The September 11th attack
Economic fallout hits some Hawai'i families hard
By Tanya Bricking
Advertiser Staff Writer
Gauta Vaa felt the squeeze a tourism decline put on his wallet a decade ago when he was working in the travel industry during the Persian Gulf War.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
But this pinch feels worse. It is doubly straining to Vaa because both he and his wife rely on tourism money to pay their bills.
Gauta Vaa and his wife depend on jobs in the visitor industry to pay the bills.
The state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations does not keep track of how many couples or families file unemployment claims. But individually, the numbers are staggering.
Statewide, more than 11,000 people have filed unemployment claims since the Sept. 11 attacks. From the time of the attacks through the end of September, 3,558 unemployment claims were filed by workers in hotels and related services, as well as 1,103 restaurant and bar employees. Travel industry jobs have been hurt worse than during the slowdown preceding the Gulf War in 1991, worse than after Hurricane 'Iniki in 1992.
Vaa, 31, still hopes to avoid the unemployment office, even though things are looking bleak. He is a line dancer in the "Creation — A Polynesian Journey" revue at the Sheraton Princess Kai'ulani's 'Ainahau Showroom, but the show has been cancelled indefinitely. He is also a representative for the Hale Aloha Visitor Information Center on Kal?kaua Avenue, the Waikiki strip now void of its typical crowds.
His hours have been cut from 40 a week to 12. His wife, Bonnie Falefia, a front-desk worker at Marc Suites Waikiki, lost a day's worth of wages a week. They have a 3-month-old and a 2-year-old in Kalihi, and Vaa just lost his medical insurance.
"I'm gonna try to stay healthy," he said. "I'm lucky I just have something coming in."
He's not sure how he's going to pay his bills. He said he's hoping if he waits it out, things will get better.
"If I start getting negative, it's going to mess me up in the head or make me do something I don't want to do," he said. "Right now, I'm just staying in until I see what my options are. It kept me afloat very good until now."
Other couples are waiting in the unemployment line to see what kind of help they can get before their hours dry up completely.
Pat Walker, 43, ended up in line last week after she had her hours cut from five days a week to four at Red Lobster in Waikiki. Her boyfriend, who makes truck deliveries in Waikiki, had his full-time job slashed in half.
The Nu'uanu couple, who together have six children, must find a way to pay their $1,600-a-month mortgage.
"Everybody's in the same boat, drowning in bills," Walker said as she waited to fill out paperwork.
She said her teenage children are old enough to understand what's happening, and as a mother, she can't afford to stay depressed. She doesn't want her children to be afraid.
"You pray a little more than you used to" she said. "You know, thankful for what you have."
Couples who have seen tough times before know the economic slump may get worse before it gets better.
"We still are trying to work hard and hope the situation will get back to normal," said Danny Cebuma, 52, whose hours have been cut in half at Hawaii Tour and Travels. Two or three days a week, he still stands outside International Marketplace in Waikiki and hands fliers to tourists in hopes that business will pick up. His wife, Nelia, a cashier at ABC Stores, also had her hours cut.
"It's not only us suffering this situation," Cebuma said. "It's everybody."
For Min Soo Pata, there is little comfort knowing she is not alone in this crisis.
Pata, 31, a full-time student at Kapi'olani Community College, cried in a financial aid counselor's office after her bartender husband's hours were slashed and her landlord raised the rent by $150 a month. She's scraping by to stay in school and has abandoned plans to try to get pregnant anytime soon.
Individuals in her situation understand the problem of struggling to pay the bills. The way Pata sees it, the business community should help local families find a solution.
"We're sending all this money to all these people who have been tragically affected by death," she said. "But what about people who have been tragically affected by life?
"If we take care of each other right now, we can all get through this."
Reach Tanya Bricking at tbricking@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8026.
