Inside Hawaii's Secret Leper Colony

In this episode of A Broad Abroad, Paula Froelich gets a rare tour of Molokai Island's remote Kalaupapa village, where thousands of Hawaiians with leprosy lived under forced quarantine for 150 years.

[@emilywiebel3238]

The nurse who has been working their for 50 years is an angel on earth!! To work with a group of people that many disowned and abandoned and then to stay and refuse to leave until the last patient is gone is dedication and shows how huge this woman’s heart is! Also the guy who brought her there and showered her the grounds is amazing, just educating and remembering the tragic history is so sad but so important.

[@Memoryherbs]

And she only looks 50! Barley! She looks 45 honestly

[@Maynard-il1yj]

@@Memoryherbsbehave

[@sherryhake3387]

When I was a Navy Corps Wave stationed at NAS BARBERS POINT HAWAII, I flew over there with a Dr, and another Corpsman. We flew in a Coast Guard chopper. The Dr that lived there was British and on holiday. We went over to medically check on them. I spent the day there and met the most wonderful happy people. They loved it there, it was their home. They gave me a tour and a history of Kalaupapa. They had a real paradise there and they knew it. This was 1973, and the youngest one there was in his 50's. They chose not to leave their home. There was nothing sad and depressing about that place. I was very honored to have met such nice people and to experience the truth of their lives there. I didn't meet this nurse as I can't remember her, but I did meet the lepers and remember them very well. They told me so much about the history, and took us to secret places. At that time people were not allowed there like today. But this video doesn't sound at all like the place I experienced, or the wonderful people I met there. They were not bringing in new residents and were allowing the ones that lived there to live out their lives in the place they loved. After that there would be no more coming in, and now anyone can take the tour. Back then, no one would have been allowed except family and they had a place for them to stay.

[@onespeed9423]

I grew up in Makakilo..the houses on the hill above barber point.i used to watch the planes land and at times they would actually catch on fire..i learned to surf at white planes when I was l little kid. My neighbor worked at pear harbor and thats how I was able to get on military base. Anyway my grandma's brother was 1 of the 1st group of lepercy patients in hawaii and did go to molokai, originally from Lanai..I was bumbed to hear the way things was in this video but glad to hear your part and experience and yes I believe your story more so..Aloha🤙

[@gdm4584]

Semper Fi, I was stationed out in K-Bay...just a few years later. LOL.

[@MrAM4D3U5]

Exactly. The island is clearly a literal paradise yet NowThis tries to depict it as a barren wasteland

[@johnwells1015]

Been to Kalaupapa many times. The people I met, were some of the friendliest people I’ve ever had the pleasure to know.

[@NurseyPooh]

I worked in Kalaupapa as a RN and ran the care home from 2011-2020. It was a wonderful experience.

[@OzymandiasWasRight]

Searched KZbin on a random whim. Now I'm about to watch leprosy videos for the next 2 hours...

[@sneepsnorp1404]

Me too, actually. You have no idea how surprised I am, that I'm not the only one doing the same.

[@1beachygurl]

@@sneepsnorp1404dude, same!!

[@bt10ant]

I visited in 1985. It was quite an experience. I recommend Molokai island as a relaxing, get-away place where crowds are small and you can really get away from it all.

[@mrsm513]

I’ve been to Kalaupapa, i expected it to be a very sad place, yet it felt very uplifting for some reason. Maybe because the people exiled there made lives out of nothing. Then there were selfless people who endangered their lives to help others. A very heartfelt place.

[@bilguana11]

It's not secret. The late Richard Marks, a leper, was the best guide ever. In 1983 he let our group camp at the lighthouse. And he took us to places that are not shown to others.

[@benleal5486]

Hello Everyone, I was lucky to go to Kalapaupa 5 different times and stay there near the light house at the sheriff's house for 3 days each time. My Uncle Doctor BenjaminYoung, planned family outings here. We would do an the under ground cooking , but the best part was lobster diving and fishing with the old school nets. This place is unbelievable.

[@maxasaurus3008]

Why do you call it secret? Probably the most famous colony ever.

