Moving from Florida to Molokai broke...any jobs? (appointed, sales)

[Nemosmom]

My sister moved from Florida, pretty much with about $2000.00 to live on upon arrival with her boyfriend and toddler. He is Hawaiian by name from his fathers side, but only met the family once. His mother is from Florida and he lived her all his life. Upon flying over to Molokia for his grandmothers funeral, he met the family for a few days for the 1st time. My sister, who has never made logical decisions in her life insisted it was paradise, and where she was going to live. They have always struggled to survive here, with jobs, money and food. Neither have driver license and are planning to marry (for what purpose???) she never divorced her 1st husband...but thats another story. They got an apartment for around 500.00 a month, and she claims the light bill was only 25.00?? She claims she will have a job in no time, the family will help. My research revealed to me that many mainlanders go there searching for "Paradise", but find its hard to survive unless you have money to make it for a while.
Any comments on how life may turn out for them?????

[whynot?]

Hard to say, of course, but Molokai has the highest unemployment rate of any of the islands, all of which have peculiarly high unemployment right now. The largest employer on Molokai closed up last year, and things have gone downhill, economically, from there.

You are right, though, about the number of people who come "seeking paradise." Many come, many leave disappointed, many reasons.

Best of luck to all of you.

[The_ComeBack_KiD]

Originally Posted by Nemosmom

Any comments on how life may turn out for them?????

Not well if that is there plan... Molokai will NOT have jobs. It is not a tough job market, its a non existent one. Good luck though

[mogon]

Agree 110%.

And when the inevitable time comes to leave, it's usually more expensive to fly off of Molokai`i than any but Lana`i.

This plan sounds like a recipe for a lot of heartache.

[Nemosmom]

I think you may be right mogon, but the problem that may lie ahead it the fact that they only scraped up the money to get there by selling a mobile home and a car and all their furniture before they left. So now there is nothing to sell off to return home..
The big kicker is the dog they left behind with intentions to fly over also, until I did the research and found it would cost about $1200.00, but she insists it will get there???
Also she claims the health care is FREE when you live in Hawaii??? Is that also a true statement?

[Nemosmom]

Originally Posted by mogon

Agree 110%.

And when the inevitable time comes to leave, it's usually more expensive to fly off of Molokai`i than any but Lana`i.

This plan sounds like a recipe for a lot of heartache.

Originally Posted by The_ComeBack_KiD

Not well if that is there plan... Molokai will NOT have jobs. It is not a tough job market, its a non existent one. Good luck though

Sadly, he left a good paying job here in Florida, where the job market is terrible. For the 1st time in 20 yrs and 1st time ever, i am on un-employment. Working in sales for building material paid well, but now its completely gone.

[hothulamaui]

I have a different view I think if his family will give them a roof over their head and feed them then they will be fine. family (ohana) is huge in the islands and people think nothing of living with one another. on molokai lots of people grow their own food, fish and hunt. even if she had health insurance there really are no doctors there anyway. they will live a very simple live and I think will be just fine if they can take the s-l-o-w pace.

[mkmkm99]

I have a suggestion... Go to Molokai and slap some sense into ur sister...

Nooo...Seriously though.. It was selfish on both of their parts to go there not doing their homework and researching the area. AND to rely on family (if things don't work out) is just asking for trouble. Most of the families on the islands are already struggling day to day, month to month then to add to the struggle 3 more mouths to feed is just foolish (if things don't work out). Ohana will help out as much as they can, but it gets old really quick.

[whynot?]

Originally Posted by Nemosmom

Also she claims the health care is FREE when you live in Hawaii??? Is that also a true statement?

This is a persistent rumor that I have seen in other threads. In fact healthcare in Hawaii is neither particularly good nor particularly inexpensive. In a February 2009 study the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council rated Hawaii 35th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia in healthcare costs. (Link to study PDF: Powered by Google Docs ) While 35th out of 51 might sound "low," it is actually solidly in the middle for cost.

There are other threads on this forum that discuss the quality of healthcare in Hawaii, but most mainlanders are shocked to discover the uneven quality of care and lack of hospitals and treatment centers on the neighbor islands. (Those other than Oahu.)

What is true is that a state law mandates that employers provide health insurance to all employees who work 20 hours per week or more. Whenever you read anything positive about Hawaii's healthcare, it is usually referring to this policy -- not to the healthcare system, the quality of care, the access to care, or the health of the population. The policy, however, seems to result in a suspicious number of part-time employees who work 19 1/2 hours per week.

There's no free lunch and no free healthcare. Except via the usual state and federal programs that provide them.

[Nemosmom]

Originally Posted by mkmkm99

I have a suggestion... Go to Molokai and slap some sense into ur sister...

Nooo...Seriously though.. It was selfish on both of their parts to go there not doing their homework and researching the area. AND to rely on family (if things don't work out) is just asking for trouble. Most of the families on the islands are already struggling day to day, month to month then to add to the struggle 3 more mouths to feed is just foolish (if things don't work out). Ohana will help out as much as they can, but it gets old really quick.

They said the family would help with locating jobs...but they dont know the family very well..meet them once bout 2yrs ago. And its more then 3 mouths, his sister and her son flew over there 3 wks before they did..so there are 5 mouths with no jobs.
As for slapping her, I would love to at this point, but reality will kick in soon enough...