BY JENNIFER BELL – I am now in Florida, but we were stationed in Hawaii from 2009 to 2012.
We lived in Pearl City, where our son developed asthma.
Never had it before, and never had it outdoors, at play, while working out, or after we moved into housing in Hickam Air Force Base.
We didn’t even now there was mold in our house until it started dripping down our walls from condensation.
Our dog developed liver problems while we lived there. My husband developed chronic headaches while there… never found a cause. Still has them. He used to blame it on working at PACOM. Now he is retired, though.
When we moved to Hickam, I was told not to wear my shoes in the house because of the toxins in the soil. We didn’t really do that anyway, so not a deal. But we had pets going in and out.
We know of many families who ate the bananas and mangoes at Pearl City housing. We knew of families who had a multitude of problems. We weren’t into “drama” so we didn’t look for problems. Thought my son must have been allergic to the trees, etc. Never occurred to us about the mold until right before we moved.
I am writing to let you know that this problem goes way deeper than what you featured in your recent article on unsafe housing in Kaneohe at the Marine Corp Base Hawaii.
I had a neighbor in Pearl City who Forrest City tried to keep. Her daughter only had trouble while living there. They finally did move her to Makalapa.
Forest City is terrible. They’re culpable, and they need someone to investigate each of their communities.