In 1856, the Hawaiian government forcibly quarantined its lepers on the remote island of Molokai.
Father Damien was a Belgian priest who, at great risk to his own health, moved to Molokai in 1873 to care for the leper community.
Father Damien built an orphanage on the island. He would change sufferers’ bandages with his bare hands. In sixteen years, he had an immense impact on the community and the lives of those suffering from the disease.
One day, he dropped a cup of hot tea on his foot and felt nothing. He realized the sensory nerves of his foot has been infected. Few years later he died of leprosy himself.
Father Damien’s compassion helped lift some of the stigma attached to leprosy, and for his work, he was canonized by the Catholic Church in 2009.
Dr Ramakanta's Ideas 