HONOLULU (KHON2) — Pohailani Condominium is now known as home for some displaced Lahaina residents one of them being Willy Shim.
Willy Shim or “Uncle” Willy as he’s affectionately known on Maui, is happier than he’s been in a long time because now, he gets to do little things like dishes in his very own kitchen.
His laugh is infectious, and his spirit unwavering, though he has every reason to feel otherwise.
“I came out positive because I had a great life. I had good vibration so I was high on life and living my dream. I’m not gonna let a fire ruin that for me. So I had to move forward even though I couldn’t say it was easy,” Shim said, referencing the August 8th Maui wildfire that displaced not only him but so many Lahaina residents.
After being shuffled from room to room over the past year – a total of 6 to be exact – Willy finally has a place to call home, at least for the next year.
“So this is where they have me staying now,” he said. “I had to thread through all the hoops that they gave me because I’ve been in several hotels, been moved around a lot.”
His home on front street as well as his surf school, his prized board collection and his two SUV’s were all lost in the fire that turned his dream self described life into a nightmare.
“This will be one of my hardest years of my life, towards rebuilding had a good life. I was prosperous always working toward the better tomorrow.”
That better tomorrow is what keeps willy going. And he hadn’t returned to where his former home once stood, until almost a year after the disaster.
“This was all residential… We had three big mango trees here in like 100-year-old ones.”
He said those three towering mango trees produced enough fruit to share with everyone he knew.
Today, they’re just stumps.
But for all he lost he said his focus is on the future.
“I’ve seen it. I like to move forward from that because I’ve seen it already, time to move forward. I don’t want to be on it. I don’t need to dwell on physical things I lost, I would be dwelling or mourning.”
Instead Willy is rebuilding his life and his surf school. One board at a time.
And he added getting back in the water, and sharing his passion with others is where he finds his strength and his peace.
“That is because I have enjoyed teaching surfing, and surfing has saved my life in my earlier days.”
“It’s a great thing and I thank the lord I get an opportunity to teach surfing because I believe it’s a good healer.”
Something else willy is focusing on is helping others. And he’s doing so through a non-profit he created called Imua Maui Nei which aims to bring the resources and manpower needed to enable community wide healing.
“To see a lot of my friends and family going to hardship. It’s pretty devastating,” he said.”I think it’s embedded in me to help others here in Hawaii when you always want to help others because to me when you help others back tenfold back I feel.”
