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Visiting the Lepers – Culion, Palawan

Culion, once dubbed as the ‘Island of No Return’, was shut from the rest of the world and became the hiding place of those stricken with the deadly Hansen’s disease (leprosy). Empower Philippines strives to empower the few marginalized citizens in our country, the ones affected by leprosy who still reside on the island of Culion, Palawan, which was once the largest leprosy colony in the world. Reynaldo Bartolome is one of the remaining affected alive on the island of Culion, Palawan, Philippines. Tatay Rey lives in Culion Sanitarium General Hospital and is under the care of Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres. In 2006, the World Health Organization finally declared Culion leprosy-free. -The words at the beginning of the video come from a poem entitled “I am a Leper, “the lament of a young boy wrenched from his family in the early 20th century.