Kalaupapa Memoir Shares an Inspiring Life Story
No Footprints in the Sand by Henry Nalaielua and Sally-Jo Bowman
In 1936 ten-year-old Henry was taken from his family on the Island of Hawai‘i and sent to Kalihi Hospital on O‘ahu. He was later transferred to Kalaupapa on the rugged north coast of Moloka‘i, where he has spent most of the past 65 years in this remote village with a tragic history as a Hansen’s disease colony. During its century as a virtual prison, more than 8,000 people were exiled to Kalaupapa, until the introduction of sulfone drugs in the 1940s. Today fewer than 20 patients remain.
No Footprints in the Sand: A Memoir of Kalaupapa by Henry Nalaielua with Sally-Jo Bowman is one of only a few memoirs ever shared with the public by a Kalaupapa patient. Its intimacy and candor make it, in the words of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet W.S. Merwin, “a rare and precious human document.”
The sand beach that stretches nearly a mile beyond the Kalaupapa wharf was always laid smooth by the tide. Hansen's disease plays havoc with feet, ulcerating them, crippling them. Such feet walk poorly. And in sand they cannot walk at all. Most patients in Henry's time left no footprints in that golden sand.
Nalaielua’s story is an inspiring one; despite exile, physical challenges and the severing of family ties, he has faced life — as an artist, musician and historian — with courage, honesty, hope and humor. Among the experiences recounted in this memoir are Nalaielua’s term of residency at the Gillis W. Long Hansen's Disease Center in Carville, Louisiana, and his role as part of the Hawai‘i delegation to Father Damien’s beatification ceremony in Belgium and the burial of Damien’s relic at Kalaupapa.
Henry Nalaielua and Sally-Jo Bowman, co-authors of No Footprints in the Sand, at their book launch celebration.
Co-written by Hawai‘i and Oregon author Sally-Jo Bowman, this 200-page memoir also includes historic photographs and artwork by Nalaielua. Bowman’s book, The Heart of Being Hawaiian, a collection of her articles and essays, includes “Kalaupapa: Home of the Heart,” a piece that started her long friendship with Nalaielua. Read an excerpt here at HawaiiReaders.com.
No Footprints in the Sand has been featured by The Honolulu Advertiser, the Louisiana Advocate, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, West Hawaii Today and the Hawaii Book Blog.
No Footprints in the Sand is available for purchase at your local bookstore and at online booksellers, including direct from the publisher at www.bookshawaii.net.
Author: Henry Nalaielua with Sally-Jo Bowman
Softcover, 192 pp
Release Date: November 2006
ISBN: 978-0-9779143-0-2
$16.95 retail price
Tags: Father Damien, Hansen's disease, Henry Nalaielua, Kalaupapa, Molokai, Sally-Jo Bowman
