The Kalaupapa Memorial design has two interwoven circles, with the top circle symbolizing those sent to Kalaupapa and the lower circle symbolizing families left behind. The names of those sent to Kalaupapa will be engraved on a wall behind the circle. (Courtesy Ka Ohana O Kalaupapa)
By Anna Weaver
Hawaii Catholic Herald
A major step recently took place toward the creation of a Kalaupapa Memorial for all former patients.
On May 5, the Hawaii State Legislature approved SB 3338, which grants $5 million for the design, planning and construction of The Kalaupapa Memorial as proposed by Ka Ohana O Kalaupapa, the nonprofit organization authorized by the U.S. Congress to establish the Memorial on the Kalaupapa peninsula.
Watching from the gallery above were eight members of Ka Ohana, including Charmaine Woodward, the organization’s president, and her 10-year-old son, Nainoa. The members all held photos of their relatives and other patients who lived at Kalaupapa.
When the bill passed, “I just started crying,” said Valerie Monson, Ka Ohana O Kalaupapa’s executive director, who has been involved in Kalaupapa, Ka Ohana, and the memorial efforts for many years and was at the state capitol on May 5.
“It just felt like we’ve been working so hard on this and trying to cross all our T’s and dot all of our I’s, trying to do everything we had to do. And to get to this point was just really overwhelming.”
While ideas and efforts for such a memorial have been around for many years, it wasn’t until 2009 when President Barack Obama approved a federal mandate to go forward on National Park Service property that the memorial really began to take shape.
A bill had been progressing through the Hawaii State Legislature in 2020 before the pandemic hit but then stalled.
Members of Ka Ohana O Kalaupapa, holding photos of relatives and other patients who lived in Kalaupapa, watch proceedings on May 16 from the Hawaii Senate gallery. (Screenshot)
Monson said a common response she gets from people when talking about the Kalaupapa Memorial is surprise that there hasn’t been one built yet.
“Today was monumental for all those exiled to Kalaupapa,” said Charmaine Woodward, Ka Ohana president. “Family members will now be able to see the names of the 8,000 patients, feel their presence, sit in Kalawao, reflect, and hopefully begin to heal. Generations after us will be able to visit this memorial and remember the sacrifice our ancestors made, remember their resilience, determination, talents, and — most of all — their aloha.”
The memorial plan is to build a wall and remembrance area near St. Philomena Church in Kalawao, the church built by St. Damien de Veuster. On the wall will be the estimated 8,000 names of those sent to Kalaupapa, quarantined for life for having Hansen’s disease, from 1866 until the practice ended in 1969.
In addition to the $5 million estimated cost for the memorial, Ka Ohana wants to establish a $5 million endowment for its maintenance. It is encouraging family members of patients sent to Kalaupapa to raise $1,300 within their family to symbolically cover the cost of their relative’s name on the memorial. Ka Ohana has also raised $500,000 to date toward the planning costs of the memorial including environmental assessments, architectural sketches and plans.
Ka Ohana has received approvals for the memorial from the Board of Land and Natural Resources and the State Land Use Commission.
Monson said that Hawaii state Senators Lynn DeCoite, Brian Taniguchi and Donovan Dela Cruz and Hawaii state Representative Sylvia Luke led the effort to pass the memorial bill this year. She said Ka Ohana has worked with G70 International in Honolulu, Munekiyo Hiraga, and
Goodfellow Bros., and all three companies have donated some of their time and work pro bono.
During the Senate’s closing session, DeCoite thanked Ka Ohana and especially its member DeGray Vanderbilt, who had been lobbying hard this year at the legislature to get the bill passed.
SB 3338 now waits on Gov. David Ige’s signature.
