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re: Best Hawaiian island to stay on for all around experience?

Posted on 3/11/14 at 10:45 am to
Posted by Ghostfacedistiller
BR
Member since Jun 2008
17500 posts
Posted on 3/11/14 at 10:45 am to
quote:

Do they really have lepers?


FWIW I was joking, but found this:

[quote]Isn't Molokai the leper island?
It's been called that. Here's Why.

In the mid 1800s leprosy (today called Hansen's Disease) was brought to Hawaii by Chinese who came to labor in the sugar cane fields. Many Hawaiians were stricken with Ma'i Pake (the Chinese sickness). Since there was then no cure for the disease, strict isolation was the only means available to keep the disease from spreading.

In 1866 the first sufferers were abandoned on Kalaupapa, a small peninsula on the north side of Molokai. Surrounded on three sides by the Pacific Ocean and with sea cliffs 2000 feet high on the fourth, Kalaupapa was a prison from which escape was impossible.

Father Damien, a Belgian priest, came to molokai in 1873 to minister to the needs of the dying. Through his ministry and labors, order was created where there had been only suffering and chaos. He succumbed to the disease in 1889.

Sulfone drugs developed in the early 1940s, put the disease in remission and the carriers were no longer contagious. Today less than 40 residents call Kalaupapa home. The peninsula is now a National Historic Site administered by the US Park Service.

Can I visit Kalaupapa?

While Kalaupapa is a National Historic Site, it is also the home of the few former patients who have chosen to remain there. So access, is by law, strictly regulated. Unless you are invited by one of the residents, you must take the tour offered by Damien Tours of Kalaupapa (about $60.00). The peninsula can be reached by air or by way of the trail that snakes down the sheer cliffs 1600 feet from upper Molokai. Visitors can hike in and out or ride one of the famous Molokai mules. Either way, Molokai Mule Ride or Molokai Fish and Dive can make the necessary arrangements. Visitors must be at least 16 years old.
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quote]

Visit molokai.com
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