Lahaina residents Ariel and Mau Ah Hee, their two young sons and ‘ohana are getting ready to celebrate Thanksgiving in their newly rebuilt home.
It’s not something Ariel Ah Hee thought would happen after their house burned during the Maui wildfires.
“I had no idea that it was going to be this fast, I was thinking at least two to three years,” she said during a blessing of their home last Friday. “So even when we started building in July, the fact that I’m here before Thanksgiving was wild, I was hoping to be here by New Year's. And we kept asking for help, and all these people were helping us, there were so [many] resources out there.”
It took about six months to rebuild their three-bedroom, two-bathroom home on Komo Mai Street, working closely with their local contractor, Derrick Montalvo, who is also Mau's uncle.
“My biggest piece of advice is to have a very good relationship with your contractor and to listen to their advice,” Ah Hee said with a laugh.
The Ah Hees highlighted all those who helped in the process, and Ariel said her husband put in long hours himself.
“He was here before work, he was working on the house after work, every day that we were off, he was here,” she said. “Even when were there was no lights here… 10 o’clock at night, just working on the house.”
They had built their original home on the property in 2019 through Habitat for Humanity, helping their neighbors build theirs, too. All the homes were destroyed in the fire.
The longtime Lahaina ʻohana has strong voyaging roots. Mau's father, Abraham “Snake” Ah Hee, was one of the original crewmembers aboard Hōkūleʻa.
Now, the Ah Hee's home shines as a guide for others, Kumu Kaponoʻai Molitau shared in his blessing.
“We look at this home as a hoku pa’a, as a north star, that when everybody drives by now, it's a beacon of hope,” he said.
Mayor Richard Bissen is hopeful more will follow soon.
“The first ‘ohana to move in, the first home to be rebuilt since the fires of Aug. 8,” said Bissen. “But this serves as a symbol of resilience of unwavering determination of how our people will rise from what has happened here. To the Ah Hee ‘ohana, I say, 'Welcome home.'"
Maui County has issued more than 250 building permits for fire-affected homes, and more than 120 of those are currently being rebuilt in Lahaina and Kula.
