‘ELE‘ELE — The main players in a house-dedication ceremony Wednesday afternoon were all women at Kauai Habitat for Humanity’s ‘Ele‘ele Iluna neighborhood.
The scene further expanded to include the all-women Habitat Team Roberta, a Global Village volunteer team that wrapped up its final work day for this tour with a mahalo celebration that combined with the house dedications for the community’s four newest homebuyers: Oeita Kauakahi, Ashley Conner, Josey Jacinto and Taira “Banana” Kajiwara.
“This is my ninth team coming to Hawaii to build houses in the last 13 years,” said Jan Roberta, team leader. “Thank you for trusting us and allowing us to come back. A lot of the team members have been here before, and on this trip, my granddaughter made 16 years old, so this is her summer trip along with her cousins.”
Pastor Darryl Kua of the Westside Christian Center Assembly of God joined Stephen Spears and the staff of Kauai Habitat for Humanity in celebrating the joy of hard work that resulted in homeownership for the newest families in the ‘Ele‘ele Iluna neighborhood’s upper lots.
“My two sons are in Alaska enjoying themselves while I’m moving in,” said Ashley Connor. “I hope they bring me back some salmon when they return.”
Tim “The Cut Man” Conner, Ashley’s father, said she was scared before she started her journey that included her family, her sisters Jennifer Acob and Julia Kauakahi and their families toiling in the hot ‘Ele‘ele sun toward completing the homes.
“Five months!” said Spears. “We started a new work model where we work on five homes at a time instead of the mass we previously worked on. This group started in January and were complete in June — all under budget, and costing not much more than the homes in the earlier increments.”
Ashley Conner said her journey started at a meeting she attended with her sister Julia.
“I didn’t qualify,” the young mother said. “You wasted one of my nights.”
That pushed Conner into her journey toward home ownership.
“There was a checklist of things to do toward qualifying,” she said. “I worked on this one item at a time — get a credit card, improve my credit rating, and more. The hardest part of the build was working three jobs while maintaining my family. I had a hard time asking for help, and I’m so grateful for my family — especially my brother-in-law — who are so loyal and came to help.”
Global Village teams joined other volunteers in finishing the homes.
“I told my daughters ‘I’m too old to enjoy a new house,’” said Gladys Jacinto, mother of Josey Jacinto. “I helped Josey’s sister Joanna build her home in the lower section of the project, and encouraged Josey to pursue her own home like her sister. I’m not going to have the experience of living in a new house, so I’m helping them wherever I can.”
Conner said the home dedication gives her hope for the future.
“This is ours,” she said. “All that hard work, this is ours. We don’t need to be worried about paying rent and getting kicked out to become homeless.”
Spears said there are still more than 30 homes to build in the ‘Ele‘ele Iluna project.
“After that, we look at building in Waimea,” Spears said. “There is still a lot more work to do.”
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
