Roofless homes restored
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| Sophie Kauhi watches workmen from Habitat for Humanity fix her roof in Waimanalo. The group normally helps families build their own homes, but offered to repair three Hawaiian Homestead homes damaged in the Nov. 27 storm.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser |
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward OÎahu Writer
WAIMANALO — There will be no annual family Christmas party at Sophie Kauhi's home this year, after a rainstorm tore the roof from her house and destroyed her belongings.
Still, Kauhi, 50 and unemployed, is grateful.
More than 50 volunteers, including prison inmates and a Russian marathon runner, have been working to repair her home and two others that lost their roofs during the same Nov. 27 storm.
"I'm blessed, because my family and friends could never put this thing back together," said Kauhi, tears filling her eyes. Only God's children could have done this, she said.
Pee Wee Kauhi, who lives in the three-bedroom, two-bath home with his sister, said he had been worried about the repairs, which he estimated would have cost about $30,000.
"We started cleaning up, and the next thing you know people came by and offered their help," he said.
Work began the day after the storm, and hasn't stopped. Neighbors, friends and strangers made a big push on Saturday and managed to finish one roof, said Jose Villa, executive director for Honolulu Habitat for Humanity, which organized the volunteers along with the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.
Volunteers continue to work on the second and third homes this week, one of them Kauhi's. All three are on Hawaiian Homestead lands on Kalaniana'ole Highway across from Waimanalo Beach Park.
Home Depot, RSI Roofing Supplies and Gotoh Construction have donated most of the material.
Kauhi said she would be living in a tent today if the community hadn't rallied to help her. With no insurance, and everything lost in water damage from the rain storm, she is living in the partially repaired home she inherited from her parents and shares with six other relatives.
Kauhi's 35-year-old home was in disrepair before the Nov. 27 storm. Termites had weakened the structure under her corrugated roof and damaged her floors; the plumbing was old and the electrical wiring outdated. Still, the home was livable and free of leaks, Kauhi said.
"This was the last grass shack in Waimanalo," she said jokingly.
Help came from as far away as Russia. Alexander Titov, 31, who had been vacationing in Hawai'i and ran the marathon on Sunday, said he had intended to volunteer for a project before he came. Titov had volunteered for a Habitat program in his home country, Kyrgyzstan, and wanted to do the same here.
"I wanted to try to connect work and fun," he said yesterday, adding that he would be heading home that evening. "Besides, it was boring sitting around doing nothing."
The Kauhis are getting more than a new roof. Honolulu Habitat decided to fix the termite-damaged floor, repair the plumbing and replace the old wiring, said Villa. Volunteers also will enclose the garage so it can be used as a bedroom.
In return, the Kauhis will contribute 500 hours of sweat labor to other Habitat projects.
Although repairing homes is not the mission of Honolulu Habitat, which builds homes for low-income families, Villa said the group wanted to be a good neighbor.
"It's within the spirit of our mission and in the spirit of being a good neighbor," Villa said.
Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.
