Dr Lacayo

[Amigas del Señor]

To answer some questions from readers...

I forgot to mention about the attached photo of Sister Alegría.  She is standing in front of a mural of Dr Alfonso Lacayo just two blocks from MediCentro where we got the blood work done this morning.  Dr Lacayo was the father of Sister Alegría's dear friend Gloria Lacayo.  (She was living with Gloria in Limón when they first looked at the land that became the monastery grounds.) 

Dr Lacayo was the first garifuna physician in Honduras.  The garifuna are an ethnic group descended from a mix of African and indigenous Caribe peoples who fled from the island of St Vincent to the Honduras coast at the end of the 18th century.  The town of Limón is primarily garifuna.  

A short history as told by Sister Alegría:

Alfonso Lacayo was born in Limón in 1925.  He decided at a young age that he wanted to be a medical doctor because he had watched friends die.  He got kicked out of his family home because he was considered lazy since he wanted to study rather than do the hard physical work.  He got a work scholarship for high school with the Salesian brothers in Tegucigalpa, cleaning and doing other work.  They almost didn't renew his scholarship because he wasn't religious enough.  He often skipped morning prayers to spend time in the library.

Alfonso worked his way through medical school as a lab tech then returned to Limon as a doctor.  He founded the public health clinic in Limón.  

(Continued by Sister Confianza)

His daughter Gloria also became a lab tech.  She was hired to work in the lab at Clínica Carolina (the "gringo clinic" in Limón) through Sister Alegría's recommendation in 2000.  Gloria worked there until 2009 when she moved to the US to be near her son and grandchildren.  Dr Lacayo is famous throughout Honduras for breaking racial barriers and promoting health care for underserved communities.  A neighborhood is named for him in San Pedro Sula, and his bust is at an intersection on the other side of La Ceiba.  We are proud of our connection to him.

And to answer another question, Dra Diriam got us the appt with Dr Lázaro through another physician friend.  We are so grateful to know he is working full time in La Ceiba and that we didn't have to go to San Pedro Sula for the cardiac workup.  (COVID is worse there than anywhere else in Honduras.)

Bendiciones,

Sister Confianza

Amigas del Señor Monastery
Limón, Colón, Honduras

https://amigasdelsenor.weebly.com