Today (6/21/18) was our first full day in Guayaquil. After breakfast, we walked to Casa Damien, a house specialized for people with Hansen’s disease, or sometimes referred to as leprosy. We entered a room with our guide, Nathan, and we all introduced ourselves to each other. Nathan told us about the effects of Hansen’s disease and about how the patients at Casa Damien contracted the disease. He also explained to us how people with Hansen’s disease have been treated and stereotyped in the past, including in stories from the Bible. These stereotypes have caused many people to have a fear of being around people with Hansen’s disease. However, the patients at Casa Damien seemed to me like regular people, and they were very friendly towards us and there was nothing about them that intimidated me.
In the morning, we met the female patients and we all greeted and introduced ourselves to each other. We asked all of them about their lives and how they became a part of Casa Damien, and we heard that some of them had been living there for as long as 22 years. After lunch at Casa Damien, we introduced ourselves to the male patients. They gladly welcomed us and we played many rounds of dominoes with them. I was glad to see that all of the patients were very joyful and grateful to be able to live in Casa Damien, as many of them had much worse living conditions before they came to Casa Damien. It was clear that Casa Damien changed the lives of the patients there for the better, and I am glad that we will be able to help and spend time with the patients.
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