One is called Kapu, the other is Okala

He was diagnosed with leprosy in 1885 and died here in 1889. His story is dramatised in the 1998 film Molokai: The Story of Father Damien, with David Wenham in the title role. A neighbouring hall displays black and white before-and-after photographs of former patients, the after shots dating from the introduction in 1946 of sulfone drugs capable of halting the disease. In a nearby bookshop, framed official correspondence from last century recounts how patients at Honolulu’s Kalihi Hospital, a de facto prison for lepers, were given just three hours’ notice of their deportation by steamer to Kalaupapa. This heartless policy backfired spectacularly – 18 of the 22 notified patients jumped the hospital fence and fled to loved ones. The bus tour continues on to the original settlement at Kalawao, established after King Kamehameha V authorised the isolation of lepers on Molokai in 1865. As we sit down to a picnic lunch in Judd Park, Kianini points out two rock islands jutting from the turbulent sea. One is called Kapu, the other is Okala. “When patients came here from Oahu they would be thrown off [the ships] at Okala with one week’s food and one change of clothes,” he says. “Who knows how many people didn’t live.” It must be at least 400 metres from the rock to the shore and the sea is constantly thrashing. I know I couldn’t make the distance. It’s sickening to think of the wretched invalids thrown into the ocean and forced to swim to an island prison. The author Robert Louis Stevenson visited Kalawao after Father Damien’s death in 1889, arriving on a ship with two nuns. He wrote vividly of Rosetta Stone Japanese his arrival, of seeing “the stairs crowded with abominable deformations of our common manhood ... the butt-ends of human beings lying there almost unrecognisable but still breathing, still thinking, still remembering”. All that remains at Kalawao today is the original church, St Philomena’s, with its graveyard of weathered headstones shaded by palms. Kianini reckons about 7000 people have been buried on the peninsula. There is, unexpectedly, a happy ending to this history. In February the Vatican announced Father Damien would be canonised on October 11. St Philomena’s is being renovated hastily for the occasion and there are some on Molokai who say that Father (or Saint) Damien is about to save them a second time: his canonisation might be the miracle that brings them just enough tourism without destroying their culture. When Pope Benedict XVI does the honours next month, it is expected the residents of Kalaupapa – those who are able to – will travel to Rome to witness the occasion. It should be quite a moment. “Everyone will want to walk in Father Damien’s footsteps,” Kianini says. Kendall Hill travelled courtesy of Hawaii Tourism. FAST FACTS Getting there Hawaiian Airlines flies non-stop from Sydney to Honolulu for about $11 return including tax (about $1 5 for Melbourne passengers, who fly Virgin Blue to Sydney to connect). Island Air flies to Molokai for about $97 one way including tax. Australians must apply for authorisation before travelling to the US on the secure website https:esta.cbp.dhs.gov. You will need a car on Molokai. Alamo has recently opened an office at the airport. See alamo. Staying there Hotel Molokai, with its traditional Polynesian architecture and seafront restaurant, bar and pool, is the main accommodation option in Kaunakakai. Doubles from $US9 a night ($150). See hotelmolokai.

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