- Hawaiâi Conference
Kalaupapa "A Place of Hope": Kahu Kalani Wong shares
In January of 1866, the first of an estimated 8,000 people diagnosed with Hansen's Disease (leprosy)â90 percent of whom were Hawaiianâwere exiled to Molokaâi's remote Kalaupapa Peninsula. January 2022 marked the first observance of Kalaupapa Month by the state of Hawaiâi. In 2013, the 191st âAha PaeâÄina of the Hawaiâi Conference United Church of Christ established Kalaupapa Sunday (the fourth Sunday of January) to remember, commemorate and honor all the patients of Kalaupapa, many of whom came from or had connections to our families and churches.
We met with Kahu Kalani Wong as he recollected his experiences (over the span of 20 years) visiting Kalaupapaâwhat heâs come to know as a place of hope and resilience; a place to learn about acceptance and celebrate the diversity of life.
âI thought it might have been a place of despair, a place where people were sent to die. But really I see it as a place of hope, I see it as a place of resilience, because thatâs what the people are. Theyâre a model of resilience, making a life in the settlement where everyone does whatever they can to make it into a living and thriving community.â
Kahu Kalani Wong is an ordained minister in the âAha O NÄ Mokupuni o Maui, Molokaâi a me LÄnaâi (Tri-Isle Association) of the Hawaiâi Conference United Church of Christ (HCUCC). He sits on the steering committee for Wisdom of Kalaupapa which is a joint collaboration of HCUCC, ReSource for Christian Spirituality, and Episcopal churches on Kauaâi. Kalani is the Chaplain of Kamehameha Schools Maui and writes daily devotionals which can be found on the schoolâs website.
View these Kalaupapa devotionals from January 2022:
âEquipped for Serviceâ
âCarrying is Caringâ
âNo Need to Be Afraidâ
Learn more through the Wisdom of Kalaupapa project: