Molokai History:
(from “The Separating Sickness: Ma’i Ho’oka’awale: Interviews with Exiled Leprosy Patients at Kalaupapa, Hawaii” by Ted Gugelyk and Milton Bloombaum, Ma’i Ho’oka’awale Foundation, Honolulu, HI, 1979)
Part-Hawaiian Male
Blind
43 years old
31 years in confinement
(to be continued tomorrow)
The Long Road — from Papakolea to Kalaupapa, to a University Degree
I am forty-three years old and it has been a long road for me. But things have been getting much better in my life. I just graduated from the University of Hawaii in May 1978. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Liberal Studies. My interest is Hawaiiana. I want to become more familiar with my cultural heritage, and maybe teach others about my culture. But it has been a long road. There was a lot in between my being declared a leper and where I am today, and where I want to go with my life. But I feel good. Things have gotten much better for me. I am climbing up from the dependence of being a leprosy patient. I have always hated dependence, having others make decisions for me. Finally, my life is leading to more independence. It’s a kind of growing up.
My story started right here in Honolulu. In Papakolea, the Hawaiian Homestead community on the side of Punchbowl above Honolulu. My parents were taro farmers in Laie. Our whole family worked the taro patches, me included. But when I was twelve, my family suspected I was coming down with the sick. Growing up, my family and I, we were already familiar with the word leprosy, mai Pake. I had three family members already at Kalaupapa. My two brothers and one sister. So our family was familiar with the sickness. It caught our family. When I showed the signs, I too had to see Dr. Chun-Hoon.
Blessings, much pule & much pono,
Fr. Brian, ss.cc.
Priest
Molokai Topside