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Chris Demer's Reviews > The Colony: The Harrowing True Story of the Exiles of Molokai
The Colony: The Harrowing True Story of the Exiles of Molokai
by
by
This history of the leper colony on Molokai is truly a fascinating read!
Meticulously researched, the historical aspects are backed by mountains of documentation. However, the book reads more like a novel. Tayman includes life stories of several key players, including Father Damien, Mother Marianne, numerous directors and physicians who served the colony,(both good-hearted and greedy) several politicians and Board of Health members and several patients who spent years in exile. He draws information from interviews with elderly survivors as well as memoirs, articles,letters, minutes of meetings, etc. The story is tragic. The conception of leprosy as being extremely contagious, the horrendous results of untreated leprosy, ignorance and fear converged in the plan to exile those diagnosed to an isolated shelf of land on the Hawaiian Island of Molokai. The "Settlement" began in the 1860s as old and young, men and women, parents and children and husbands and wives were diagnosed (not infrequently in error) and torn from their families to live the remainder of their lives in exile from all they held dear. In the early years, there was minimal funding, and unbelievably, the exiled lepers were expected to grow their own food and become a self-sustaining colony!
They lived in crowded, poorly constructed cabins, in the damp and cold and many were severely malnourished. Medical care was minimal or absent and in any case, there was no real treatment. Eventually, through the works of Father Damien, a Belgian priest who was sent (willingly) to the island to care for their souls, and Mother Marianne and her small group of sisters, as well as some well-meaning managers and the efforts and pleadings of the "inmates" themselves, the situation gradually improved.
Eventually as treatments became available a small hospital was constructed. Improved availability of nourishing food the care improved the situation. But the fact remained that they were virtual prisoners for life, unable to return to their families ever!
Through the years, the members of the colony did create an alternative universe to some degree. Forming social groups, forming families (although their children were taken from them!) and caring for each other. When curative treatment finally became available in the form of Sulfone drugs in the early 1950s, many chose not to leave Molokai, having been abandoned by their families and made a new home of sorts.
In total, over 8000 people were exiled to Molokai over the century it was in operation. Most died there. Some when permitted, moved back to Honolulu where there was a hospital to care for them.
The narrative is sad, tragic and depressing- but also uplifting, a story of unbelievable bravery and survival.
Highly recommended!!
Meticulously researched, the historical aspects are backed by mountains of documentation. However, the book reads more like a novel. Tayman includes life stories of several key players, including Father Damien, Mother Marianne, numerous directors and physicians who served the colony,(both good-hearted and greedy) several politicians and Board of Health members and several patients who spent years in exile. He draws information from interviews with elderly survivors as well as memoirs, articles,letters, minutes of meetings, etc. The story is tragic. The conception of leprosy as being extremely contagious, the horrendous results of untreated leprosy, ignorance and fear converged in the plan to exile those diagnosed to an isolated shelf of land on the Hawaiian Island of Molokai. The "Settlement" began in the 1860s as old and young, men and women, parents and children and husbands and wives were diagnosed (not infrequently in error) and torn from their families to live the remainder of their lives in exile from all they held dear. In the early years, there was minimal funding, and unbelievably, the exiled lepers were expected to grow their own food and become a self-sustaining colony!
They lived in crowded, poorly constructed cabins, in the damp and cold and many were severely malnourished. Medical care was minimal or absent and in any case, there was no real treatment. Eventually, through the works of Father Damien, a Belgian priest who was sent (willingly) to the island to care for their souls, and Mother Marianne and her small group of sisters, as well as some well-meaning managers and the efforts and pleadings of the "inmates" themselves, the situation gradually improved.
Eventually as treatments became available a small hospital was constructed. Improved availability of nourishing food the care improved the situation. But the fact remained that they were virtual prisoners for life, unable to return to their families ever!
Through the years, the members of the colony did create an alternative universe to some degree. Forming social groups, forming families (although their children were taken from them!) and caring for each other. When curative treatment finally became available in the form of Sulfone drugs in the early 1950s, many chose not to leave Molokai, having been abandoned by their families and made a new home of sorts.
In total, over 8000 people were exiled to Molokai over the century it was in operation. Most died there. Some when permitted, moved back to Honolulu where there was a hospital to care for them.
The narrative is sad, tragic and depressing- but also uplifting, a story of unbelievable bravery and survival.
Highly recommended!!
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