Rachel Kalama, a spirited seven-year-old Hawaiian girl, dreams of visiting far-off lands like her father, a merchant seaman. Then one day a rose-colored mark appears on her skin, and those dreams are stolen from her. Taken from her home and family, Rachel is sent to Kalaupapa, the quarantined leprosy settlement on the island of Moloka’i. Here her life is supposed to end—but instead she discovers it is only just beginning.
Paul Brand grew up in the Kolli Malai hills in India having his lessons in tree branches and going from one end of the year to the other barefoot and happy. He was determined never to leave India, never to wear shoes and never to be a doctor like his father – especially to lepers. But before long he was on his way to school in England, wearing shoes from dawn to dusk and fighting tooth and nail against learning medicine. Years past, years with tragedy and challenges until eventually Paul discovered that the God he loved and trusted had the best plan for his life. Paul came back to India with a medical degree and there were patients waiting for him – leprosy patients. From then on he devoted his life to their care … even to the point of making them special shoes! Paul Brand’s work was influential in the cure and treatment of leprosy throughout the world. This life destroying disease under Paul’s loving care became something treatable and manageable. Lepers no longer needed to be outcasts. Paul’s faith in God, his love for mankind and his medical abilities gave those who suffered from leprosy a new life – and hope.
