.

They have two community centres and an orphanage in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa and help around 2,000 people.

“The disease is stigmatised and if they didn’t have the colonies a lot would have to survive by living on the streets. We can make sure they get two or three square meals every day and are looked after.”

The charity has also branched out to work with neighbouring tribes, offering vaccination programmes for childhood diseases such as polio and measles and providing health, education and training schemes.

The mum-of-two, who lives in Newtown, is mainly based in this country where she also works as an NHS engagement officer. She made an emotional return to the colony with daughter Amber, then 15, ten years ago.

A blind boy arrives at the children's home.

The group has installed a plaque and lectern in Southampton’s Watts Park, the site of a tenth century leper settlement, the Hospital of Mary Magdalen.

After receiving notification of her MBE she said: “I am astounded as I always associated it with people who are well-known or have worked for big organisations.

“It is a team achievement as it wouldn’t have been possible without everybody helping.”

See newhopeuk.org to get involved.

FACTFILE: LEPROSY

LEPROSY still affects millions of people across the globe today.

Nearly 216,000 people were diagnosed with the infectious disease in 2013, while millions more go undiagnosed or are living with its long-term effects.

The illness attacks the skin and nerve endings and left untreated can lead to disability, terrible disfigurations and blindness.

It is now curable with on-going drug therapy, but many people, especially in poor, rural areas, leave it too late to receive treatment and are often ostracised by society meaning they are often deprived of the help they desperately need.

The disease is transmitted through the exchange of bodily fluids, rather than being air- or waterborne, and is normally contracted when people’s immune systems are weakened.

The nerve damage means sufferers lose sensations and are more likely to hurt, injure or burn themselves.

This causes wounds and ulcers which become infected leading to deformities and limbs having to be amputated.

Damage is often caused to joints at the knees and elbows and in some cases people’s eyelids, meaning they are unable to close their eyes.