Passersby may not think much of the humble one-story residence on Keolu Drive. Nestled in the quiet suburb of Enchanted Lake, shaded by palm trees and set against a backdrop of the Koolaus’ lower slopes, the house seems like your typical Windward Oahu family abode.
For Daphne Hookano, however, it is a place where she hopes to make miracles happen.
As she sits on a soft leather sofa in the living room, Hookano looks around at the artwork on the home’s walls. Her eyes admire the newly upholstered chair gracing the dining room table. There’s some dust on the furniture, she notes, but that’s alright — the skylight above bathes everything in a warm glow that makes such little imperfections almost unnoticeable.
“It feels like God lives here,” she said.
Hookano is a parishioner at St. John Vianney Church in Kailua. She is also a former inmate of the Women’s Community Correctional Center in nearby Olomana. The house on Keolu Drive is the site of a new initiative Hookano has launched to help other former inmates find their way back into the community.
A lifelong Catholic, the 50-year-old Hookano has an inspiring story of ups, downs and turn-arounds. Born and raised in Enchanted Lake, she grew up around the corner from the Keolu transitional house she now runs. Her father was a Portuguese-English-Irish fireman; her mom a Hawaiian-Caucasian schoolteacher. She has two older siblings.
Her mother was a catechist at St. John Vianney. The Catholic faith was a major part of the maternal side of her family, as Hookano’s grandmother passed the faith on to all of her 21 children.
“I come from this long line of Catholics,” Hookano said. “I had good morals and values.”
Despite her positive upbringing, Hookano began to experiment with drugs and alcohol as a youth. Her substance abuse progressively worsened — she got into drug dealing at age 12. When she became pregnant with her son, who is now 30, Hookano made an effort to get sober. That attempt didn’t last.
“Because I didn’t have a program for recovery, I didn’t know how to stay clean,” Hookano said.
Several years ago when her father died and her husband wanted a divorce, Hookano said “that was when I was doing my most damage.” At age 43, she was arrested on four counts of meth trafficking and other felonies. Her crimes could have netted up to a 20-year prison sentence.
Going to prison ironically turned out to be “the biggest blessing,” Hookano said. Immediately, she set about working on her recovery. She stayed at Oahu Community Correctional Center for roughly eight months before going on supervised release to a treatment program.
“I loved recovery when I got there,” Hookano said. “I learned that that’s probably why I went through all those years of addiction, because God had another plan for me. I knew that was my niche.”
In 2007, she was given a reduced sentence of three years and eight months. During her prison time, Hookano was driven to become a better person.
Chronicling her journey
She immersed herself in classes to heal from the substance abuse and domestic violence. She began to write prolifically, chronicling through creative prose the anger, pain and redemption in her prison journey. Hookano was one of the first inmates to share her story in a presentation called “The Prison Monologues.”
“Anybody can do prison time, but it’s what you do with your time in prison that counts,” Hookano said. “It helped guide me; brought back all my morals and values that my parents instilled.”
After being released on parole, Hookano dove back into community life. She got a job at United Cerebral Palsy. WCCC warden Mark Patterson invited her to join his “trauma informed care initiative team.” Hookano traveled to conferences on the mainland to learn more about mental health and other issues. In addition, she served as a peer specialist at the women’s correctional center.
Now Hookano is working on getting a substance abuse counseling certificate from Leeward Community College. She hopes to go to the University of Hawaii at Manoa in January to study social work.
It has long been her goal to create a peer mentorship program for women just getting out of prison. The transitional home on Keolu Drive was an unexpected blessing for this mission. Hookano connected with Kailua United Methodist Church pastor Sam Cox, owner of the house, on the project. Cox, a social worker by trade, had been considering a community re-entry program for women as well.
Pastor Cox leased the house to Kailua United Methodist Church instead of following his original plan to sell it. Hookano was given a grant from the Castle Foundation to serve as the program’s facilitator. She now oversees the initiative called the “Beacon of Hope House.”
“We have the exact same visions,” Hookano said. “I think that support is one of the biggest things you need for women who are coming out.”
The house was open in January and currently has three residents. Hookano said she hopes to accommodate about five to eight women at a time. They are allowed to stay up to one year, she said, but situations can be flexible.
Women who want to live at Beacon of Hope must demonstrate to Hookano a determination for recovery. She asks for recommendations from parole officers and prison staff. She personally interviews candidates about their plans and goals after incarceration.
The women who are accepted to the house must follow its rules. They are required to attend support meetings and assist with household chores. No swearing and no male visitors are allowed. A nighttime curfew is strictly observed. Women must also be employed or go to school.
There is a $400 a month charge for rent — a reasonable amount, Hookano said, that gives the women a change to save money for the future.
“We want to help them get established and hopefully move on to the next stage,” she said.
Hookano’s program is still in its pilot stage, but already she has seen a difference in the women who have been living at Beacon of Hope. Neighbors and the surrounding community have been very supportive. One day, Hookano said, the women in the house will go out and be “beacons of hope” for others.
Although Beacon of Hope House is not primarily faith-based, Hookano said it is “faith-supported.” With her ties to Catholic and other churches, she tries to bring the women to different religious services if they are interested.
Hookano is grateful for the chance to give back through this program. Her own life has been redeemed through a strong sense of faith, and she hopes to provide that same opportunity for change to more women.
“My life has turned around tremendously,” she said. “I always tell (the women) all things are possible with God.”
