Hey kids!  Get to know Father Damien 

and what he did.  

Here's a page just for you.

 Father Damien came from his homeland of Belgium to the Hawai'ian Islands in 1873.  

He was a Catholic missionary.   He  is remembered most for the 16 years he spent caring for people with leprosy.  

At that time, people with leprosy were banished. They were sent away to a very isolated and lonely place called Kalaupapa on the island of Moloka'i.

Before Father Damien came to help them, they were given very little help.  They had to care for themselves, even though many of them were too sick to find food or water.

WHEN FATHER DAMIEN came to help them, he had no plans of ever leaving.  He worked day and night to care for the sick and to make their village a place where they could be happy and feel a sense of decency and respect. 

He built them houses and a church. He helped them make gardens to grow their own food.  He made a pipeline to bring fresh water down from the mountains.   He brought music and sports back to their lives. Every day, he made coffins so they could have a proper burial. And he took special care of the children who had been sent there.  At one time, he had 40 of them under his care.  

ONE EVNING, Damien was soaking his tired feet in very hot water.  He didn’t notice that the water was burning his skin.  Damien went to see the doctor, who then told him that he too had gotten leprosy.  All feeling in his feet was gone, and soon the disease was affecting other parts of his body.  

You would think Damien would be fearful or sad, but instead he rejoiced at the news,  Because he too had leprosy now, he felt like he was one of them, a true brother and another outcast just like they were.

Father Damien’s leprosy got worse and in the end he had to stay in bed.  Others came to Kalaupapa to help him – other priests, nuns from the order of St. Francis, and an old Civil War soldier named Brother Dutton. 

 Father Damien died the day before Easter on April 15, 1889. Everyone in the village were deeply saddened. Though he was gone forever, his spirit of love and compassion would remembered by all who were sent to Moloka'i. 

~

TODAY,  Damien's name is now known all over the world.  His life of compassion and unselfish giving has become an example to us all.

 A cure for leprosy was finally found in the late 1940s, and the government stopped sending people away for having the disease. Those  at the leprosy settlement were free to leave.  Many chose to stay in this beautiful village because it was their true home now.

ABOUT LEPROSY

• Some 8,000 people in Hawai'i, mostly Native Hawaiians, got leprosy before the cure was found. Hawai'ians had very little immunity to Western diseases brought to their Islands.
   

• Leprosy, or Hansen's Disease as some now call it, is caused by a bacteria.  It is very hard to catch. Only 5 percent of the world can ever catch it. You have to have what is called a "susceptibility" (likely to catch it because of your DNA or genes) and have to be exposed to it for a very long time. 
   

• The drugs to cure the disease are very effective in stopping it.  However, those who have it often fear being shunned by others.  This can sometimes keep them from seeking treatment.  Without treatment, people can get disfigured and other complications can make having leprosy a worse fate than it needs be. Today, many who are being treated for leprosy or who have been cured of the disease are living happy, productive lives.