A Home for Eli – The Power of Together
It was 2014 when we were given the opportunity to extend another helping hand.
Sometimes, life can change in just a few seconds.
Eli Haumahu, a member of the motorcycle club Api Injil, was riding his motorcycle to work, just as he had done so many times before. It was an ordinary day, following a familiar route.
Until suddenly, everything changed.
A car was reversing out of a driveway when it struck Eli.
In an instant, his life was turned upside down.
An ambulance arrived, Eli was taken to hospital, and a long period of treatment and rehabilitation followed. His motorcycle was repaired, and thankfully, Eli recovered sufficiently to return to doing many of the things he had always done.
But only a short time later, his life changed again.
While at work, Eli suddenly became unwell. He decided to ride home. He managed to reach a petrol station and stopped there. He got off his motorcycle and held on to the petrol pump for support.
Then something terrifying happened.
First, one leg gave way.
Then the other.
When the ambulance arrived, Eli was taken to hospital. More examinations followed, and the devastating diagnosis became clear:
Eli had suffered a spinal cord injury, leaving him paralysed from approximately the middle of his chest down.
His life would never be the same again.
When we visited Eli, we talked about what the future might look like. Despite everything that had happened, he had one great wish.
He wanted to continue living in his own home.
The place he knew. The place he shared with his wife. His home.
But for that to be possible, the house needed major adaptations.
And that is when something truly remarkable began to happen.
The news spread throughout the community.
Business owners and tradespeople from Vaassen, Emst, Apeldoorn and the surrounding area came together.
Everyone asked the same simple question:
“What can I do to help?”
And everyone did whatever they could.
Plasterers came to help.
Plumbers offered their skills.
A kitchen company adapted the kitchen.
A wheelchair lift was installed inside the home.
Materials, expertise, time and manpower were brought together.
One helping hand became another.
And another.
What would have been an enormous and almost impossible task for one person became achievable because so many people decided to work together.
For more than six weeks, people worked intensively on the house.
Day after day, the home was transformed.
Walls were adapted.
Facilities were changed.
Access was improved.
The kitchen was made suitable.
A wheelchair lift was installed.
Everywhere you looked, there were people working toward the same goal:
Eli needed to be able to stay at home.
And after more than six weeks of hard work, that goal became reality.
The house was ready.
Ready for Eli.
Ready for his wife.
Ready for a new chapter in their lives.
When we look back at everything that happened in such a short period of time, one word comes to mind:
Incredible.
Family, friends, businesses, entrepreneurs and countless other people all contributed to making this possible.
Some gave their professional skills.
Others provided materials.
Some gave their time.
Others offered financial support, contacts or simply showed up and helped wherever they could.
Every contribution mattered.
Because every contribution became part of something much bigger.
This story is not only about an accident, a spinal cord injury or a house that needed to be adapted.
It is a story about humanity.
About caring for one another.
About people who don’t ask, “What is in it for me?”
But instead ask:
“What can I do?”
In just over six weeks, we witnessed what can happen when people put their differences aside and join forces.
A plasterer, a plumber, a kitchen company, business owners, family members, friends and countless others may all have had different roles.
But together, they became one team.
Together, they made a difference.
For Eli and his wife, it meant far more than an adapted house.
It meant being able to stay where they felt at home.
It meant dignity.
It meant security.
It meant hope.
And perhaps that is the most beautiful part of this story:
A house was rebuilt and adapted, but what was really being built was hope.
We look back on this project with enormous gratitude.
Gratitude for every person who came to help.
For every business that opened its doors and shared its expertise.
For family and friends.
For everyone who contributed, in whatever way they could.
Because when people come together and allow their hearts to speak, they can achieve things that might otherwise seem impossible.
A helping hand cannot undo what has happened.
But together, we can help someone find a way forward.
And for Eli, that meant being able to stay where he wanted to be:
At home.
Together with his wife.
In a home that once again became a place of hope and a future.
For that, we remain deeply and immensely grateful.
2014 will forever remain a special year in our memories — a year that reminded us of the incredible things that can happen when people come together, care for one another and simply ask:
“What can I do to help?”