Kalaupapa looks to future

By Tanya Bricking
Advertiser Staff Writer

From 1866 until the 1960s, Kalaupapa was an Alcatraz for those afflicted with leprosy.

Father Damien's spirit is Kalaupapa's legacy, said the Rev. Joseph Hendriks, pastor of St. Francis Catholic Church. Advertiser library photo • Dec. 18, 2000

Now, the park's protectors are turning their focus to preservation.

The National Park Service is about to give Kalaupapa a $3.5 million face-lift, just as time is running out for the people who call the isolated Moloka'i peninsula home.

Eight thousand leprosy sufferers died here; 43 remain. The oldest is 96, and the two youngest members of the community just turned 60. Questions are rising about the future of Kalaupapa: Who will be welcomed and how it will change?

Architects are mapping out renovations for the town's aging plantation-style homes and Paschoal Community Hall, remembered for its Christmas plays and rare visits by stars such as Shirley Temple and John Wayne. Meanwhile, former patients are left to ponder the legacy of the place that brought not only pain, but for many, peace.

"Our people are dying off," said Makia Malo, 66, who was banished to Kalaupapa when he was 12 and wants to be buried there next to his younger brother. "The end of our story is near. No matter what they do to Kalaupapa, in my heart, it will always be the same."

In the future, park officials acknowledge it is possible that more visitors will be allowed to tour the park or stay overnight, but that has not yet been determined.

Though some have raised the possibility that developers might turn Kalaupapa into a resort or golf course after the last patient dies, those fears are unfounded, said Jon Holbrook, renovation project manager for the park service. "That will never happen."

Preserve and protect

Years of north shore winter winds, termites, humidity and wood rot have taken their toll on Kalaupapa. No roads reach it, and the yearly barge shipment to the community fortressed by cliffs and sea provides limited opportunity to bring in construction materials beyond what can be flown in daily or carried down the mountain trail from the "topside" of Moloka'i.

The logistics of getting siding, flooring and roofing materials to Kalaupapa are just one complication of planning for the $3.5 million refurbishment of the 10,700-acre park.

The bulk of the work will be in preserving 26 existing buildings by making structural repairs, updating electrical wiring and bringing buildings up to standard for people with disabilities, Holbrook said.

Holbrook doesn't expect the look of Kalaupapa to change in the foreseeable future, because it is a national historical park.

"The federal government has a mandate to preserve and protect Kalaupapa as it is now," he said.

Another piece of the project will be building a place to house artifacts and museum pieces, such as personal belongings from former patients.

The park service wants to have a design contract by November and complete the work in about 18 months, Holbrook said.

Tunista Properties in Honolulu, a Native American-run subsidiary of Anchorage, Alaska-based Calista Corp., is expected to get the contract, Holbrook said. Preservation architect Spencer Leineweber, a University of Hawai'i associate professor of architecture, is among those working on the project.

Legacy of Father Damien

Olivia Breitha, 85, a Hansen's disease patient who was sent to Kalaupapa in 1937 and wrote a book about her life of exile, said she doesn't trust government officials or politicians who say Kalaupapa will never become a resort town.

"What I hope and what will happen are not going to be the same thing," she said. "I don't trust bureaucracy."

She wouldn't mind if the park service rented vacant houses to tourists, she said, but she doesn't want vacationers to forget what the settlement was.

"I don't want them to just come here and think this is beautiful," she said. "It came about as an ugly, ugly thing. I want them to know, and I want them to feel it."

The Rev. Joseph Hendriks, pastor of St. Francis Catholic Church, has performed many of the funerals for the dwindling population. For him, death is a place where suffering has ended.

He wants Kalaupapa's legacy to be the spirit of Father Damien De Veuster, the Belgian priest who tended to sickly outcasts and eventually died of the disease.

Kalaupapa should remain a spiritual retreat, Hendriks said. "It's very important to keep Father Damien alive."

Visitor limits

Richard Marks came to Kalaupapa as a patient in 1956 and has become the town historian, sheriff and tour guide.

"I was the guy who started the idea of bringing in a national park," said Marks, 72.

He worked with politicians to bring attention to the historic site. Now he grumbles about visitors who invade residents' property. He complains about park workers putting up too many fences and cutting down too many trees.

"The park brings in all kinds of guests," he said. "Our people get kind of nervous."

Overnight stays are still by invitation-only in Kalaupapa. Guests younger than 16 are not allowed. Tourists cannot wander beyond the guided tour unless they have a Kalaupapa sponsor.

Marks realizes this is all happening in a moment in time that is vanishing.

"Oh, yeah, in 20 or 30 years, with proper control, I can see allowing more," he said. "I like the idea of some kind of controls. ... Once it starts hitting, it will be like a bulldozer. It will run over us. Right now, our people just want to die a slow death."

Reach Tanya Bricking at tbricking@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8026.

Correction: Father Damien de Veuster is buried in Belgium. His right hand was brought to Hawai'i in 1995 and reinterred in his former gravesite next to St. Philomena Church in Kalawao. A previous version of the photo caption was wrong.