As you may have read in my previous blog Janae, Neyla and I
have found a little paradise for us.
I love my teaching job.
Janae and Neyla love spending so much time with each other. We love the simpler, slower way of life
here, but Majuro and the Marshall Islands are not a paradise for all who live
here. The average per capita
income here is less than $2000 per year and the country is so far away from
everything that simple imported food costs as much and usually more than it does
in the United States where the average income is 20 times higher. The history of the Marshall Islands is
an interesting one and like any other country, they have a hard time stepping
out from the shadow of their history, even when they try.
The
first people came here approximately 2000 years ago. Not much other than Island legends are for sure known of
early Marshallese life other than they were great fisherman, sailors in their
amazing outriggers and used innovative “stick charts” that were used for
navigating the Pacific. In the
early 1500’s Spanish explorers ran into the series of Atolls and brought
Christianity to the Marshallese.
Even to this day Christianity is a very dear to most of the Marshallese
people. Somewhere along the way
English explorer John Marshall also ran into the islands though never set foot
on them and yet somehow his name was used to describe these islands. It is quite strange to me that they
never officially changed the name of the country to something more for the
people and not named after an English guy who never really came here.
The Spanish claimed the islands,
but had very little to do with anything here until they sold the islands to the
Germans in the mid 19th Century. I find it similarly strange that the Spanish could sell a
bunch of islands to another country that they just happen to stumble upon 3
centuries ago. The Germans didn’t
seem too interested in these islands as several of the Germans who came here
famously declared that these coral Atolls had no real value and would never be
a productive branch of the Empire.
Therefore, aside from a few Germans coming here and mixing into
Marshallese culture and bringing some of western culture with them, the Germans
didn’t have a major impact here. After
WW1, the Japanese moved in and took over and quickly moved many men to the
Island in an attempt to modernize these “backwards” people. The Japanese brought schools, roads and
even new modern inventions, as they were a newly industrialized nation. The Japanese, like many other colonial
nations, always saw themselves as superior to those they were ruling and
believed Marshallese culture primitive and quite silly.
Let’s skip forward to after
WW2. The United States beat the
Japanese in the Pacific and now were left with a bunch of islands to dole out
essentially as they see fit. The
Marshalls were taken in by the United States as a protectorate, but not out of
benevolence, the USA wanted something.
As one of the two dominant superpowers in the post-war world, the United
States wanted something from everyone.
They had used Nuclear weapons against Japan, but little was still really
known about this new weapon or just how powerful or potent it could be. The military wanted to know more about
effects and potential ways to utilize the newly found power of the atom.
Leaders from the United States Navy
went to a small Atoll in the northern part of the Marshalls, called
Bikini. There were just a few
hundred people living on this Atoll and the USA wanted them to leave. The military thought this would be the
perfect place to test Nuclear weapons.
Why you may ask would they “need” an inhabited atoll when there were
uninhabited atolls and islands that could be use? Great question, and through much research I’ve yet to find an
answer. Apparently, to some US
officials this was a perfect location and type of Atoll to nuke and
destroy. The officials used
references to Christianity to the primitive leaders of the Bikini people and
tried to convince them to leave for the “good of mankind.” They did and now it is poisoned forever
and the Bikini people are spread throughout the world in a sort of Diaspora. That’s the short story, if you want to
read the long one, check out a great book by Jack Niedenthal called, For the
Good of Mankind.
The largest bomb in human history
ever exploded happened in 1954 in the Bikini Atoll, it was so large that it
completely incinerated one of the islands in the Atoll and the nuclear dust and
waste poisoned another near Atoll called Rongerik. To the people living on Rongerik, this is known as the day
of two suns. As the Sun was rising
in the East the Nuclear explosion went off in the west and looked as if another
sun was rising. The military knew
the wind forecast for the day and that Rongerik would likely be poisoned, but
they exploded the bomb anyway exposing the children of that atoll to burns and
cancer, which obviously followed.
This use of Marshallese land for
over 50 nuclear explosions has linked the USA to the Marshall Islands
forever. In no way can the United
States ever make up for destroying Bikini Atoll and incinerating 3 of its
islands. In no way can the United
States make up for the cancer and fallout sickness. But it is the duty of the United States to try to make up
for this shame. They supply much
of the money for the Marshallese medical and postal system and many grants to
the schools and public works.
