By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Hansen's disease patients Boogie Kahilihiwa, far left,
and Nancy Brede, right, get makeup applied for the movie
"Father Damien," now filming at the remote
Molokai community of Kalaupapa.

‘Quest for Dignity’
focuses on leprosy

The exhibit at City Hall
opened at the U.N. and will
be going to Beijing

By Mary Adamski
Star-Bulletin

S.K. Jung, president of a South Korean multimillion-dollar agricultural cooperative, and Hawaiian Bernard Punikaia, a leader in building an award-winning Hawaii housing project for seniors, will compare successes in a show opening today in Honolulu Hale.

Kazumi Sogano, former president of a 5,000-member association in Japan, and Texas social worker Jose Ramirez Jr. also have experiences to share.

They are among the dignitaries here for "Quest for Dignity," a multimedia exhibit on the modern victory over leprosy/Hansen's disease. The show, launched October at the United Nations, is here for two weeks en route to Beijing and an international tour.The show combines speakers and panel discussions, storytelling and entertainment with displays of photos and historical documents.

"The idea is to educate, to help people understand and to illustrate the positive side," said Punikaia. Like the other three men, he has had Hansen's disease. "People are being empowered in spite of the disease, in spite of government restrictions or people's prejudices."

"This is about people who had Hansen's disease, expressing their thoughts and feelings about the past and their expectations for the future," he said.

By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
David Wenham, who plays Father Damien, chats with
Kalaupapa residents Sarah Benjamin and Kenso Seki.

Punikaia is president for international advocacy for the International Association for Integration, Dignity and Economic Advancement, a group of 10,000 former patients and their supporters. The exhibit was organized by IDEA in collaboration with the World Health Organization and the Nippon Foundation of Japan.

Punikaia will journey to Beijing in September for the International Leprosy Congress, the fourth he's attended and third at which he will speak. He just returned from a week in Japan with IDEA coordinator Anwei Skinsnes Law, speaking to Hansen's disease victims in that country, which ended enforced isolation of patients only two years ago.

Punikaia was 6 years old in 1937 when he contracted the disease, was taken from his family, and forced into quarantine that lasted until the Hawaii law mandating separation was repealed in 1969.

He is one of the surviving "historical" patients sent to Kalaupapa before sulfone medication was developed to cure the disease. Several Kalaupapa residents will participate in "Quest for Dignity." They are among the 200 people invited by Gov. and Mrs. Ben Cayetano to a Washington Place reception tomorrow celebrating the exhibit.

There are now more than 400 people in Hawaii with Hansen's disease, about 20 new cases per year, treated by private physicians and with no visible signs.

Punikaia's quest ended happily two years ago with the opening of a 210-unit housing project for senior and handicapped citizens at the Pearl City site of the old Hale Mohalu hospital, which he failed to stop the state from closing. He was a member of the Coalition for Specialized Housing that put together the project.