[@ironlionzion2265]

Mahalo for posting this, aloha

[@elizabethschreffler9182]

I was so sad to hear about the story of the Leper Colony. The surrounding were beautiful. I am sure the kids were lonely and scared. God bless them all.

[@theodorejay1046]

BTW it's not kalua-papa but rather kalau-papa. The "au" pronounced as "ow".

[@jinxuch]

一生忘れられない場所です。 I had an opputinity to stay there for 4 days.I stayed at same domitory where nurses and doctors lived alone. quite nervous at that time. in the midnight only can hear sound of wind and wave. I met people living there and had dinner together, theres nothing in the park, the grocery and book store is only for pacient .Every Friday night is party day, we gethering together and watched DVD and chatting... also I had some fun there kind like reserch down to the deep lake(hot springs) and measure the temp. and went to Black Noddy Sea Cave watching seabirds. and was so lucky i saw hawaiian monk seal . when i passed through hawaiian monk seals, was so frighted and i dropped my phone(lol) . I met few young volenteer guys, they got mental problems and wanted go back to city. Totally can undeestand how they feel everyday. Now people living there can leave the park go anywhere, they are free and have very good benifit. but they loved it, they said it is our home. Amazing !!! I'm trying to write my experience down but which languange i should choose? Chinese or Japanese???

[@akahina]

I was lucky enough to take the Molokai Mule Ride in 1984 (I think). Our guide was a Native Hawai'ian who challenged us to repeat his Hawai'ian name correctly, and the tour would be free. The name was over 20 syllables. None of us could. An interesting fact (at the time anyway) was that none of the vehicles required a license plate by the state. And the resident "patents" choose to stay there because basically, they are taken care of for life. We were not allowed to meet any of the residents. This was a bucket list event. I'm sad that the mule ride no longer exists. I trust the mules, but not myself. I would never have scaled that cliff, even in my youth. I fear heights.

[@angryraspberry7721]

I was in kalaupapa for a month because my job a couple years back

[@evanoffm]

This seems esp interesting now that we're having an pandemic

[@sandramorey2529]

Kalaupapa is one of our newest National Parks. It offers tours with residents and I heartily recommend you take one if you can. We hiked down and again after the tour we hiked up. It is very doable. You can fly in if you have big bucks and the tour includes mule rides both ways. The mules are from the Grand Canyon and for them this is a stroll. There is an excellent novel about a young girl sent to Kalaupapa as a child and as she lives her life, finally leaving as an old woman when the sulfa drugs were found to be a cure. This book covers it all. One of the neat things is how lovingly the children sent down were received by the residents. They had to send their own babies away to relatives up the cliffs so these children were considered a gift to them. This book is called "Molokai".

[@KaisTravels]

Tour is closed now

[@janeensanders7093]

i read that book "Mookai"---it's excellent!

[@guslevy3506]

Kalaupapa was not a “secret” in any shape or form. From the day that the King created the colony, everybody knew where and what it was. I do recommend reading Holy Man: Father Damien of Molokai which paints the story of when and how Kalaupapa started to become somewhat civilized for these unfortunate people…

[@LauraBeeDannon]

St. Damien pray for us. God forgive us.

[@thelonenoob2489]

St Damien 💜💜💜💜💜

[@annah8542]

This is heartbreaking but what can you do. It would be selfish to have this disease and stay and spread it to others.

[@Puaolena808]

It's not actually contagious like tuberculosis or small pox. It's pretty hard to get.

[@aishagranger1391]

@@Puaolena808 of course it's contagious, it is a bacterial infection, like TB.

[@Puaolena808]

You misunderstand... I never said it wasn't contagious, but it's not as contagious as other bacterial diseases. TB is much easier to catch. Leprosy is not something you can get from someone coughing around you. You don't get it from touching someone who is sick. You need to have sustained exposure over time. Which why many of the people who went to the colony to be with their infected family members didn't get the disease for many many years. Some never got it at all.