Modern life was brought to an island ill equipped for modern life by the
Japanese and Americans and now modern life here is dependent upon those two
countries aid.
* * *
Fast-forward to 2013 and the
Marshall Islands is a beautiful place with a proud but impoverished
population. The problematic issues
here include, but are not limited to, street children with seemingly no parents
and no school to attend, a quasi-feudal oligarchy that really rules the
country, a climate that does not mix with modern life, an economy dependant
upon foreign aid (it doesn’t have to be this way), and the most critical
problem of all, global warming.
Scientists forecast that these coral Atolls have less than 50 years left
if the warming trends continue at their current rates. What happens to these people then when
their country is submerged under the vast Pacific? That remains to be seen, but in the present there are many
folks here not living in the paradise that this country could be.
The United Nations ranks every
country in every region of the world for education based on how well their
students perform on certain assessments.
The Marshall Islands has consistently ranked dead last in the Oceania
region each and every year. Part
of the major problem is that the people who live on the “outer islands” have
very little practical purpose for an education. Most of them live a self-sustaining life with little or no
knowledge of the modern world and to learn English and other core classes seems
a bit silly. Add to this that the
government has mandated that all education be in English to a group of kids
whom most rarely if ever speak English at home. Then, if and only if, students pass an entrance exam in 8th
grade are they allowed to attend of the few high schools in larger
islands. They then are forced to
leave everything they’ve ever known behind and go to a more urban island to get
a high school degree that again, serves little practical purpose for them. It is difficult to assert the values of
a modern western democracy into people who live on a self-sustaining tiny
island disconnected from the modern world. I wonder if education couldn’t be more practical here and a
little less idealistic, as clearly the rankings show there are no results
behind this attempt at a modern education system.
The bigger problem stemming from
this education system or lack thereof, is that unlike the United States, not
all kids are mandated to go to school and if they were, there would be no way
to afford it. The tragic result is
an over abundance of street children that really do nothing during the day. They have no place in the community and
grow up to continue to have no sense of belonging and purpose. Crime is not very prevalent here in the
Marshalls, but one can only wonder what will become of these street children as
they grow up. The birth rate here
is one of the highest in the world at just over 7 and as population continues
to rise and the government and economy are still unable to meet the needs of
all of these children, hope starts to wane. Something must be done about these children. Some programs must be started, but as
far as I can tell, little care is afforded to these poor souls.
* * *
For Janae and I the climate here is
beautiful. At night it is in the
low 70’s with a lovely wind off of the ocean and during the day even when it is
sunny and mid to high 80’s the air conditioning is not needed as the same wind
off the ocean is a welcome natural cooling device. However, given these splendid positives of the climate, the
over-whelming negative is the difficulty to keep anything clean and new. The humid and salty air erodes all
modern goods. The life of
electronics and metals are extremely low here and add to that the increased
price since shipping here can be so challenging. While a TV or computers are slightly more expensive here, their
lifespan here is a quarter of what it’d be in Chicago or Colorado. The “sweat” of humidity and salt
collect everywhere and erode. Cars
are in horrible shape in just a year or two. Buildings that look a half a century old are maybe a decade. Freshly painted wood peels and looks as
if it’d never been painted at all let alone just a few short weeks ago. Add to this the fact that modern
culture is extremely wasteful. All
the packaging and boxing up of things shipped in has to go somewhere and while
the money isn’t here to recycle, the dump on the island is more than
over-flowing. No, not everything
here is a paradise. In fact, there
are more practical problems and issues here than one could imagine. Most people can see these clear issues,
but don’t have the money or any ideas on how to resolve them. The next generation of Marshallese is
going to have quite the issues to deal with that much is clear.
* * *
It is very difficult for any
country to overcome their history and culture. Many people can often become nostalgic about the worst part
of their histories simply for the sake that it offers some sense of knowing who
you are. Americans rarely can
understand this sentiment as we really don’t have too much of a deep history as
a people. Our country is very
young and we have the luxury of starting on a sort of blank slate after the
Native Americans were either forced off land or violently removed from much of
American land. The Marshall
Islands’ history is one of tradition.
Traditionally each of the island Atolls had a unique group of people
with some of their own traditions.
The two things that seem to unite Marshallese amongst all else are the
Marshallese language and Christianity.
