Damien the Leper
By
John Farrow

 Mia Farrow, the daughter of the author, introduces this exciting story of a courageous young man named Damien. 
Ms Farrow is known to us as an accomplished actor and author. Her mother was Maureen O’Sullivan, an actor whose films are still enjoyed and remembered.  Ms Farrow recounts the memory of her father with candor and respect. She reveals John Farrow to be a man whose interest in the adventure of life carried him to the beauty of Polynesia. There he heard the story of Father Damien and made the decision to seek the truth behind the romantic legend. Thus begins John Farrow’s study of the life of the man who would change the lives of thousands of people and the attitudes of people the world over.   
We begin with Damien’s birth, in 1840, on a small farm in Tremeloo in northern Belgium. His name, at birth, was Joseph de Veuster, son of Catherine and Francois de Veuster. Very often an author passes briefly over the childhood and adolescence of his subject. But such is not the case in this retelling of the life of Father Damien. Farrow wants us to come to know the boy who made the man. He lets his reader learn of the man, Joseph, through his boyhood on the farm and in the village. We see a teenager being prepared to take his place in the world of commerce and industry. He was a boy who would, through education and training, exceed his family heritage. His parents, through their hard work and effort, would open the door of opportunity for their child. 
Joseph was a ready and willing student of all life had to teach. His willing nature took this young boy to the blacksmith’s forge and a friendship with the “smithy” that resulted in skills that few could match. This friendship and training would build Joseph’s body for hard work. It would prepare his mind to think in terms of utility, proportion and construction. It would train his hands to do whatever needed to be done to better the world around him. Years later, as he stood on the ground of Molokai and saw a people without so much as a source of fresh drinking water, he used those hands to fill the need.
He would go on to build a settlement where, once, only pain and death and shallow graves had been the dwelling place of the people infected with leprosy.
 As a priest, Joseph was called Father Damien. But to his friends, the people of Molokai, he was Kamiano. He lived a short but incredible life. He contracted leprosy. But, through the pain and physical deterioration caused by the disease process, Kamiano built churches, homes, orphanages and whatever his family of islanders needed to live in dignity. The true measure of his nature was his loving service as doctor when medical treatment and facilities were unavailable. He traveled the settlement of Kalaupapa and cleaned and dressed the wounds of the lepers, giving the best care and treatment he could provide. He spoke on behalf of those with leprosy, advocating for their rights as human beings, while the world beyond the shores of Molokai remembered little of the suffering of its people. 
 Father Damien’s life was one of courage. The romantic journey of a builder who believed all things were possible. He did not preach his journey, he walked it. He did not manage teams of workers. He was the carpenter, builder, ditch digger, pipe layer, and gentle doctor. His was the spirit of unconditional love. He died, surrounded by his beloved people, at the age of 49.  More than a century has passed but he is still Kamiano. He is still with his Molokaii. 
This is a book that you will read more than once and a man you will remember.