Moloka'i

Just finished reading Moloka'i written by Alan Brennert.  The story was based on the Leper Colony on the Kalaupapa Peninsula.  The story is historical fiction but the writer used many of the real experiences of people who lived there.  I enjoyed the book although it was sometimes hard to read because of the reality of what had happened to these people who had Hanson's disease.  The first patients were sent to the island in 1873 and the facilities didn't close until 1969.  In the information I read there were 14 people who remained on the island after it closed.  During the peak there were 1200 men, women and children living there.  Apparently health officials in Oahu visited schools on a regular basis looking for children who had the disease and if they did they were removed immediately to a hospital and then on to the colony.  It was a great shame for a family if someone had to be sent to the island.  One of the true stories I read told of a man who was cured of the disease and wrote to his mother telling her he wanted to come and see her.  She told him no.  She still didn't want anyone to know that someone in her family had been at the Kalaupapa Leper colony.  If a couple had a child while they were there, the baby was taken away immediately and sent to an orphanage or a family member back home.  Many of the women didn't go to the hospital and had their baby at home making sure that no one heard them so that they could hold and love their child before it was taken away.  A very interesting book to read but be prepared for some painful information.