I was in Hawaii about 10 years ago and I went out to Molokai. You have to go by boat and then there’s a little (and I mean little!) airplane that takes you over the island and down the cliffs to the edge of the sea, which was where the leper colony is located.
It was an incredibly touching and beautiful spot, very harsh, though, and I can’t imagine how those people felt, exiled to the bottom of high basalt cliffs (sort of like the Palisades, actually, but higher). I guess they just felt they were lucky they had any place to live. And their priest stayed with them, no matter what.
I felt that it was a real privilege to get to go there.
You can also go down the cliffs by mule, btw, but one of the mules had just fallen the week before, so they cancelled the mule rides for a few weeks. I would assume they have resumed, but actually, the little tiny plane, which they balanced by putting bundles of newspapers into compartments on the wings, was pretty adventurous itself!
And let us not forget the dedicated Sisters/Nuns who went there first to clean up the filth these suffering humans had come to live in due to innability to care for themselves medically and otherwise.
I went to Kalaupapa about 20 years ago. Went by plane to the airport and then by car to and all over Kalaupapa. Went to the museum, Fr. Damien’s Church, St. Philomena’s, Saw Fr. Damien’s and Mother Maryann’s and other Sisters’ graves. The stories of their caring for and those poor, suffering, outcast people had me in tears. It also should be noted that before Fr. Damien got the leper colony assignment he was a Priest for all the islands. He walked over so much lava it ruined his feet. It was he who supervised the bulding of the many-colored Church which burned a few years ago when volcanic lava engulfed it. The people of the parish wanted it painted many colors. Believe it was the Church featured in John Ford/John Wayne’s, “Donovan’s Reef”.