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The Hawaiian island of Molokai was as soon as the positioning of America’s largest leprosy colony. A brother and sister in Hawaii talk about how their lives have been formed by leprosy, often known as Hansen’s illness.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Today’s StoryCorps comes from the Hawaiian island of Molokai. It was as soon as the positioning of America’s largest leprosy colony, often known as Kalaupapa. About 8,000 folks from throughout the U.S. have been quarantined there. For centuries, leprosy was a misunderstood illness. Many believed wrongly that you can catch it from a handshake. Thousands with the illness have been taken from their households and exiled to leprosy colonies within the U.S. Doug Carillo and Linda Mae Lawelawe got here to StoryCorps to speak about how their lives have been affected by leprosy.
LINDA MAE LAWELAWE: Kalaupapa is on the backside of this big mountain. There’s no roads. There’s nothing, nothing, nothing. Nobody can go there.
DOUG CARILLO: And our dad was sick for six years in Kalaupapa. And we knew that he acquired married to some lady. But he acquired cured, so he got here again house. And he simply stated, you’ve gotten a sister, however she’s been adopted. She was given away.
LAWELAWE: I used to be that youngster that Dad was speaking about.
CARILLO: You know, I knew I had a sister – a half sister. But there isn’t any means of discovering out the way to hint you ‘trigger they by no means had information.
LAWELAWE: My mother had leprosy, and as quickly as she delivered me, the nurse picked me up and put me in one other room. And there was home windows, and my mother may see, however she by no means had the chance to the touch me. Finding you took 55 years.
CARILLO: Exactly. But after I first seen your face…
LAWELAWE: I bear in mind.
CARILLO: …I stated, she look similar to Dad. So I knew you have been my sister.
LAWELAWE: You simply ran to me and gave me probably the most largest hug I ever had.
CARILLO: We’d been on the lookout for you for such a very long time. So once we lastly met, there was reduction in my coronary heart.
LAWELAWE: I’ve identified you for nearly 20 years, brother. And simply feeling that love, I can carry you with me for the remainder of my life.
MARTIN: That was Doug Carillo and Linda Mae Lawelawe. Today, leprosy is named Hansen’s illness and is now curable. Nine former sufferers stay at Kalaupapa, all of their 80s and 90s. They nonetheless name the group house. This dialog is archived on the Library of Congress.
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