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Several years ago, Abigail Eli fell in love with some kids whose families had been homeless for three generations, and she was determined to help them break out of the cycle of poverty and despair.
It spurred her on to get a bachelor’s degree in education to better help pave their way to a better life. Eli will graduate as a 4.0 student from Chaminade University on May 6; supporters believe she deserves a summa cum laude honor for what she overcame to earn the diploma.
She survived years of domestic violence, is a mother to 12 kids (seven are her biological children), directs a Makaha donations center for the poor, tutors homeless kids and is senior pastor of the Waianae Assembly of God.
Even with graduation around the corner, she can’t quite believe she’s finally getting her degree.
“I’m telling you this is a miracle — we’re watching the Red Sea part! … To be able to do this takes a lot of time management, it takes a lot of heart. This is not easy work.”
Eli went to the Kaimuki campus for the first time April 13 to pick up her royal blue cap and gown; she has been an online student since 2020. This will be her first graduation ceremony, as she had dropped out of high school. Overwhelmed by excitement and the magnitude of the campus, she was greeted by classmates, a professor and staff. Yet at the same time she felt like crying, as memories of the struggles and high points of her journey flooded her mind.
Her path toward her bachelor’s degree started in 2016. To really understand what it’s like to be homeless, Eli said she had a calling from God to move her family into the village of Pu‘uhonua o Waianae, an encampment of about 250 people near the Waianae Boat Harbor. Living in tents for two months, her kids thought it was the best summer camp experience ever, and she found a loving community who willingly shared what they had with each other, she said.
“Even with their addictions and all the trauma, they’re very loving people there. … It was definitely work, but I fell in love with the people. I loved the children.”
When she saw three generations of homeless families living in the camp, it struck her that it was a generational mindset that needed to be changed. The kids had no positive role models to follow.
They told her their greatest aspiration was to deal drugs or to own a car because no one at the camp could afford one. They never thought of owning or even renting a house, getting a high school diploma or accomplishing anything better, she said.
After her family left the camp, some of the kids walked 2 miles every day to her home to receive tutoring, and a few of the homeless kids eventually came to live with her (two of them became the first generation in their families to get a high school diploma). Eli cleared out the couches in her living room and set up desks and old computers to teach them, and recently moved her tutoring center to the Waianae Assembly of God.
It took the kids a while to understand the importance of getting a good education as a way to break out of homelessness, but Eli kept hammering away. She believes they kept coming back for the love and security she offered, and a deep-down yearning for the stability of her home.
“Every time I’ve been slammed and knocked down, I think about these kids, and I get back up because I have something to fight for. I love these kids. I want to help kids break out of generational poverty. That’s my passion.”
She enrolled at Leeward Community College in 2018 to become a teacher, and transferred her credits to Chaminade in 2020, all on scholarship.
Eli has fostered about 50 kids over the years, even before going to the camp. She formally adopted two of them; the others became her hanai children (a Native Hawaiian practice of casual adoption) or they returned to their families. One of her children is now in the Air Force in Texas.
Living at the Waianae encampment inspired her to revive her church’s Makaha Community Center, which now collects truckloads of donated food and supplies to help hundreds of families per week. If they’re searching in dumpsters for necessities and there’s strife at home, Eli said “it won’t work. If we can’t even bring stability to their lives, then we’re not going to be able to help them educationally.”
With a secondary education degree in mathematics under her belt, she’ll teach high school math this fall with a true understanding of the subject. Eli still marvels at the irony of the situation because math was always her worst subject as a kid; she felt so stupid she dropped out of high school and later got a GED.
For her to be able to go back to college at 37, and “be willing to look stupid” because she was determined to learn her hardest subject, and then be a 4.0 student in math — “I’m like, mind blown! This story about you can do anything you set your mind to do and you can do it well is something I believe in.
“Graduation means a lot; I have conquered my fears, my biggest fears. I have fought for the ones that didn’t believe in themselves. I wanted them to see that you can do it, you can overcome your circumstances, you don’t have to let your life circumstances define you and your future,” said Eli, now 42.
“Most of all, (with) this degree, I’m so moved by this: People who believed in me; people invested in me. I don’t have any college debt because of people who believed in me and were willing to put their money to help me. This to me is not just for myself, it’s for me to take this opportunity to be used to build so many other people’s lives; I will never take that for granted.”
She also began in-person classes this month to earn a master’s of science degree in clinical psychology, which should take another three years of study.
“I will be a very different psychologist, because it will not be something I just read, it’s something I’ve lived,” said Eli. “I’m determined to help these kids who have suffered trauma.”
Sister Malia Dominica Wong, one of her teachers, said of Eli, “She was totally special. … She is totally heroic.” Wong said she didn’t know how Eli managed to be a straight-A student while dealing with so many other responsibilities.
“I was often moved to tears,” Wong said of reading some of the spiritual reflections on struggling through hardships that Eli wrote as part of the coursework. She said, “God’s grace is within her and has been working with her.”
Associate Professor Travis Mukina, who taught Eli four math courses over two years, described her as “a professor’s dream student.”
Mukina said Eli wasn’t only interested in getting a good grade, though she made the highest marks, “she actually wanted to understand the math. She wanted to know why math worked so she could be a better teacher for her students.”
After confessing that math was her worst subject, Eli was fearless about asking questions, looking for the best way to teach the lessons, and learning multiple methods that would help students understand. She never wanted them to feel they weren’t smart enough to learn, which was her own experience, he said.
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