By: Elijah Fenstermaker
“Even if you’re coming from Hawaii stick it out…give it a fair shot. I wouldn’t change coming here.”
LEVI MAAFALA
Maafala happily poses in front of the ONU athletic recruit backdrop. Photo by Elijah Fenstermaker.
Far From Home
When most people attend college they are usually within ninety miles of the university and in the same state, but almost definitely in the same continent. However, these “normalities” are not the case for Levi Maafala. Maafala is from the island of O’ahu, Hawaii, which is over 4,100 miles from the campus of Olivet Nazarene University. In Hawaiin culture, family is incredibly important and means everything.
“I feel like he is very family-oriented,” Halle Nichols, his girlfriend, said. “My family is pretty family-oriented and I grew up with that…since he is from Hawaii I can just tell that family is everything to them.”
Although the plane tickets are expensive, Maafala believes they are definitely worth it.
“I think that a plane ticket is worth it, and once I buy it, it is like a weight lifted off my shoulders,” he said.
He goes back home for Christmas break and the summer, but not for other breaks throughout the school year. Maafala said that a traveling day to and from Olivet and O’ahu is over a twelve-hour process:
- 2-hour drive to O’Hare Airport – Chicago
- 4-hour flight to Los Angeles
- 1-hour layover in Los Angeles
- 4-hour flight to O’ahu, Hawaii
- 1-hour drive to Maafala house
Adjusting to the Midwest
To say that Maafala had to make an adjustment to Olivet and the midwest is quite an understatement. Not only was he over 4,100 miles from home, but he had to adjust to the harsh weather of the midwest. Illinois sees snow periodically over a five-month span which are all during the school year.
“I definitely had to buy a winter coat. I hadn’t worn a winter coat in a long time.”
LEVI MAAFALA
Apart from the weather being different, the scenery was a huge change from Hawaii. Maafala was used the seeing the ocean on one side and mountains on the other side. In the midwest, especially Illinois, it is made up vastly of flat cornfields and cities that pop up in the middle of nowhere.
While adjusting to the new atmosphere and being so far from home, Maafala rightfully struggles sometimes with being homesick. In order to avoid being homesick, Maafala tries to stay busy hanging out with friends and doing activities such as intramural sports.
Nichols said, “I feel like randomly he gets homesick. We go to my house sometimes, I live in Michigan, so we’ll do a weekend trip there.”
Maafala enjoys himself walking around campus. Photo by Elijah Fenstermaker
To cope, Maafala will call his family which will help boost his mood with a way to connect with his family. Maafala says that maintaining relationships from back home is difficult with the time changes and the distance but it is not impossible.
Food is incredibly important to Maafala which was one of the biggest parts that he had to adapt to while at Olivet.
“I always look forward to having rice, there is no rice over here, its usually corn or mashed potatoes,”
LEVI MAAFALA
The traditional Hawaiin food is one of the things that Maafala looks forward to the most when he returns home. He said that his favorite food is Kalua Pig on top of a steaming bed of rice and it makes him “a happy man.”
Life on the Field
One of the contributing reasons why Maafala came to Olivet was to play on the ONU football team which he excelled at growing up. Representatives from Olivet’s Pacific Rim Association and football coaches from the ONU visited O’ahu and recruited Maafala along with five of his teammates.
An ONU football coach explains a coverage to Maafala in a meeting. Photo by Elijah Fenstermaker.
“The coaches were trying to implement the school of Olivet and the university’s up-and-coming club,” he said.
Nichols is appreciative that Maafala is a student-athlete because their schedules are the same, so they are able to spend more time with each other this way.
“It works out because I’m a student-athlete too so that kind of helps because we both have similar schedules,” Nichols said.
Maafala has enjoyed playing on the football team and is looking forward to the new direction of the program as they have recently hired a new head coach.
“Our football team just hired a new coach so we’re taking a new way.”
Loving both Worlds
When Maafala was first recruited to come to Olivet, he said that the Pacific Rim Association (PRA) from Olivet did a great job of reaching out to students and showing their vision as a Christian University.
Going to a Christian university was a change at first for him. Mandatory chapels and faith seemed a little over the top for him at first. Over the time Maafala has appreciated the integration of Christianity Olivet demonstrates and it has contributed to his walk with Christ.
“I feel like Olivet really tried to sell their campus life to, and I think thats something that set them apart from other schools that were trying to recruit me,”
LEVI MAAFALA
“It was something I was anticipating being this big of a part in my life of how Olivet integrates faith into everything we do…I kind of do appreciate that now,” he said.
After these past two years of being a student at Olivet, Maafala is appreciative that he chose ONU for his education. He reflects on the relationships he has built with friends, teammates, and his girlfriend.
With the experience that Maafala has gained at Olivet he shared some advice for long- distance students from Hawaii and around the world:
“I would still come here, it’s great. I love it over here,” he said. “Just stick it out. People will come and enjoy their first few days and then it’s just torture…I get it there is no place like home, and no home like Hawaii.”
