A memorial nearly 160 years in the making is set to go up next year. The memorial honors the lives of some 8,000 men, women, and children, shipped off to Kalaupapa on Molokai when they were diagnosed with Hansen’s Disease.
HONOLULU (KITV4) — A memorial nearly 160 years in the making is set to go up next year. The memorial honors the lives of some 8,000 men, women, and children, shipped off to Kalaupapa on Molokai when they were diagnosed with Hansen’s Disease.
Retired G70 architect Hitoshi Hida designed the memorial concept as two overlapping circles.
“The mauka [mountain] circle represents 8,000 patients cut off from families who had to live in that resentment, loneliness, and emptiness. The makai [ocean] circle represents the families and loved ones left behind,” Hida said.
In the middle, there will be a seating area where the circles join.
“That’s where visitors come to realize or experience the sorrows of the 8,000 patients,” Hida explained.
Names of all the residents will be etched on the stone wall, which wraps around the mauka end, “almost embracing the 8,000 people’s souls,” continued Hida.
Ka ‘Ohana O Kalaupapa, a group of Kalaupapa residents, their family, and friends, is behind the effort to build the memorial. They say they were on track in the 2020 legislative session to get $5 million in funding approved, but “at that time COVID hit, so all legislation stopped,” recalled DeGray Vanderbilt, a co-founder of Ka ‘Ohana O Kalaupapa.
It’s something they’ll ask the 2022 legislaure for, and he’s optimistic.
“I think we’ll get good support from the legislature this year,” Vanderbilt said.
Ka ‘Ohana is also looking for public donations to support what it says is a tribute long overdue. Board member Kehaulani Lum notesd “It’s time for us to listen to the ancestors when they say, ‘Mai poina ia’u. Forget me not.'”
E ho’ohanohano a e ho’omau: to honor and perpetuate the value and dignity of every person forcibly relocated to Kalaupapa since 1866. If you want to donate to the memorial go to https://www.kalaupapaohana.org/.