People Spotlight: Moki Akiona

Moki Akiona, a 27-year-old janitor from Kalihi, has experienced an uphill battle through his first decade as an adult.

Akiona, who is half Hawaiian, half Japanese, grew up on the west side of the island of Oahu in Makaha. He attended Waianae high school before dropping out without his diploma.

“I dropped out because I didn’t see the point of going to school”, he said. “I thought it was a waste of time. Some of the teachers didn’t like me and I wasn’t learning anything.”

Akiona’s fondest moments weren’t in school either. One thing he was particular skilled at was fighting chickens.

“My favorite childhood memory was when I won my first chicken fight derby,” he said. “I fought three chickens and I won all three matches. None of the fights lasted longer than three minutes.”

After dropping out of high school, Akiona lived with his parents until they kicked him out of the house at age 21. Even though his parents still loved him, he wasn’t providing anything for the family and was a burden. For about six months of his life, Akiona had no place of residency.

“I was living in the cock house down in the farm,” he said. “It was noisy, but you don’t really notice it.”

While most people would not be able to tolerate that type of lifestyle, Akiona had no problems getting by. Since he grew up around fishing, Akiona was able to get most of his food from the ocean.

But money doesn’t grow on trees and Akiona knew he had no true sustainable form of income. With limited credentials, he was willing to do any job.  Akiona searched far and wide and found his current occupation doing janitorial work in a location that he did not want to disclose.

“I just walk in and ask if there was any work,” he said. “That’s how I got the job. I just had to do it. I had to get a regular job. I was getting paid in cash until I found a place to live in Kalihi.”

Although he says it’s like working in a sweatshop, Akiona said that getting a job was a life-changing moment.

“I never realized the importance of hard work,” he said. “Before I would just be lazy and do things whenever I felt like doing it. Having a job really forced me to be disciplined.”

He also says he doesn’t really mind doing any of the duties that his job entails and actually takes pride in scrubbing toilets.

“I always need a clean bowl,” he said. “Would you want to sit down on a dirty toilet seat?”

As for his future plans, Akiona said he is comfortable where he is at and he hopes to retire at age 51. He currently has no desire to have a family.

“If it comes along, I’ll be working longer,” he said. “If not, I’m retiring at 51 because that’s the plan.”

One thing that he wishes he could have done differently in life would be to finish his education.

“I wish I could go back to school so I could find a easier job,” he said. “I like it here where I’m at now, but sometimes I’m so tired when I go home that I can’t really do anything.”

When he’s not working or fishing, Akiona enjoys eating Filipino and Hawaiian food. One of his favorite dishes to indulge on is salt meat and watercress soup.