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Kalaupapa

Kalaupap Peninsula and Kalawao County news, articles, and stories.

Dream Green Team

Thursday, August 29th, 2013

Talking trash isn’t usually a good thing, but a small team in Kalaupapa is changing the way people think about rubbish with their award winning solid waste management program. The Kalaupapa National Historical Park (KNHP) Green Team, comprised of five local Molokai employees, has received national recognition for the work they’re doing to make the peninsula a statewide model of waste management.

The team — Arthur Ainoa, Joseph Kahee, Brennan Lee-Namakaeha, Pa`oneakai Lee-Namakaeha, and Ryan Mahiai — has recently been named one of seven recipients of the National Park Service’s 2013 Environmental Achievement awards. The award recognizes their accomplishment of drastically reducing the peninsula’s solid waste through recycling, composting, conserving and reusing.…

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Funding for Improved Kalaupapa Waste Management

Thursday, August 22nd, 2013

KNHP News Release

Joseph Kahee, Pa`oneakai Lee-Namakaeha and Ryan Mahiai, employees of the Solid Waste Facility of Kalaupapa National Historical Park (KNHP), were awarded one of 33 grants across the country in the amount of $12,500. The funding was through the Horace M. Albright-Conrad L. Wirth Grant Program at the National Park Foundation, the official charity of America’s national parks. The Albright Wirth Grant Program supports a wide range of innovative projects that give National Park Service employees the opportunity to pursue personal and professional training experiences.

This group grant was used to implement a comprehensive “greening” plan for KNHP. One of the core components of the plan was to lay the groundwork for an integrated solid waste management system in Kalaupapa.…

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Safeguarding Kalaupapa’s Past

Thursday, August 22nd, 2013

Safeguarding Kalaupapa’s Past

The Kalaupapa peninsula’s long history of isolation makes it one of the most pristine cultural resources left in Hawaii, according to the National Park Service (NPS). Its 10,700-acre authorized park boundary keeps the landscape raw and untouchable from modern land developers but its overgrowth of invasive vegetation threatens to eat away the traces of ancient Hawaiian residents 1,000 years ago.

Though Kalaupapa is most commonly known for its Hansen’s disease residents that were exiled there in 1866 and the geographic and societal segregation that took place over 100 years, the peninsula hosted a dense Hawaiian population nearly 900 years prior. Their residency left a diverse wealth of sites, features and artifacts that researchers can use to reconstruct the past.…

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Brother Dutton Statue Installed

Monday, August 19th, 2013

Brother Dutton Statue Installed

Molokai Catholic parishioners got to see the face of a new statue of Brother Joseph Dutton for the first time when it arrived on the island from China last Thursday. The statue of the Civil War veteran who worked for 45 years in Kalaupapa with St. Damien depicts him in his youth wearing his Union uniform. There is a growing movement to promote Dutton to sainthood alongside Damien and Marianne Cope, and the statue may be one starting point for that process, said Molokai’s Father Bill Petrie of St. Damian Catholic Parish.

The statue was donated to Molokai by Oahu benefactor John Perreira, who worked with local residents, including the late parishioner Larry Helm, former commander of the Molokai Veterans Caring for Veterans, to design the statue.…

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Brother Dutton Statue Gifted to Molokai

Monday, July 22nd, 2013

Molokai is already home to two saints — Damien and Marianne — and if efforts continue, the island might be known for a third: Brother Joseph Dutton. Dutton worked alongside St. Damien and Marianne to serve Hansen’s disease patients in Kalaupapa, but he is just as known for his rocky past before becoming a Catholic. Thanks to Oahu benefactor John Perreira and a few local residents, including the late Larry Helm, a statue of Dutton will soon arrive on Molokai to help tell the story of a transformation from soldier to would-be saint.

A Relatable Life
Dutton served in the Northern Army during the Civil War and climbed the ranks for his loyal service.…

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Kalaupapa Bar Celebrates 10 Years

Wednesday, July 17th, 2013

Kalaupapa Bar Celebrates 10 Years

Last weekend, a street in Kalaupapa was closed for the second block party in the settlement’s history. A decade ago, Kalaupapa patient resident Gloria Marks bought the settlement’s only bar, and last Friday, the 100-resident community came out to celebrate the business’ 10th anniversary. It was Marks who also hosted the settlement’s first block party for the bar’s firth anniversary in 2008.

“Ten years is good but I have to make it another 10!” said Marks, Kalaupapa’s only business owner. Marks also runs Damien Tours, which is nearing its 50th anniversary.

Called Fuesaina’s Bar, Marks’ business stocks more than 10 varieties of beer, and some wine as well.…

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Kalaupapa Barge Day

Wednesday, July 17th, 2013

Kalaupapa Barge Day

The remote Kalaupapa settlement is normally the epitome of peace. But once a year, its wharf becomes as busy as a New York City intersection. It’s barge day — a big occasion for the tiny community that’s taken place annually for decades. It’s when a year’s worth of equipment, gasoline, non-perishable food supplies and personal orders is delivered to the settlement. It’s been described as Christmas in July.

There are barge transloading equipment in the state small enough to fit into Kalaupapa’s narrow harbor — and only a short window of time in the summer when the rough water is calm enough for the barge to safely dock.…

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Fire Truck Awaits Kalaupapa Home

Thursday, May 30th, 2013

Fire Truck Awaits Kalaupapa Home

 

Three years ago, a fire truck was earmarked for Kalaupapa’s airport. But it still has not arrived on the settlement’s annual barge.  Instead, it sits unused, waiting for a proper garage that will protect the $300,000 truck from the elements and salt spray.

“If there’s not a garage for it, the fire truck will disintegrate in a year,” said Benton Ho, facilities engineer for the state Department of Transportation Airports Division. The Kalaupapa airport needs fire enforcement to meet Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requirements now that flights to the peninsula regularly carry nine passengers, Ho said.

“We have been overflying by the FAA for several years now,” He said.…

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Help Sought Locating Distressed Monk Seal

Friday, May 17th, 2013

Help Sought Locating Distressed Monk Seal

NOAA News Release

Monk seal advocacy groups are asking for the public’s help to locate a sick and severely malnourished Hawaiian monk seal known to frequent the Kalaupapa area in the county of Kalawao, Molokai. Experts are concerned about her health and want to bring the seal to Oahu for assessment and treatment at the Waikiki Aquarium. The seal would be returned to Kalaupapa after recovery.

“The seal we are looking for would appear ill and its ribs or other skeletal features would likely be visible. We are asking people to keep an eye out for this seal in the water or on the beach,” explained Pat Wardell, President of the Monk Seal Foundation, a Hawaii based organization that recently took over management of the monk seal volunteer program on Molokai.…

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Kalaupapa Residents Sign Kana`iolowalu Petition

Thursday, May 16th, 2013

Kalaupapa Residents Sign Kana`iolowalu Petition

Kana`iolowalu News Release

The Native Hawaiian Roll Commission, chaired by former Governor John Waihe`e III, attended the 10th anniversary celebration of Ka `Ohana O Kalaupapa at Kalaupapa on April 27 where Kalaupapa residents were given the opportunity to sign the Kana`iolowalu petition along with the descendants of Kalaupapa and friends who came together for the event.

“We felt it was important for Chair Waihe`e and the Native Hawaiian Roll Commission to visit Kalaupapa for support of the Kana`iolowalu petition just like Ahahui Aloha `Aina came to Kalaupapa in 1897 to give our people the chance to sign the Ku`e petition against annexation,” said Clarence “Boogie” Kahilihiwa, a resident of Kalaupapa for more than 50 years and President of Ka `Ohana O Kalaupapa.…

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