Leprosy, Moloikai’s shocking history
Mr Swan recounts his visit to one of the hawaiian islands
Kalaupapa, a peninsula surrounded by giant cliff faces, almost separating it from the rest of the world located on the Hawai’ian island of Molokai was the focal point on Hawai’i for victims of Hansen’s disease. More commonly known as Leprosy, it was first brought to Hawai’i from China in 1848. The Kalaupapa region provided a sinister solution to this, surrounded by water on three sides by water and the other by 1600 foot high cliffs Kalaupapa was totally isolated.
Fifth grade teacher Doug Swan was able to speak of these things first hand. Over winter break Swan and some family made the trip to the island of Molokai, a remote island only about 50 miles long.
“I wanted to get the real Hawai’i experience, I have been to Maui and all the resorts, but corporations have almost gotten rid of the Hawai’ian culture.”
Molokai was a breath of fresh air,
“Only around 250 tourists were on the island, so we would all see each other around,” Swan said.
Only a handful of restaurants and stores exist there, Molokai is the real deal.
A local tour guide, who actually suffered from Leprosy earlier in his life, guided the group including Swan through the former Leper colony on the Kalaupapa peninsula. It was in 1866 when the first Leprosy victims were brought to Kalaupapa, usually dumped into the water and forced to swim ashore a shocking fact especially because of the huge surf crashing against a rocky shoreline. Conditions were bad, and for seven years victims lived on the peninsula in solitude without any shelters or commodities. Many lived in caves or crude stick shelters before Father Damien arrived.
In our time Kalaupapa has changed in our time. No longer are people with Leprosy forced to stay there. Swan was still shocked by how not so distant in the past Leprosy was still relevant,
“The ‘80s, that’s only about 30 years ago, that’s not a long time at all, especially when our suffering from something like Leprosy,” Swan said. “It’s a nasty disease, not always directly causing deformities but resulting in them. The first thing to happen, I’ve been told was the nose will fall off.”
Swan visited Molokai to gain a further understanding of a darker history of our history. Something was gained from visiting Kalaupapa, an understanding. There aren’t that many Leprosy sufferers any more and the village is slowly dwindling in size, but Swan wanted to let people know it’s an experience not to pass up if you get the chance.
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