The official name of the country is The Republic of the Marshall
Islands. I suppose that in theory
this country is a republic, but then there’s always reality with which to
deal. Historically, before
modern life and a cash economy came to these atolls, each atoll had a chief
called an Irojj. They “owned” the
land and their role was to take care of the people of their atoll. It was a sort of feudal society as
there was no money economy. The
Irojj was a first amongst equals and used his wisdom to ensure that all people
of the island had what they needed.
This created a system like most hunter-gatherer societies have always
had where private property not only didn’t exist but wasn’t a concept. Most everything was shared and for the
whole group to survive, everyone needed to pull their weight.
This former style of life that
somewhat still exists on some of the outer islands has been replaced for most
Marshallese by modern life. However,
the Irojj’s still own all of the land, but now that land is worth money in a
cash economy. They can charge
whatever rent they want to whoever they want and they reap all the profits
simply by birth. The piece of
property that is worth the most in the Marshall Islands is on the largest of
the atolls, Kwajalein. It is worth
so much because the United States still has a missile-testing base there and
rents the land, not from the Marshallese government, but directly from the
Irojj. Therefore, the millions of
dollars that the United States pays goes directly to the Irojj and rarely
benefits anyone in Kwajalein. In
fact, Ebeye is the most populated island in Kwajalein and is actually the most
densely populated place on Earth and is essentially a massive shantytown of
10,000 people. The Irojj seemingly
puts little, if any, of his profits into Ebeye, as his ancient duty suggests
that he should. In fact, the sad
truth is that many of the Irojj’s take their profits and live abroad in Hawaii,
California or Oregon.
What occasionally happens on Majuro
and the most populated atolls is that when the Irojj is low on cash, he will
demand “rent” from those living on his land, as there is little or no public or
private land in the Marshalls, it is all owned by an Irojj. There is little in the way of
“contracts” that bind this. I’ve
heard anecdotes of a renter paying for 5 years of rent to the Irojj and then
the Irojj dying in 2 years and the new “landowner” comes looking for rent
saying that that old agreement was with the last Irojj. I haven’t studied the Marshallese
Constitution in any substantial way, but this is seemingly all too commonplace
to be illegal. One of the major
political parties here is for keeping the “rights” of the Irojj landowners and
the other major party is a bit more progressive, wanting land reform and a more
free and liberal economy where commoners can own land.
The personally sad part in all of
this for me is the tragic role that my country plays in this. We keep paying 10’s of millions of
dollars per year to the Irojj’s to use the base at Kwajalein as a missile
testing center with the complete knowledge that the Irojj’s use this money for
their personal gain and to keep this Oligarchy running. It reminds me a bit of our silly
support of the Saud family running Saudi Arabia. We keep getting oil and cooperation from them and so we turn
a blind eye to the human rights situation on the ground. It is the same sort of situation often
times here. We keep our base, hand
over money that could be developing a country to Medieval Lords who demand
cultural and financial homage and the poor continue their struggle to gain
simple human dignity. I even heard
a story that some Irojj’s demand that when you walk near them you get on your
knees or if women do not wear their skirts all the way to their ankles they
will face physical repercussions.
Of course, not all Irojj’s are like this, but the fact that it can
happen legally at all is a travesty and the fact that we implicitly endorse
this by again exchanging human rights for military bases is a shameful reality.
The
biggest issue of all in the Marshall Islands is not one of opportunity or
poverty, but one of science. As
global warming has persisted and the oceans have begun to rise, scientists
essentially have predicted that small and flat coral atolls like the Marshalls
will cease to exist in 50 or less years.
By this I mean to say that the entire country will lie beneath sea level
and will become inhabitable. What
will happen then? Where will the
citizens of this country go? Who
will take them in? When a country
literally disappears from a map, do they still keep their government and voting
rights in the UN? Do you need land
to have a country?
All
of these issues will need to be addressed in the future, since it is an almost
certainty that some country, if not the Marshalls, will face this peculiar
fate. It has never been more
important for this young generation of Marshallese to be dedicated to education
and citizenship. The many problems
created in the last half a decade here will inevitably fall on their shoulders
and I pray that I can inspire some of these young kids to take a hold of their
country’s future and turn these struggles into a proper tropical paradise.
