Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 27, Number 2, 1 February 2010 — Restoring family ties at Kalaupapa [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Restoring family ties at Kalaupapa

77/ is month's article is written by Valerie Monson, staunch advocate and board member of Ka 'Ohana O Kalaupapa. A closefriend ofmany ofthe residents of Kalaupapa, her article speaks ofthe 'Ohana's ejfortsto reach out to descendants. Since Ka 'Ohana 0 Kalaupapa officially organized in 2003, one of the goals has been to reach out to family members with ancestors who

were sent to the Kalaupapa peninsula because they were thought to have had leprosy. Many of those descendants who have contacted us eome with only a name. Because some of these ancestors have been dead for 100 years or more, we wondered if we could possibly pieee their lives together again and return them to their rightful plaee in history. Ku'ulei Bell, the first President of Ka 'Ohana O Kalaupapa, always believed we could. "They are not lost. They are just waiting," said Aunty Ku'ulei. "They are waiting for us to find them." The reunions of those waiting to be found and those trying to find them have been awe inspiring, heartbreaking and life changing. • Emma Kamahana Dickerson, who was born at Kalaupapa, had never seen a photograph of her mother until late 2008 when 'Ohana historian Anwei Law provided her with one. Emma was 84. She and her family have since returned to Kalaupapa to visit the home and the graves of her parents. • The descendants of Ambrose Hutchison, who was at Kalaupapa from 1879 to 1932 and who worked alongside Saint Damien, were able to eat oranges from trees that he had grown on the property he tended. • Anne Apo learned that her great-grandfather, John T. Unea, was the schoolteacher at Kalaupapa, signed the anti-annexation petition in 1 897 and conducted the first census in 1900. • Trustee Colette Machado was shown pietures of her 'ohana, Rose Nailau, with other girls at Bishop Home in Kalaupapa. While Ka 'Ohana was able to help family members bring their ancestors back into the

history of Kalaupapa, the family members have been adding to the history of Kalaupapa as well. • David and Chris Mahelona started out with only a photograph of David's grandfather, Stephen Napela. Using that one portrait, the Mahelonas have scoured through group photographs of life at Kalaupapa and have found Stephen in three of them, including a picture of him as a member of the Kalaupapa Poliee Force.

• Because Anne Apo had a photograph of her great-grand-father, Anwei Law was able to identify him in a photograph as the teacher standing with his students in the Kalaupapa School in 1904. Before Anne's picture eame to light, the teacher had been unidentified. Ka 'Ohana has been developing various resources to help families find more information about their ancestors. Using puhlie records, Anwei Law has compiled the names of the first 5,600 people who were sent to Kalaupapa into a database that will eventually include all the estimated 8,000 individuals who were isolated on the peninsula. Ka 'Ohana has also initiated a project where college students on O'ahu help translate and organize letters written by early Kalaupapa residents. As a result, the lives of the people of Kalaupapa who we onee thought to be forever "lost" are coming to light. Last year alone, the 'Ohana received requests from nearly 100 family members asking for help in learning more about their ancestors. Anyone seeking information ean now simply visit the web site kalau papaohana.org and send an e-mail to info@ kalaupapaohana.org. You ean also write to Ka 'Ohana O Kalaupapa, P.O. Box 1111, Kalaupapa, Hawai'i, 96742 or eall Ka 'Ohana Coordinator Valerie Monson at 573-2746. Ka 'Ohana has not yet been able to help everyone because our research is ongoing, but we ask those people still looking for answers to not give up on us. We have hopes that one day we will know something about every person who was sent to Kalaupapa. We know they are just waiting for us to find them. ■

leo eleletrustEE mESSSagES

[Hhl www.oha.org/kwo

Cūlette Y. Machade TrustEE, Mūlūka'i and Lāna'i