Kalaupapa

And, you know, as a reporter with those kinds of skills, I was going to dig around and see what I could find.

And I was able to confirm that she had contracted Hansen's disease and been shipped off to Kalaupapa.

So in researching and doing this, you found out where she was.

But you actually took the time to go out there and to see where she was and actually touch the ground that she walked upon.

She was taken.

and torn from her family.

So I wanted her to have some sort of record of it when she went over there, when she went to Kalaupapa.

Because as a journalist and probably just as a Hawaii resident, she's been to Molokai before.

There was a place in Hawaii, which, like, has its own whole history.

If you look up Kalaupapa, it's really interesting.

Isolation is not just geographic, it's emotional and cultural.

But then we go to the Bible, where leprosy is often used to carry symbolic weight as, like, the person who is most destitute, most pushed away from society.

But the church we went to was a non-denominational church and it was an outpatient hospital that the state had cut off funding for by the 70s for the leprosy patients.

When the cure for leprosy was found in the 40s, Kalaupapa was the peninsula on Molokai where Father Damien went and...

It's kind of a well-known story.

But anyhow, when the cure was done, these folks were free to leave, but there was a live in a residential hospital for folks who still needed the care from the symptoms, even though they weren't contagious anywhere.

But by this point, this hospital became like a really... a gathering place for these, you know, Native rights activists, peace activists, like my parents, but there's a lot of Native Hawaiians from Kalaupapa, Molokai, but musicians too.

Like Moke Ali from the Sons of Hawaii, who was a great friend of ours, and then Dennis Kamakahi, who was a young man, a part of that group, who I ended up recording the album with later.

But

There he met the bishop, who expressed regret that he was still unable to send a priest to Molokai, for the demand was far in excess of the supply.

Father Damien at once said, My lord, I hear that a small vessel will next week take cattle from Kauai to Kalapapa.

If you will permit me, I will go there to help the lepers make their Easter duties.

His request was granted, and, in company with the bishop and the French consul, he landed at the settlement, where he found a colony of eight hundred lepers, of whom between four and five hundred were Catholics.

The spiritual wants of the priest's flock were sufficient to fully occupy his time.

On Sundays and feast days there was high mass at Kalaweo.

The celebrant was then obliged to hasten to Kalapapa, and there again offer the divine sacrifice.

Now at noon he was permitted to partake of a little refreshment, the first since midnight.

From the world-famous Waikiki Beach and the iconic Diamond Head volcanic crater, and historic Pearl Harbor.

The next is the Molokai, the Friendly Isle, which remains one of the least developed and most authentically Hawaii island, is known of its rich cultural heritage and stunning sea cliff and the Kalaupapa Peninsula.

A place with poignant history as a former leper colony.

Molokai offers a glimpse into slower, more traditional way of life.

And again, this is coming from the community.

Um, the talk we did on Kalaupapa.

Kalaupapa on Molokai is gonna be a huge issue moving forward when the county, uh, assumes control over that with the community of, and the island of Molokai weighing in on that.

Those are two huge pieces.

Think about it.

Molokai Ranch, Kalaupapa.

I mean, I, I, I could go on and on about, uh, the benefits to the island and the benefits to the community.

But- They know where we stand, our administration, we, we are in support.