Hearing Execs Speak Volumes on Trip

0

Steven Sawalich, senior director of global media and philanthropy at Starkey Hearing Foundation in Playa Vista, has traveled to 75 countries during his time at the non-profit, which delivers hearing aids to people in need.

It was formed by his stepfather, William F. Austin, founder of Starkey Hearing Technologies in Eden Prairie, Minn.

A recent trip to Ethiopia introduced Sawalich, 38, and his stepdad to a 20-year-old man named Andreas that changed their lives forever.

In addition to hearing problems, Andreas also had mossy foot, a bacterial infection that’s common in Ethiopia, which results in severe swelling of the feet.

What makes it more unfortunate, Sawalich said, is the social stigma surrounding the disease, which is treatable with soap and water.

“They believe it’s God punishing them for being bad people, and only when they become a good person will their foot heal,” he said.

Andreas had been shunned by his family and was living on his own, struggling to get by. To top it off, he had a large cancerous tumor on his thigh that needed immediate treatment.

So Austin flew Andreas to a hospital in Israel that removed the tumor and secured a U.S. medical visa for him.

Andreas has been living with Sawalich’s brother in Minnesota as he continues to heal.

“The past year has been about getting his health back,” Sawalich said.

Board Room at Beach

Surfing and sunshine: two elements of the Southern California dream, and Jonathan Port is living them both.

Port, 50, spends his workdays harnessing the sun as founder and chief executive of PermaCity Solar, a rooftop solar-power developer, located just blocks from the ocean in Santa Monica.

When he’s not working, Port pursues his other passion: surfing.

“I grew up loving surfing as a kid,” he said.

His boyhood idol was South African surfing legend Shaun Tomson, whom he met for the first time recently at a surfing fundraiser for UC San Diego.

The high point of Port’s surfing life came four years ago when he surfed a wave off the Peruvian coast that others measured at 1.5 miles in length.

“It took me eight or nine minutes to ride that wave and that was the ride of a lifetime,” he said recently.

Since his solar business has taken off, Port said that he has had less time to devote to surfing. But he’s still managing two trips this year. After a solar-power conference in Panama City, he plans a surfing side trip to Panama’s coast. And then it’s off to Hawaii’s famous North Shore, a surfing mecca.

While he has competed in surfing fundraisers – his team took second in that recent fundraiser in San Diego – Port said these trips will be just for fun.

Staff reporters Omar Shamout and Howard Fine contributed to this column. Page 3 is compiled by Editor Charles Crumpley. He can be reached at [email protected].

*This story has been updated to reflect Sawalich’s current title.

No posts to display