• Failure notice from provider:
    Connection Error:http_request_failed

  • Submission Deadlines

    Advertising

    Thursday 4pm

    November 28, 2024

    Content

    Friday 4pm

    November 29, 2024

    To print on:

    Wednesday

    November 27, 2024

  • Join us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Google Plus Subscribe via RSS

Kalaupapa

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

Kalaupapa’s First Seal Pup of Season

Wednesday, April 21st, 2021

By Catherine Cluett Pactol

Kalaupapa welcomed its first Hawaiian monk seal pup born this season earlier this month. The baby was born to first-time mom RG18, herself born in Kalaupapa in 2015.

The Kalaupapa National Historical Park shared the news on their Facebook page, reminding the community to give new moms and pups plenty of extra space, with no swimming advised if they’re present on the beach.

Kalaupapa’s quiet coastline is a popular spot for monk seals to give birth each year, usually beginning in late March or early April. Pups are born with black fur and their coats later change to dark gray or brown.…

Posted in , , commentsAdd your comment

The Last Farewell

Wednesday, March 24th, 2021

Opinion by Father Pat Killilea, St. Francis Church, Kalaupapa

“There’s a ship lies rigged and ready in the harbor, tomorrow for old England she sails
Far away from your land of sunshine to my land full of rainy skies and gales
And I shall be aboard that ship tomorrow, though my heart is full of tears at this farewell
For you are beautiful and I have loved you dearly, more dearly than the spoken word can tell.”
For those of you who were into the hit songs of the 70s, “The Last Farewell” is one of them, sung by the great Kenyan-Englishman, Roger Whittaker, in 1971.…

Posted in , commentsAdd your comment

Aloha, Uncle Boogie

Wednesday, March 10th, 2021

By Catherine Cluett Pactol

Kalaupapa’s Clarence “Boogie” Kahilihiwa will be remembered by many around the world for his big smile, even bigger presence and his life of advocacy for patients of Hansen’s disease in Kalaupapa. Uncle Boogie passed away on March 5 at the age of 79, following an illness.

Uncle Boogie served as president of Ka ‘Ohana O Kalaupapa, an organization for patient residents and their families and friends, since 2011, as well as a member and former president of the Kalaupapa Lions Club. He retired from his job as a painter with the state Dept. of Health and managed the Kalaupapa Bookstore, a popular visitor stop on the Kalaupapa tour.…

Posted in , commentsAdd your comment

Kalaupapa Goodbyes

Wednesday, February 24th, 2021

Opinion by Father Pat Killilea, St. Francis Church, Kalaupapa

It must have been about 9:30 p.m. and I had settled in bed for the night when it came to me by way of the voices of Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli, “Time to say goodbye….” I have no idea why this melody floated into my consciousness. In this song written for Andrea, the duo are saying goodbye to countries they have never shared with each other, but now they are in fact going to these countries on ships which don’t exist anymore. So, it’s time to say goodbye again. The opening verse is in Italian and I have only a couple of words of Italian in my vocabulary.…

Posted in , commentsAdd your comment

Baring Arms for the Cause

Thursday, February 4th, 2021

Opinion by Father Pat Killilea, St. Francis Church, Kalaupapa

Confucius, the great Chinese philosopher, is credited with many witty sayings, most of which I dare not quote here, but this one I can. It goes, “Man who wears short sleeved shirt supports right to bare arms.” He has also been quoted as saying, “He who sits on needle gets the point.” Now I believe that most people would agree that getting a needle in the seat would not be something to look forward to, unless absolutely necessary. However, there are millions of people on our earth today who are looking forward to baring their arms and inviting some lovely young nurse to give them a shot or needle in the arm containing the COVID vaccine.…

Posted in , , , commentsAdd your comment

Kalaupapa Gets Vaccinated

Thursday, February 4th, 2021

Kalaupapa Gets Vaccinated

By Catherine Cluett Pactol

Residents and employees in Kalaupapa received COVID-19 vaccines last week delivered to the settlement.

Dr. Glenn Wasserman, chief of the Communicable Disease and Public Health Nursing Division of the Hawaii Department of Health, and two DOH public health nurses flew to Kalaupapa Airport last Monday.

“It is gratifying to be able to protect our Kalaupapa patients and community with these vaccinations. Our patients are elderly with significant comorbidities that make them especially vulnerable to COVID-19,” said Dr. Wasserman. “We’ll be back in four weeks to administer a second dose of the Moderna vaccine to those who have now received their initial inoculations.”…

Posted in , , , commentsAdd your comment

Mahalo Mokulele

Wednesday, January 27th, 2021

Kalaupapa Airport has been like a gathering place for many of us over the years. Then once this COVID struck our islands with such devastation, all this has changed and necessary restrictions by the Dept. of Health have prevented us from gathering there. That all changed on Saturday morning, Jan. 16, 2021, although only for a brief time, when we gathered in our masks at Terminal 1 to await the return of Boogie to our little township. After a brief delay, Mokulele’s flight touched down and taxied to a halt. A cheer went up as Boogie was taken from the plane and wheeled into the terminal in his wheelchair.…

Posted in , , , , commentsAdd your comment

Bringing Boogie Home

Wednesday, January 27th, 2021

It is with deep gratitude that we send this huge mahalo nui to Mokulele Air for going out of their way to help the patients in Kalaupapa. They have made special trips to deliver food, supplies and patients. Boogie was able to return to his home in Kalaupapa last week. Even in his weakened physical state, it was obvious that his spirits were high. Words cannot express the deep joy and fondness that filled us as his flight landed and he emerged. Boogie “rode around” in his wheelchair to familiar places in the settlement, enjoying the crashing of the ocean, the beauties of the aina and meeting of friends along the way.…

Posted in , , , commentsAdd your comment

Star of Wonder

Wednesday, December 30th, 2020

Star of Wonder

Opinion by Father Pat Killilea, St. Francis Church, Kalaupapa

“O star of wonder, star of night, star with royal beauty bright.

Westward leading, still proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light.” -John Hopkins Jr. in 1857

I am not exactly known as a star gazer but I do recall times in my high school years when, during class time, I caught myself looking out the window, either because I was desperately looking for inspiration or was just plain bored in class that day. Still I have looked toward the heavens on a few occasions in my time, be that to forecast the weather or to check out a twinkling star or an approaching unidentified flying object.…

Posted in , , commentsAdd your comment

It’s Never Too Late

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2020

By Father Pat Killilea, St. Francis Church, Kalaupapa

Just a few minutes ago, I walked across the street to check my mail box, just in case I had received a million dollars to benefit St. Francis Church. The sign on the window as well as on the door read, “Closed 12/7; Open 12/8.” Today is 12/8 and this was my third trip today to the USPS of Kalaupapa. I will probably stop there again later. After all, this is Kalaupapa and it’s never too late here.

It has been three weeks plus since I last used our landline to make a call.…

Posted in , commentsAdd your comment