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Kalaupapa

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

Rock Wall Repair Work at Kalaupapa National Historic Park

Wednesday, October 3rd, 2012

Rock Wall Repair Work at Kalaupapa National Historic Park

NPS News Release

A skilled group of Hawaiian masons from parks throughout Hawaii Island joined park staff at Kalaupapa National Historic Park (NHP) to repair deteriorating drystack walls in the settlement and at Kahaloko Cemetery. Kalaupapa NHP has hosted the masons for rock wall repair within the park for the past five years. The masons follow traditional Hawaiian protocols to repair the walls, with respect to the nature of the work, the relationship to the landscape, and working with a laulima (or group) to pass the pohaku, a living entity.

The crew repaired the collapses along the south, west and north walls of Kahaloko Cemetery.…

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Topside Kupuna “Rock” Kalaupapa

Wednesday, October 3rd, 2012

Topside Kupuna “Rock” Kalaupapa

Community Contributed

By Cookie Robins-Kaopuiki

After six months of planning, reality set in as more than a dozen topside kupuna anxiously arrived at Kalaupapa as an August activity. For some it was a first visit, while for others it was a wet-eyed trip down memory lane or the joy of visiting of finding long-lost family.

Visitors’ quarters were set up for the two-night, three-day adventure and the welcoming committee and big-hearted sponsors Zianna Kaulia, Harry Arce, Kirk Dela Cruz and Luana Kaaihue truly outdid themselves in accommodating and honoring the kupuna with traditional Hawaiian values.

For kupuna, the peninsula tour and history with National Park Service staff Leanna Dixon brought educational enlightenment followed by a silent prayer for all the beloved people who endured to the end and have left their footsteps in the land.…

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Mother Marianne Soon to Be ‘Saint’

Wednesday, October 3rd, 2012

Mother Marianne Soon to Be ‘Saint’

This month marks long-awaited confirmation of what many Molokai residents and Catholics around the world already knew — Mother Marianne Cope will be officially declared a saint. Mother Marianne, who served Hansen’s disease patients in Kalaupapa for 30 years alongside St. Damien at the end of his life, will be canonized by the Pope in Rome on Oct. 21. Marianne will become the second saint to call Molokai home.

About 400 Catholics from Hawaii, including from Molokai four parishioners, Father William Petrie and a group of Kalaupapa patient residents, will make the journey to Italy to witness the canonization in person.…

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Night of Aloha

Wednesday, September 12th, 2012

Night of Aloha

Kaluapapa’s annual Night of Aloha is an evening of festivities fit for royalty. Patient residents Boogie and Ivy Kahilihiwa were king and queen of the ceremonies (pictured during their dance), joined by a full court in honor of Hawaiian tradition. The event, held last Wednesday, for the first time in the newly-renovated Paschoal Hall, also featured a full pa`ina feast and a host of entertainment.…

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Kalaupapa Gets New Cardiac Monitors

Friday, August 24th, 2012

Hawaii Life Flight News Release

Hawaii Life Flight donated a LifePack Cardiac Monitor to the Kalaupapa community on Molokai. This vital instrument that administers patient care and cardiac outcomes was received on July 30.

“We understand how valuable it was to have access to a cardiac monitor particularly in a remote area of Molokai,” said Dawn Guillermo, Hawaii Life Flight program director. “We are especially happy to be able to provide this equipment to this community.”

The request came from Carol Franko, Kalaupapa Care Home Supervisor, stating that the two cardiac monitors they were using expired and needed to be replaced.…

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Keeping Kalaupapa Beautiful

Sunday, August 19th, 2012

Keeping Kalaupapa Beautiful

Waste at the settlement up 50 percent from previous years

The amount of solid waste exported out of the Kalaupapa settlement is estimated to near 41,000 pounds by the end of September, increasing almost 50 percent from last year’s 27,000 pounds of trash.

Park officials suspect the reason for this upsurge is the increase of guests and visitors, according to Arthur Ainoa, the National Park Service’s (NPS) Grounds and Recycling Supervisor. At the monthly community meeting last week, he said many guests to Kalaupapa are unaware of the recycling and composting program, dumping all their waste into one trash pile instead of sorting it per the program’s policy.…

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Fortifying the Pier

Sunday, August 19th, 2012

Fortifying the Pier

Kalaupapa’s historic landmark currently under repair

It’s been a noisy week for the Kalaupapa settlement. Helicopters have been transporting mixed concrete from topside Molokai to the settlement for repairs to the historic pier since last Monday. The $5 million repairs should fortify the pier for the next 50 to 75 years, according to Steve Prokop, superintendent of the Kalaupapa National Historical Park.

The pier, which is over 75 years old, requires repairs on a regular basis after being pounded by winter surf on the north shore of Molokai, said Prokop. The pilings, or large posts that support the pier, are worn and the bulkhead wall below the warehouse building has deteriorated over the years.…

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Kalaupapa National Historical Park Student Interns

Wednesday, August 1st, 2012

Kalaupapa National Historical Park Student Interns

Community Contributed

By T. Scott Williams

Aloha from Kalaupapa! On behalf of the National Park Service staff, I would like you to meet the student interns working with the Cultural Resource Management (CRM) Division this summer.

The CRM Division of Kalaupapa National Historical Park is excited to be joined this summer by a wonderful group of interns. The variety of skills and knowledge that the interns bring to the park reflects the park’s efforts to enhance and preserve cultural resources. Through their work, each intern will gain a greater understanding of the significance of Kalaupapa and its unique cultural resources.

Megan Borthwick is helping with the promotion and development for new content of the park’s website, assisting with new exhibits in the settlement and working on compliance for planning/implementation of future park projects.…

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Marine Corps Will Not Increase Flights to Kalaupapa

Sunday, July 29th, 2012

Ho`olehua Airport still on the table as refueling station

After receiving opposition from residents as well as state and federal agencies, the U.S. Marine Corps says it won’t increase training activity in the Kalaupapa settlement. The proposed actions were part of an expansion of Marine Corps presence in Hawaii, which still includes a possible refueling station and training at the Ho`olehua Airport.

According to the Programmatic Agreement (PA) for Hawaii operations, activity in Kalaupapa will now remain at the current level of 112 operations annually, performed by H-1 helicopters. The originally-proposed action would have added training of MV-22 Osprey tiltorotar aircraft, which would have approximately doubled current activity.…

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New Catholic Priest for Kalaupapa

Wednesday, July 25th, 2012

New Catholic Priest for Kalaupapa

July 11 marked what Kalaupapa’s new Catholic priest believes is the fulfillment of his destiny. Father Patrick Killilea was installed as the pastor of the peninsula’s St. Francis Church, replacing Father Ambrose Sapa, who was reassigned to serve on Oahu.

“My story really begins in Kalaupapa in the summer of 2004,” said Killilea, a native of Ireland who had been serving in Massachusetts. He had come over to Kalaupapa to visit fellow members of the Sacred Hearts order — of which St. Damien was also a member.

“The words… ‘Damien the Blessed’… nearly brought me to tears,” he said. “I knew [then] I was destined to be here.”…

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