Working Together, Giving Service: UH Hilo Students Visit Kalaupapa

By Alyssa Matthews

In early November, history students at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo traveled to Kalaupapa, a historical community on Molokaʻi where patients with Hansen’s disease, also known as leprosy, were quarantined over a 103-year period. Since 1866, more than 8,000 people, mostly Hawaiians, have died at Kalaupapa, according to the Kalaupapa National Historical Park. When Hansen’s disease was introduced to the Hawaiian Islands, King Kamehameha V banished all afflicted to the isolated Kalaupapa peninsula on the north shore of Molokaʻi. Once a prison to the people forced to live there, Kalaupapa is now a national park and a refuge for the remaining residents who are cured but were once forced to live their lives in isolation.

The UH Hilo students made the journey to Kalaupapa for a service-learning project, an annual trip by students taking select history courses. But in addition to doing service works such as cleaning pathways and structures, beach clean-ups, removing invasive plant species, and leaving lei at the cemeteries, students experience the history of the place, feeling the impact of the forced isolation once endured by the patients, and learning first-hand the historical significance of area.

The trip is usually taken by students in the Hawaiian Kingdom class or the History of Disease and Medicine in Hawaiʻi class, this year’s trip done by the latter.

“Because the trip is connected to the curriculum in my coursework, the students go very well prepared in understanding the history of Kalaupapa and the history of leprosy before we even get there,” says Kerri A. Inglis, professor of history who teaches both courses.

When arriving on Molokai – “topside” at the airport in Ho‘olehua – students are shuttled to the trail on the north face of the island leading to Kalaupapa, where they hike down the sheer cliff on a rugged, zigzag trail to reach the isolated peninsula. Right away, students are immersed in the significance and history of the peninsula, seeing what patients saw and experienced.

“It is different for every student, but I promise them before we head down that trail, something’s going to connect for them there that they were not expecting, and it’s going to help them, and change them, in ways that empower them,” says Inglis.

For the duration of the trip, students are immersed in the history of Kalaupapa as they stay in buildings that were present during the period of isolation. “When we’re there, we are usually placed in staff housing that was there during the time of isolation – the doctor’s house, the dentist’s house, the nursing quarters – those are the kinds of buildings where we live together for three to five days,” says Inglis. Students are encouraged to fully experience the trip by being aware of the environment, and absorbing the moʻolelo, or stories, behind it.

“We start each morning by gathering together and sharing a thought for the day and having an oli [chant] or two and focusing ourselves on where we are and why we are there,” explains Inglis. “We turn off our cell phones for the entire day, and really just focus on being present and making those connections in this very amazing place that has a difficult history.” Set up virtually the same as when patients were kept in isolation are the visitor’s center, where patients were separated from family and loved ones by a divider, the Kahaloko cemetery, and some of the churches established by patients.

“There is a lot of emotion in the trip as well because we are visiting certain places throughout the peninsula that have great historical significance and either I or some of our sponsors from the national park will share some of the moʻolelo,” says Inglis. “It can be very moving.”

Upon returning from the trip, students shared their experiences and the connections they made during their trip to Kalaupapa in a presentation open to the public.

Through their presentations and sharing the moʻolelo, students fulfill the wishes of patients and the community of Kalaupapa, both past and present.

“When students return from the trip and give their presentations, it’s a way of giving back to the community through educating others about the history of Kalaupapa, a very important component of the community of Kalaupapa,” says Inglis. “The residents want their story to be known. They want Hawaiʻi and the world to be educated about the disease and its history. It’s always a way of breaking down stigma.”

Inglis adds, “The things learned on this trip are not about history as a discipline, but about working together, giving service, connecting to the āina [land] and making other connections to things that we maybe see as intangibles or difficult to articulate, but are incredibly significant. I think these trips to Kalaupapa change us in a good way. They help us grow and develop in ways that we otherwise might not.”

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Provided by Alyssa Matthews

Original Story

University of Hawai‘i Alumni