Anwei Skinsnes Law is the author of "Ka Hokuwelowelo:  A Collective Memory of Kalaupapa", which is to be published by the University of Hawaii Press in 2007. She has been supported by grants from the Native Hawaiian Center of Excellence at the John A. Burns School of Medicine, Kalaupapa National Historical Park, the Arizona Memorial Museum Association, and the legacy of Thomas Groom. She has written an article, as she says, to show "...how much richer and more meaningful history becomes when people who have had leprosy are involved.

 

". . . in talking to me about (his parents), (Father Damien's) inward feeling of affection would overcome him and he was silent for some moments.  Naturally during that moment of silence I felt and shared the same feeling of love with the kind tender hearted priest.  Dear Father Damien.  It is the common heritage of all people to cherish the memory and love of those whom they hold dear in life."

-- Ambrose K. Hutchison, Kalaupapa resident for 53 ½ years, reflecting on his close friendship with Father Damien

Ambrose Hutchison was forcibly sent to Kalaupapa in 1879 and lived on the remote peninsula until his death in 1932.  He was Resident Superintendent of the Settlement for a total of 10 years, longer than any other person who had leprosy.  He and Father Damien used to bring hot, steaming coffee to those left ashore after the difficult ocean voyage to Kalaupapa.  When Mother Marianne and the other Sisters of St. Francis arrived at Kalaupapa in 1888, Ambrose Hutchison brought them a cow and a calf so that the girls would have milk.  The son of a Caucasian father and a Hawaiian mother, Ambrose Hutchison was the second person at Kalaupapa to sign the petition protesting the Annexation of Hawaii by the United States.

Although he was an active participant in Kalaupapa's history for more than half a century, Ambrose Hutchison has never been afforded a significant place in traditional histories of Kalaupapa.  Like most people who have had leprosy around the world, Ambrose Hutchison has basically been left out of his own history.  The invisibility of Ambrose Hutchison and other residents of Kalaupapa in their history is a powerful manifestation of the stigma associated with leprosy.  In documenting and writing the history of leprosy, we have all, albeit unintentionally, largely relegated the person affected by leprosy to a passive, subservient, non-contributing role.  It is for this reason that IDEA has identified "Restoring People to their Rightful Places in History" as one of the nine key steps in eliminating the stigma associated with the disease.

Including the voices of individuals who have had leprosy in their own histories makes for a much fuller, inclusive, accurate, and inspiring history.  If it wasn't for Ambrose Hutchison, we would not know that the boys at Kalawao wrote a song for Father Damien:  "Eia ae o Damiana Ka makua o kakou, Here is Damien, Our father; He poniponi na maka, His eyes are like the first glimmer of dawn; He alohilohi na aniani, Clear and sparkling; Ke ike aku oe kau e ka lia, Upon seeing, fond memories come to mind . . ."

The voices of the many Hawaiians who wrote letters to Hawaii's Board of Health and petitions to the Hawaii Legislature help us to understand that it was separation from family that the Hawaiians feared, not leprosy.  Their message of great love over fear is lost if we do not look to their letters, primarily written in Hawaiian, which consistently ask for a loved one to serve as a kokua, a helper, to reside with the sick person at Kalaupapa.  In 1894, Josiah Haole wrote to the Board of Health of the great dilemma he and his wife found themselves in:

". . . there has not been a single week since the time I first settled on this land, when there has been a shortage of desperate communications from my wife.  She entreats me to allow her to come by way of the cliff road to properly look in on me and on the way I live upon this land.  However, I have always had to deflect these words of my wife as I am deeply committed to adhering to the rules of the Board of Health.  It is a thing of extreme mental anguish if I broke these rules or maybe even became, in her eyes, a person who did not love his wife."

-- Josiah Haole to W.O. Smith, Board of Health, April 26, 1894, Hawaii State Archives. Translated from the Hawaiian by Kiki Mookini

The Hawaiian language was banned from schools after the Annexation of Hawaii by the United States and thus the voices of at least 90% of the people sent to Kalaupapa were further isolated from the historical record.  In 2005-2006, a concerted effort has been made to translate the letters, petitions, chants and other musical compositions of the people of Kalaupapa so that they might be included in the overall history of this remarkable place.  At the same time, chronicling the voices of Kalaupapa's distant past provides a means through which families can learn about those who were sent away and consequently also lost their place in their own family histories.  The restoration of family ties is another step identified by IDEA as critical to eliminating the stigma associated with leprosy.  Including people in their own history is a major step in ensuring that they will also be included in their family histories.

The history of Kalaupapa is the story of individuals, from Ambrose Hutchison to Father Damien, from Mother Marianne to Kahealani Emakia, from Toyo Kishimoto to the five generations of David Ono Kupeles family who were sent to Kalaupapa.  It is the story of people from vastly different cultural backgrounds who came together under unimaginably difficult circumstances and, through the magnificence of the human spirit, worked together to build a community that has inspired the world.

"Some people who are trying to learn about their family history will come to find out they had relatives at Kalaupapa.  If they feel at all the same way that we do, they will be proud that their family was part of the 'aina, part of the soul of this land."

-- Bernard Ka'owakaokalani Punikai'a, Hawaii, President Emeritus, IDEA

 

 

Categories: News and Notes, North and Central America, USA