Echoes of Molokai e Luz de Esperanza

Dr. Tom Sichi, son of Gordon and Suzie, kicked off this year’s First Thursday Breakfast Club with an engaging discussion about the connections between poverty, infectious disease and their stigmas in developing nations. Tom worked for a month in Ecuador with people suffering from Hansen’s Disease (previously known as Leoprosy). He shared his experiences with outreach, treatment and recovery from Hansen’s, ultimately concluding that with proper treatment and education, victims of the disease could recover and integrate back into society. According to Tom, that is the true “Luz de Esperanza.”