AMEN, Patti! Marilynn IBSSG ----- Original Message ----- From: "Patti Armstrong" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, October 01, 2006 5:41 PM Subject: Re: [ARMSTRONG] occupations > Jill, > You think it is only in protectorats--- go to any American Indian > Reservation in the US. You don't need to leave the continental USA. > Patti > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Jill Johnston" <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]>; <[email protected]> > Sent: Saturday, September 30, 2006 11:50 AM > Subject: Re: [ARMSTRONG] occupations > > >> John, >> I was on Majuro from Dec.1985 til Feb. 1988. Went to assist the local > Baha'i >> community and to teach school in a private, non-parochial cooperative > school >> begun some years earlier by former Peace Corps people who had married > locals >> and wanted a U.S. grade education for their kids. >> >> The Marshallese govt gives funding to ALL schools, public & private, > because >> it can't afford to provide teachers and school buildings to house all its >> kids. There is very little land (Majuro atoll is only about 30 mi. long > and >> in several places a guy could throw a rock from oceanside to lagoonside) > and >> very many kids, and that's BEFORE kids come in from the outer islands. >> Admittance at the public high school is through a competitive process due > to >> lack of space, and not all islands even have a high school. At that time, >> teachers were poorly prepared, knew little about classroom management, >> and >> had few or no books. The education system was a mess. >> >> I lived in a Marshallese neighborhood, in a tin-roofed, plywood shack >> that >> had, unlike the neighbors, electricity, refrigeration, and an electric >> cooking stove. We had govt imposed water hours, so when we heard on the >> radio when those were, we tried to have someone at home to fill the 30 >> gal >> garbage can we kept for just that purpose. (I got so good at conserving >> water that I could shower and wash my hair with the water in one toy sand >> bucket!) When it rained, people would stand under the eaves and shampoo >> their hair. One year, we didn't have ANY water hours for 2 wks! Droughts > and >> rising sea levels are devastating there. High elevation was less than 20 >> feet, so with such limited land, any loss is major. >> >> Our neighbors cooked outside using coconut husk fires; they also washed & >> hung their laundry outdoors. The children readily took in our son Jim, >> and >> taught him how to use a soup can lid cutter to make sail boats from > aluminum >> pop cans. They were very resourceful; most kids, even as young as three >> or >> four, could juggle the coral rocks.They'd play ball using old pieces of >> plywood or sticks for bats and coral rocks or rubber balls to hit. And > talk >> about accuracy-- I swear those kids could throw a rock and hit anything > they >> targeted! :-) >> >> I was on Kwaj (paradise of the Pacific) two times, once on my way to > Ebeye, >> and once returning. I was thoroughly disgusted, and my blood still boils > at >> the thought of the injustices of that situation. Because I am white, no > one >> noticed when I wandered away from the landing area and moseyed into the > Kwaj >> grocery store. I couldn't believe my eyes: fresh veggies that could've > been >> in any U.S. supermarket. Everything was spacious, clean, and >> well-stocked.Even in the capital city (Majuro) we didn't have access to > that >> quality of goods. And the physical area was like a well-tended U.S. golf >> course, manicure, watered, green LAWN (not just grass), painted and >> maintained apartments. >> >> Meanwhile, just three miles away via a diesel-stinking 'cattle car' of a >> shuttle boat, was Ebeye, home of the under-paid Marshallese workers who > did >> the maintenance and service jobs on Kwaj. Conditions caused Ebeye to be >> called the hell-hole of the Pacific. Over-crowded into rotting plywood >> and >> tim-roofed shacks, Marshallese had barely enough room to pass another > person >> between 'houses.' There were no patches of grass, only a few isolated >> strands due to heavy foot traffic, lack of space and lack of water. >> There >> was no source of fresh water except what the U.S. base on Kwaj brought > over >> in a tanker a couple of times a week. There may have been a few private >> wells which tapped into fresh water lenses (there were on Majuro), but I >> didn't see any. No space for gardens. There was one basketball court-- >> yippee. And in the grocery store, it was absolutely shameful: the produce >> shelves were empty except for a few squishy, brown celery stalks fit only >> for pigs. >> >> I am still aghast at the disparity of conditions and the lack of > conscience >> shown by the U.S. govt toward the Trust Territory peoples. And I won't > EVEN >> go into the Bikini bomb test fiasco. It is another case of >> misrepresentations, lies, and broken or half-kept promises just like the >> American Indian mess. (The Brits did the same to their Pacific island >> trustees.) Governments just use and abuse the powerless. I hadn't really > had >> the opportunity to see that before. >> >> Before I left, they were constructing a desalination plant on Ebeye so > there >> would be fresh water available. And, of course, the Trust Territory is no >> more, the Marshalls having been 'granted' free association status. I've >> never been completely sure of just what that entails, but I do know that >> Marshallese citizens can move into the U.S. freely. >> >> Living in the Marshalls was, in many ways, like rolling back U.S. time 30 >> years and more. For example, few businesses even had phones; bank >> casheirs >> still did math with pencil/paper and the lines were long and slow-moving. >> But at the same time, there was inundation by video and TV, creating >> awareness of and desire for 'stuff'. And, unfortunately, it was these > media >> that provided many people with their major source of English language >> experience (God forbid!) and with their ideas of appropriate and 'normal' >> U.S. lifestyle, behavior, etc. >> >> Meanwhile, the traditional Marshallese culture has taken huge hits. > People's >> traditional roles are, for the most part, no longer available and there > was, >> at least at that time, nothing to replace them, so break-ins, juvenile >> drinking, etc. was becoming a problem; unemployment was high, and wages > were >> pathetic. Since life on the OUTER islands, such as Mili, was still >> relatively cashless, families on Majuro were strained to the max when >> relatives came in to try to find work or waiting get to the airport to go > to >> Honolulu for medical issues. >> >> All in all, living in the Marshalls was, hands down, the most >> stimulating, >> awareness-raising, and valuable experience I've ever had!!! It was hugely >> enriching, and it made me aware of the difference between being a toursit >> and living in another culture: it's the difference between being among, >> observing and being an active part of. I find that I am no longer >> fulfilled by being a tourist. >> >> John, I'm not going off on you personally. I just have to clear my pipes > on >> the subject occasionally. :-) No offense intended. I'd be interested in >> your experiences there. >> >> Jill in Washington state >> >> >> >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "John Armstrong" <[email protected]> >> To: <[email protected]> >> Sent: Saturday, September 30, 2006 9:08 AM >> Subject: Re: [ARMSTRONG] occupations >> >> >> >> >> > Jill, >> > When were you in the Marshall Islands??? >> > I lived on Kwajalein from Jan 1958 to April of 1959.. >> > >> > I retired from farming at the age of 17 >> > and chose a 30 yr career in the US Navy.. >> > >> > Sincerely, >> > John D >> > A little SoWest of North >> >> >>College works, though. Taught an education class in the Marshall >> >>Islands >> >>(in >> >>the central Pacific). What an experience! The government assigned >> >>'teachers' >> >>to be sent to the outer islands, but none had any teaching background. > In >> >>fact some were nurses, etc. So I had to design a course on >> >>everything-you-need-to-know-to-manage-students-and-teach. Challenging, > but >> >>very satisfying! >> > >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> >> >> -- >> No virus found in this incoming message. >> Checked by AVG Free Edition. >> Version: 7.1.407 / Virus Database: 268.12.10/459 - Release Date: 9/29/06 >> >> > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > >