Qualla: Behkadeh Raji https://qualla.com/behkadeh-raji en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:32 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/t/n/w/9/behkadeh-raji-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Behkadeh Raji https://qualla.com/behkadeh-raji Behkadeh Raji: Introduction https://qualla.com/behkadeh-raji/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. The idea was radical for 1961: instead of isolating people with leprosy in hospital wards, build them an entire village. Give them livestock, farmland, schools, a cinema, and the means to support themselves. Behkadeh Raji, located 450 kilometers northeast of Tehran in Iran's Khorasan region, became the world's first leper colony designed as an economically self-sufficient community. It was not a place of confinement. It was an experiment in restoring dignity to people whom society had cast out.

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]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/n/w/9/behkadeh-raji-wp/tnw9-behkadeh-raji-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Behkadeh Raji: A Schoolgirl's Promise https://qualla.com/behkadeh-raji/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. The story begins with a lecture. Farah Diba, still a high school student, attended a presentation about the suffering of people with leprosy in Iran. The experience stayed with her. After her marriage to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, she took on the chairmanship of Iran's Leprosy R...

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]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/n/w/9/behkadeh-raji-wp/tnw9-behkadeh-raji-a-schoolgirls-promise.mp3 0:06 2 full Behkadeh Raji: A Village from Royal Land https://qualla.com/behkadeh-raji/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. The Shah donated 30,000 hectares of private land near Bojnurd for the project. What rose from that land was not a hospital but a functioning community: over three hundred buildings including medical facilities, primary schools, a cinema, a police station, a restaurant, a public b...

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]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/n/w/9/behkadeh-raji-wp/tnw9-behkadeh-raji-a-village-from-royal-land.mp3 0:06 3 full Behkadeh Raji: Why a Village, Not a Ward https://qualla.com/behkadeh-raji/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. The World Health Organization had recommended treating leprosy patients in their own villages to prevent social exclusion. In Iran, this proved impossible. Villagers feared contamination and refused to allow patients to remain among them. A leprosarium near Mashhad, Asayeshgah Me...

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]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/n/w/9/behkadeh-raji-wp/tnw9-behkadeh-raji-why-a-village-not-a-ward.mp3 0:06 4 full Behkadeh Raji: Harvests Beyond Survival https://qualla.com/behkadeh-raji/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. The experiment worked in ways its planners might not have predicted. Agricultural production at Behkadeh Raji eventually exceeded the community's own needs. Surplus potatoes and cotton were sold at markets in the surrounding area, making the village not just self-sustaining but a...

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]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/n/w/9/behkadeh-raji-wp/tnw9-behkadeh-raji-harvests-beyond-survival.mp3 0:06 5 full