Hawaii governor approves $5M for Kalaupapa memorial to honor victims of Hansen’s disease

What You Need To Know

• • SB 3338 allocates $5 million for the construction of the Kalaupapa Memorial

• • Hansen’s disease reached epidemic proportions in Hawaii in the mid- to late-1800s, prompting King Kamehameha V to approve an act authorizing the relocation of people with Hansen’s disease to the isolated, largely undeveloped peninsula as a means of preventing further spread

• • The Kalaupapa Memorial was proposed by the resident-founded Ka Ohana o Kalaupapa, which has spent much of the last 20 years advocating for its establishment

• The names of the residents will be engraved in one of two interlocking circles in chronological order of their arrival on the peninsula