LOVELY MAKOGAI IS AN ISLE OF ASTOUNDING OPTIMISM.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18959, 4 January 1930, Page 19 (Supplement)

LOVELY MAKOGAI IS AN ISLE OF ASTOUNDING OPTIMISM.

Nursing Sisters Do Wonderful Work Among Lepers.

AT CHRISTMAS time every year, the attention of New Zealanders is directed to Makogai, a tiny island in the Fiji group where sufferers from the scourge of leprosy are given sanctuary and the hope of a cure. Interested people ask for help in sending Christmas parcels to this tiny islet, and the response is remembered and appreciated by all on the island. About thirty miles north-east of Levuka, Makogai lies dreaming on the bosom of a sleepy sea. The sun pours down on the green island, and the trade wind rustles the palms that fringe the shore. Inside the circling reef lies a still lagoon, blue as a peacock’s tail, the playground of the patients. It is one of the most beautiful of the many beautiful isles of the Pacific, and its people are the most cheerful, in spite of the dread cloud that hangs over their lives. The revolting appearance of those -who have been in the grip of the disease long cannot dampen the spirit of them or their fellows; so many have been cured that they all fix their minds on that hope, r.nd refuse to consider any other possibility. A Place of Peace. Like thousands of its fellows, Makogai is simply a hill sticking out of the sea, surrounded by a reef just awash,

which makes a snowy mark on the face of the purple ocean. Steaming through the reef between a point of land and a gigantic rock, the peaceful bay comes into view. Above, the hill is green with the vivid red grass, 15ft high, looking smooth as a lawn, which sweeps down to the fringe of coconut palms and a brilliant golden beach Through the palm groves can be seen the roofs of the different buildings, in little clumps, where each island race lives separate from its neighbours. Coming closer, the landing stage can be seen, and groups of figures waiting with the perennial interest the Pacific Islander takes in nothing in particular. A cutter with mails and supplies comes in fre~ lltllllinilllllllllllilllllllllllllllilllllllllllllllllllllllllilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllilllir

quently, and steamers often pass, but each boat, big or small, is an event to be celebrated with a due amount of staring and excited comment. Cricket and Movies. Apart from the periodical treatment, life for the leper at Makogai goes on in exactly the same manner as it does in his home village. He is ruled by a head man, responsible to the authorities for the scrupulous cleanliness of the dwellings of those under him, and plays, works in his taro patch or lazes in the sun just as he would at home. The day is filled with the labour of gardening, but only if the individual likes to fill his day that way. Otherwise, he can play cricket, go to the movies, or sail his model boat exactly as he pleases, or indulge in the favourite sport of the Islander, gossip. From all over the South Pacific come victims of the revolting disease, seeking a cure at Makogai. Thanks to the confidence in his medicines the white man has gradually built up confidence among the natives of the Islands, and thanks also to the work of native practitioners, of late years the great major ity of patients have come to the island voluntarily. When they arrive at the island, the patients are allotted to their proper quarters—the women to the wards especially built and equipped for them, and the men to villages among their own particular race. The two or three whites live by themselves. As much as possible, the men are left to their own devices, supervision being confined to a daily inspection, but the women are constantly attended by the Nursing Sisters who cheer them, and interest them in work and games. It is found that the women take their plight much more to heart than do the men, and it is, among the women that the Roman Cath olio Nursing Sisters do a splendid work. With the male patients, life goes on much as it did before, but among the women there are constant reminders of the homes they have left.

“ Good-bye.” Sitting at their mat-making, the women think of home, and sing long, plaintive songs of the days before. On their beds, in the immaculately clean wards there are bedspreads worked in wool with the words “Good Bye.” in every dialect of the Southern Pacific. It is a pathetic note, and one which the Sisters fight with all the strength in their power.

Wonderful women, these fourteen Sisters, who have given up their lives to labour amongst one of the most revolting of all diseases, but there is never a complaint from any one of them. They toil like Trojans all through the day, rewarded by the thought that they are rendering a great service. Their head is Mother Mary St Agnes, a small dynamic woman, whose coming is at once blessed and feared by the patients, for while they almost worship her, she is a disciplinarian, and commands all their respect. Sister Mary St Suzanne is the outstanding character among the sisters, and is the idol of the natives. She is French, and has been on Makogai for twenty years, where many evidences of her boundless resource and ingenuity exist. She is tall and stately, and has a most purposeful manner. On a recent trip to Sydney, the first leave she had taken for a number of years, she beat up interest in her patients to such an extent that she arrived back at the scene of her labours with a complete electric light plant, an electric refrigera tor, and an electrically operated motionpicture machine complete with a stock of films. It is for these movies that Sister Suzanne will be longest remembered. If there is one thing the Islander loves above anything, it is the movies, and every weekly performance is greeted with squeals of merriment, or warning shouts to the hero as the villain creeps up behind him. Very few indeed of the natives can read the English captions on the films, but there is generally one of their number who can translate the words, and who is immediately appointed official an nouncer. Through the applause or cries of dismay, depending on the particular style of picture, the voice of the announcer can be heard, manfully striving against great odds. All this joy is directly attributable to the resource' and energy of Sister Suzanne, for, beside acquiring the material for all three plants, she insisted on erecting them carrying out many complicated electric wiring operations with the greatest expertness. (CONTINUED ON PAGE 21.)