For one week of our 2.5 weeks on Kwaj, we were joined by Larry and Bob, American ministers en route to Pohnpei and Guam. In a great stroke of serendipity, Larry happens to be Ben's second cousin once removed, but they'd never met before! Larry, Ben and I had all been very excited to learn we would all be visiting Peter and Marissa at the same time.
Larry and Bob arrived on Kwaj on Tuesday, January 3rd. Their first afternoon on the island included a tour by golf cart, just like we'd been given a few days earlier. Here are a few photos from our second Tour de Kwaj...
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| Peter, Bob, Larry, me, Marissa |
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| Larry, Peter, Bob |
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| The airstrip |
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| US flag flying alongside the RMI flag |
On Thursday, January 5th, we left Kwaj for the first (and only) time to visit the nearby island of Ebeye, where there were some people Larry and Bob wanted to see.
At 11am, the five of us (i.e. everyone except Peter, who was at work) had burgers at the American Eatery at the dock, and then took the 11:40am ferry to Ebeye. The ferry was an army LCM (Landing Craft Mechanized). The ride took 20 minutes and there were about 30 other passengers, most of whom were Marshallese.
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| A Kwaj police officer having a day off |
From Kwaj, Ebeye is visible in the distance as a flat island covered in buildings. Up close, the buildings were almost all in a state of advanced disrepair, and there were people – especially kids – everywhere. Ebeye is one of the most densely populated places in the world. It is smaller than Kwaj and has ten times the amount of people (i.e. a population of 15000 in less than 3 square miles). The reason for the overcrowding is that, in past decades, many Marshall Islanders (from Bikini Atoll in particular) were relocated by the US government so that their islands could be used for nuclear tests.
Once we landed on Ebeye, Marissa led the way on foot to Julian's mother's house (she'd visited once before), where we hoped to find Julian, the first contact on Larry and Bob's list. As we walked, little kids playing beside the footpath would call out “hi” or “yokwe” (pronounced “yuck-way”; it means hello in Marshallese), and some would hold out their hands for us to touch. They were very cute!
After successfully finding Julian's mother's house, we met Julian, who is 21 and goes to university in Guam. After the introductions, he took us a little further along the street to look for another family Larry and Bob wanted to find, but they weren't home.
Then, we hailed a taxi to drive us to Gugeegue, an island further north in Kwajalein Atoll. The taxi was a Nissan Navara ute/truck, and all of us except Julian piled into the tray for the ride. The road to Gugeegue is a narrow manmade causeway that connects Ebeye with the five islands north of it; we passed South Loi, North Loi, Little Shell and Shell before reaching Gugeegue.
On one island we saw a large greenhouse in complete disrepair, and on another we passed a cemetery filled with identical chunky white crosses. (Julian told us that Ebeye had run out of burial space – and, now that this cemetery is also full, they have to go even further north to bury people.) The dirt road was potholed and strewn with litter, but the Pacific Ocean stretching out on either side of it glistened just as invitingly as ever.
Upon reaching Gugeegue, the taxi driver drove us right up to a house beside the Catholic high school, where we met Maijon, the school's mechanics teacher. He had known Larry well as a boy. Maijon only looked to be in his 30s, but he told us that he has five children, and his wife passed away a year ago from cancer.
While Larry and Bob talked to Maijon in his house for a while, we chatted to the taxi driver, spotted some roaming farm animals, watched the school students playing in their break, and visited an alarmingly neglected amenities block. We saw a boy shimmy up a coconut palm and throw down some coconuts, and shortly afterwards we indulged in some very fresh coconut milk!
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| Reunion |
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| Bob, Maijon, Larry, me, Marissa |
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| Getting coconuts |
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| Bottoms up! |
Soon it was time for classes to resume and for us to make our way back to Ebeye. Just before leaving, we got to meet a couple other teachers and see some of the classrooms. There were many pairs of young eyes watching us!
After our hot and bumpy ride back to Ebeye, we purchased some ice creams from the grocery store, said goodbye to Julian, and took the ferry back to Kwaj. It had been a day of very different sights and experiences compared to the rest of our time in the Marshall Islands.
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| Ebeye taxi |
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| Leaving Gugeegue |
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| A small island between Ebeye and Kwaj |
Other highlights of our week with Larry and Bob included: my birthday dinner, a visit from Julian, scuba diving while Larry and Bob snorkelled above us, playing Pictionary, riding bikes around Kwaj, and having many special conversations and studies together.
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| Delicious fried rice on my birthday. Thanks Marissa! |
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| Delectable sticky pecan buns for my birthday dessert |
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| Our lovely hosts |
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| Larry and Ben - second cousins once removed! |
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| Larry and Bob |
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| Sunday dinner with Julian |
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| Larry and Bob at the airport before they left |
Next post... hanging with the Bomb Squad!
