'Makeover' starts on Kalihi family's home

Neighbors praise the Akanas as deserving of the new home and community center

Paige Hemmis, the carpenter with the pink tool belt on "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," spent two hours with 12-year-old Kuulei, Momi Akana's daughter, on Tuesday before brainstorming a design for the girl's bedroom.

"For us, it's a fact-finding mission," Hemmis said. "We want to know what they like so we can make their dreams come true."

The interview proved helpful when Hemmis double-checked information in the biography that said Kuulei and her two brothers, 14 and 8, loved karate. In private, they told her, " 'No, we hate karate! Mom makes us take it,' " Hemmis said with a laugh. Immediately, she revised plans for a martial arts room.

Said Hemmis: "You have to talk to the kids."

The Akana family lived at 3030 Kalihi St., but the actual construction is taking place farther up the road, where a grant allowed Momi Akana to purchase property to run her nonprofit learning center, Keiki O Ka Aina. "Extreme Makeover" will build the Akana family a new home there, and right next door will bulldoze the dilapidated community center and create a new meeting space for the Akanas to help more families. It's one of the largest projects the show has ever attempted.

Mary Krismunando, who lives down the street, said she was "so happy because this show is such a blessing to so many people." When asked if she felt the invasion of crew, traffic and equipment inconvenienced the neighborhood, she shrugged.

"If it does, you can live with it. Can't we all just hold up for a week? We should all be able to donate that to make a difference."

Joanne Kim, her sister Paula Tadaki and their auntie, Theresa Kim Lee, watched the scene from the balcony of a low-rise apartment building next door and marveled at the dramatic changes. Kim Lee's parents had lived and worked in a kim chee factory on the lot now swarming with a network television crew. Wistfully, she recalled the days when she rose at 1 a.m. to make kim chee for the family business.

But all agreed the transformation would benefit the family and the area. "It's sad, but it's going to a good purpose, and it's brought out volunteerism all over," Kim said. "Effort is what you give back, and that's what our grandparents did. The goal is to make it a better world."

Did Kim plan to watch the two-hour season premiere in September featuring her family's old digs? "I'm going to have to now!" she said. "I guess we'll need to have a big showing."

John Tamura and Jesse Akina arrived as part of the materials and construction crew. They'd spent the previous two days loading everything from wood to drywall onto trucks at the warehouse. Unsure of when they would be summoned, they realized, "When they need us, we're going to go," Tamura said.

Both Tamura and Akina said the pre-fab design and rapid construction does not mean quality has been compromised. "People think it's not good, but it is," Tamura said.

"They'll get a Kahala-style home in Kalihi Valley," added Akina.

Hemmis said the Akanas are special for several reasons. "They definitely need us," she said. "But more than that, Momi went out and helped 9,000 families when she was in need." And when Momi spoke with the designers, "she didn't ask for anything for herself; she was just talking about the Keiki O Ka Aina Family Learning Center the whole time, hoping she could get a roof that didn't leak," Hemmis said. "She represents the kind of selfless families we love to help."