[@ee-wx3hy]

95% of people are immune to it anyway...@@aishagranger1391

[@sandramorey2529]

Many of the people had ashy skin as darker skinned people often do. They didn't have leprosy. But they were uprooted and taken to Kalaupapa anyway.

[@lyndaldavies9200]

How wonderful Hawaii provided a sheltered haven for these very sick people God bless Hawaii

[@mrsm513]

No no no, it wasn’t sheltered to begin with! There was Nothing there, no shelter, nothing! The sick had to build their shelter. If your spouse went to care for you, they had to live their lives out there. It sounds like I n the beginning it was dog eat dog, survival of the fittest. not until Father Damion got there did it get more civilized. It may be a sanctuary NOW, but it certainly wasn’t always that way!

[@sandramorey2529]

No, it was not as you see it today. It was brutal. Over decades Father Damian and sister MaryAnne and others reshaped it. Queen Liliuokalani and her entourage visited and gave encouragement and money to the colony.

[@jankolomalu5851]

You should give the reason... It was gruel but it was the mid 1800s. Things were very, very different.

[@gerrimiller3491]

Please pray for the poor souls with leprosy. Prayer change things

[@sandramorey2529]

They do't need prayers. There are drugs to cure leprosy since 1946 and now the residents love their home and don't want to leave.

[@jaydalba3656]

Father Damien first appeared in Kalawao in 1873 where he found unspeakable conditions of cruelty and inhumanity. And here He built His Church - St. Philomena’s. Mass is normally held there only twice a year - on Christmas Day and on the Feast of Saint Damien. But this year it would also be held a third time, in honor of Auntie Kaimu’s Birthday! While I don’t know the specifics of her life, I do know that she was revered by her fellow residents. The Aloha that surrounded Auntie was palpable. St. Philomena’s is a small, but beautiful church. One unique quality is the holes in the floors in front of the pews. These were installed so the saliva the residents perpetually secreted would pass from their mouths, through the floor, and onto the land, where it would be washed away by the rain. The Mass was celebrated by my Good Friend, Father Joseph Hendricks. Patient, intelligent, gentle, kind, compassionate, and content. When he asked me my opinion of whether he had accomplished anything in his life, I laughed. Whether He is ever canonized or not is unimportant, he most definitely is a Saint! The sermon was given by Aunties Sister, Ku’ulei, who spoke of how Kaimu came to Kalaupapa: “We had always prayed that the knock would never come to our door … but come it did. They had come to take my Sister away. As the eldest, it was my responsibility to go. I love my Sister. The first part of the trip we were taken by boat to Honolulu and Kalihi Hospital. The boat ride there was just horrible. It was simply unimaginable. Several days later we were now on a boat to Kalaupapa. This ride made the first seem like a pleasure cruise.” It was a solemn occasion. And afterwards was the luau. With hundreds of family and friends joyously consuming the endless Kalua pig, the lau lau, the opihi, the opai - the atmosphere defined festive! For several days afterwards I remained on Kalaupapa and I … I had fun. ”Someone’s gotta have fun in this world and it might as well be me!” - That’s my motto. On a mountain bike I rode - down the airport runway, past the seemingly unending graves, and into the field beyond the community and at the base of the cliff - where I scattered a herd of wild pigs. They squealed as they tore away . At Elaine’s Bar I sat at the picnic table and drank beers with the residents who lifted their bottles with their two hands - each with missing fingers. In the rectory I stayed with Father Joseph, I cooked breakfast, planted gladiolus, and we enjoyed each other’s company. He celebrated Mass daily at 7 AM. I was always late, and sat in the back row, only to be followed by the resident who entered and whose facial disfigurement was hidden by the cloth mash that shrouded their face, but who celebrated Mass daily nonetheless. Returning from this enlightening experience to my home on Maui, I opened Michener’s book Hawaii which I had left on my kitchen counter. Opening it to a random page I found myself reading about … Kalaupapa! On this page Mitchner elaborated on the departure of the boats from Oahu with the afflicted aboard being confined below deck. And he marveled at the kokua - the support of those like Auntie Ku’ulei, who assisted the afflicted. Why would they do it? It made sense for a man who’s younger Wife had become afflicted, for him to go as he did not have much time left to live. And the Aloha of Wives, and Siblings who went along is also understandable. But what was hard to understand was that inevitably, just as they were closing the hatch to the bowels of the boat where the patients were placed, someone would inexplicably jump from the dock onto the boat and insist on going. Mitchner explains; there is only one explanation for such behavior - and that explanation is love! And Now, again I sit, on a beach in Ormond By-the-Sea, Florida far from the beach at Kalaupapa, but with a splendor of its own, and again I ask myself: "What did I ever do to deserve this?" Kalaupapa - On Earth as it IS in Heaven!!! Paradise.

