Father Damien was among the volunteer priests going to the Leper Colony on Molokai. When he grew attached to the people, he asked for permission to stay. When Damien saw wild pigs uprooting the shallow graves of leprosy patient bodies, he vowed that the dead would get proper burials. In the first 6 years that Damien was at Kalaupapa (on Molokai) he dug most of the graves & built most of the coffins for 1600 people, but he would also build over 300 homes & structures during the 16 years he was there.