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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, June 15, 2007

'Just too beautiful' to live in

StoryChat: Comment on this story

By Tiffany Hill
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

The Akana family braves the rain near their new Kalihi Valley home under an umbrella and an oversized check for $10,000 donated by Central Pacific Bank for their charity. They are, from left, Ben (carrying Poli, 2 months) and Momi; Maka, 8; Ku'ulei, 12; and Keahi, 14.

BRUCE ASATO | The Honolulu Advertiser

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KALIHI VALLEY — A day after they were wowed by the big reveal of their "Extreme Makeover" house, Momi and Ben Akana were going through a round of media interviews while their children were planning sleepovers with friends.

"In my wildest dreams this is exactly what I wanted but nothing that I could have dreamt it would be," Momi Akana said.

"When they said, 'What kind of home do you want?' and I said a local-looking house, I didn't know what I meant. But that's what I meant," she said, pointing to the green plantation-style house with the big front porch. "This is exactly everything we've always wanted and more."

The family planned to spend their first night in the house last night and to begin moving their possessions in the coming days from their former house just down the street.

The Akana family was chosen to receive the 100th house built by the ABC reality series "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." It is the largest project the show has undertaken, including not only a 3,500-square-foot house for the family but also a 4,500-square-foot community center for Keiki O Ka 'Aina, a nonprofit organization founded by Momi Akana that offers cultural programs to underprivileged Native Hawaiians.

The episode will air in September as the season premiere.

Eight-year-old Maka Akana said yesterday, "I'm going to have a sleepover with my best friends next Saturday. I have their phone numbers in my planner." His sister Ku'ulei, 12, and brother Keahi, 14, were planning likewise. They have a fourth sibling, 2-month-old Poli.

"We were nervous and anxious," said Ben Akana, adding that the family received two video clips of the building process so it wasn't a complete surprise, but that the finished product was still incredible.

The Akana family is not allowed to share what the home's interior looks like until after the September broadcast, but all agreed it is beyond description.

"It's just too beautiful, it's like staying in a hotel — somebody else's hotel, a really nice hotel," said Momi Akana, who she said she is afraid to sleep in it because it is so beautiful.

Maka said his new room is almost as big as a garage, while big brother Keahi said, "I feel kind of spoiled because I have a huge house. ... It's like a miracle. I was trying to imagine what it looked like and then when I walked inside it was even better; it was just really amazing."

In addition to building a brand new house from the ground up in only seven days, the show for the first time built a second structure — a new community center for Keiki O Ka 'Aina. The center will resume business today in its new facility.

"They fixed everything, they put in all new phone systems for us, all new electricity," Momi Akana said of the center. "You don't turn on the microwave to cook your lunch and all the computers go down. (The new center) is going to make such a difference in our ability to be able to serve people efficiently, hopefully for more people."

In January the organization joined forces with the Lokahi Giving Project, co-founded by Akana's longtime friend, Mariellen Jones.

"Her heart is so full of love and inviting ... that's what she's all about," Jones said. "Everybody who seems to come around her, all of her staff, they have the same feelings of genuine and love. They'd give you the shirt off their back."

Momi Akana said she plans to build a preschool on the property, and turn her former house into a transitional center for women just getting out of prison.

"I believe that's why we keep getting, is because we keep giving," she said. "If you keep giving, then God knows he can trust you."