[@katiejo1095]

However, the rest of the world received medication.

[@sandramorey2529]

So did the patients at Kalaupapa, but the drugs weren't invented until 1946.

[@bigt4135]

I will go live there

[@mitchellquartero]

And now it’s the last place in the us that is covid 19 free

[@raiderfrankdatank]

and we thought our covid quarantine was hard...

[@thervers2140]

And that's what they did. So what should have been done?

[@amyschlegel1180]

Since leprosy is not very contagious, they should have been cared for at home. Leprosy patients can work and live relatively normal lives without spreading the disease to others. Leper colonies were never needed to begin with - they were created out of fear and ignorance!

[@KeltoiMagus]

This is only a secret if you never bothered to learn US history. I knew it dice Junior High School. The again, I did have the advantage of an East Coast public school education and I cared about learning, even though I was in no way a well behaved student.

[@jameslutian1977]

Good for you

[@fenzz5511]

Well you obviously didn’t learn spelling 😂

[@LauraBeeDannon]

This is a Catholic story also. There is a movie based on St. Damien and his work.

[@elizabethschreffler9182]

This was not taught about on the West Coast. My Great Auntie from Hawaii did not talk about this place. I am almost 56 years old and I found about this place on KZbin about one month ago.

[@808-PFH-Kanaka-Rights]

it wasn't made when we were under the US, it was made when we were still a kingdom. disease has ravaged our people before, therefore, the chiefs got fearful. that is why they created the colony, to protect what was left of the hawaiian people. sadly, that painted a sad and painful picture

[@trocycling1204]

The gov't didn't know how to control the disease at that time? That's so weird, I can't imagine. 😂😂😂

[@Calx91]

To die in paradise

[@jim02122]

I thought it was curable

[@akahina]

It is with sulpha drugs.

[@fastjoecorrigan7426]

KRAZY

[@tommyduterte7526]

I wonder how much they pay her for, for only getting 4,000 views every year

[@uncleenore]

If the colony is "secret," how do you know about it?

[@InvRyan]

If it was a child of yours why in the world would you not live with them, screw visiting them. That’s your kid, if kids get sick, you get sick, die by your kids not at a distance. Period.

[@tracimangham233]

Isn’t Molokai the name of a demon?

[@j.r09160]

Your thinking of moloch god of the canaanites. Also has a jewish faith based cult

[@amyschlegel1180]

No. The name Molokai means a land mass (smaller than a continent) that is surrounded by water.

[@WallyTony]

Am I supposed to feel sad for people being forced to live in Hawaii?

[@unlikeavirgin]

If you have empathy like a normal person, then the answer is yes

[@jameslutian1977]

If they have Lepresy then yes?

[@kingswaydaughter7324]

Wow...There really are idiots alive and well....you can own that!

[@mrsm513]

@@kingswaydaughter7324 well said! Absolute idiots...

[@ashleyadam955]

Yes you are supposed to what if that was you

[@thegloriousmoodman2152]

Emotional propaganda disguised as education.

[@mrsm513]

Please explain how you come to that conclusion? I’ve been to Kalaupapa and this video was spot on to what the guide told us on the tour. So PLEASE tell me where your knowledge comes from?

[@ewwwteddy6580]

You’re giving “ We LiVe In A sTiMulAtiOn “ energy

[@sandramorey2529]

And you get your information where? For a short video, she is spot on. She is talking with people who live and work there.