September 8, 2023 • 34 mins
In the final episode of the series, James looks at how Marshallese women's group Kora In Okrane have ensured access to clean water for every single resident of the country, and how the Marshallese community has come together to overcome the challenges of climate change, the nuclear legacy, and a safe home environment.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
This for all you guys, so you get there.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Twice In the week I spent on Marjoro, I didn't
get to sleep until after midnight because the hotel's event
space was about eight feet from my pillow and someone
in that event space was having an absolute rago. Before
trying and failing to go to sleep, I chatted with
some folks who were at the party to see what
was going on. The first night was a first birthday party.
Infant mortality has been so high in this area in
(00:41):
the past that children making it through the first year
of their life was a cause for massive celebration. It
was rather sweet to see adults enjoying such a good
time around a one year old who had no idea
what was going on. The next party, a few days
later was no less festive, but for a much more
somber reason. It was a celebration to an eight year
old girl who died exactly one year before. People showed
(01:04):
me her photo, and despite my condolences, they assured me
that it wasn't a sad affair. I don't want to
make this series a sad affair either, because despite the
incredible challenges they have faced, Marshally's people have persevered, and
they clearly have a great pride in their islands, and
I don't think they would want to be seen as
helpless and acted upon by global forces beyond their control. Instead,
(01:24):
they should be seen as a strong community that has
withstood some of the worst things a history can thriller
community and continue to thrive. As we spoke about yesterday,
they're taking huge steps to ensure that they lead the
way on sustainable development. They're also ensuring their future in
other ways. Some of those might not be as shiny
and glitzy as solar power grids or canoes powered by
(01:45):
the sun, but which have made a huge difference to
the residence of the country, particularly in the outer atolls.
What I want to talk about today is one of
those projects. It's a project imagined, implemented, and executed by
the women of Quarter in the name means women who
rise at dawn, and it's very appropriate every interview you've
(02:06):
heard so far and every place we went to thanks
to the women of Kio. The trip I was part
of was there to witness the installation of the final
water filters on the island of wrong Ram that will
bring to a successful conclusion a five year project to
ensure that every single person in the Marshall Islands had
access to clean water. I'll let them introduce themselves to
you as it did to us.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
My name is Francine wasase Jacklick, but most people around
town called me, so if you hear Francine, they're not
going to go today. I am a queu member. I'm
one of the officers as the secretary, and I've been
a queue member of GOSH. I can't remember when, but
(02:48):
you know we've got we've come along when he is
about seventeen years old right now? Wow, seventeen. Yeah, it's
been a very.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Fun road.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
It's my fun job outside from Q. As my fun work,
I work at the Ministry of Health and Human Services.
My permanent position is the Deputy Secretary overseeing Office of
Health Planning, Policy, Preparedness, Personnel and epidem analogy. And three
(03:20):
months ago I was also given the authority rule as
the acting Secretary of Health because the Secretary was not
the nude politics. So yeah, Q is q Corina Rani
and we're very happy because our founder is here and
(03:44):
it's money.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
So we'll do introduction and then we'll go into the agenda.
Is that okay, okay, so I will hand it to
the bag, which is our founder money.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Somebody go ahead, ill everyone.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
Hi, how come my money?
Speaker 6 (04:03):
I am the cocoon there?
Speaker 7 (04:04):
You actually not.
Speaker 6 (04:07):
We're really happy that you've made it. You know, your
flight wasn't canceled last week. So many flights are canceled,
so were so but welcome.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
In our language, we say yah yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
Means rainbow and quays you.
Speaker 7 (04:26):
So you are a rainbow to us.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
I am a mother for now.
Speaker 5 (04:34):
I don't I don't work.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Most of us have their work, but I'm a full
time mother and this is my baby. Actually, Kiyo started
sixteen years ago. Myself and a friend.
Speaker 5 (04:54):
We were in school in the East Coast and we
graduated and we all came back and you know, we
were raised with this mentality to give back.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
We have lots of Marshallese proverbs and what bio means.
Speaker 7 (05:12):
To turn the tides.
Speaker 8 (05:14):
So it was our time to turn the tides.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
So we banded together, always like minded, smart ladies and
created Q And it's a volunteer organization.
Speaker 7 (05:27):
We do this in our sleep.
Speaker 9 (05:29):
Basically all volunteer, yes.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
So we do various work from small projects like you know,
reading with the kids and just.
Speaker 6 (05:43):
Big projects like water.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
It's water culture project.
Speaker 5 (05:47):
My name is Kathleen. I work for the Ministry of
Natural Resources and Commerce with the Fisheries.
Speaker 8 (05:56):
Memora and I've been in film members and it's of
course you're what sixteen years ago and it is like
moving said, it's it's an honor and we are very
humble when visited. A welcome you all and hope we
(06:19):
have a great visit.
Speaker 10 (06:20):
Thank you, Okay, names all.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Yeah, but my name is Samantha.
Speaker 11 (06:27):
I work at the Munictrial Fight Access as an accountant
and I'm cure of treasure.
Speaker 12 (06:34):
Thank you, thank.
Speaker 13 (06:35):
You me.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
Yeah, why everyone, and welcome you to our shore.
Speaker 14 (06:42):
My name is Graised, but everyone call me Kuma.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
So I'm very pleased to meet all of you.
Speaker 14 (06:49):
When they say we have uh all these media, you know,
big news media, I would let come. We probably say
that I was kind of nervous, but anyways, I've been
a few remembers since twenty fourteen, and I was so
amazed by all the work that these ladies have been
doing for the Marshall Islands. And I'm there probably be
(07:11):
part of quet club. I work at Romola at all
Local Government and I'm not sure you know, but Ronav
is one of those. It's all that was affected by
the nuclear testing.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
So again, welcome here. Work with Sawyer, the people who
make the Ubiquitous water filter, which is a favorite for
through hikers and other outdoors people, to provide a water
filtration system that allows Marshal's people to filter the rain
water they collect and remove harmful bacteria that can cause
diarrhea and vomiting. Well, these might seem undesirables listeners in
(07:45):
the US, they can be fatal in other settings. Twenty nineteen,
around one point five million people died from diarrheal diseases.
That's more than all violent deaths combined. Around half a
million of those deaths were children. One thing that's remarkable
about the project is a way it was realized. KEO
began distribution in the most remote and hard to reach
(08:07):
the tolls, taking tiny boats across choppy seas for days
at a time to get to remote islands, and then
working with traditional women leaders to ensure that everyone on
the islands knew how to use the filters. Then they
began working towards Marjora the capitol. I've seen lots of
ENDO projects in dozens of countries I've worked with someone,
but I've rarely seen a model that prioritizes need this well.
(08:31):
In far too many cases, proximity to power ensures access
to resources. This is a global problem. Just look at
how the US distributed masks and COVID resources to reservations
last or if I step outside, they can see how
the lowest income parts of San Diego, the city I
live in, have the worst roads and get the least
infrastructure spending. The fact that KYO did things differently is
(08:53):
a testament to the strength of their commitment to their community.
In fact, the project finished distribution during my trip to
Marshall Islands, completing the last island on madro Atoll in
early July, but a few days later than that, when
QO invited myself and some other journalists to a goodbye breakfast,
they presented a filter to the former President of the
Republic of Marshall Islands, hilde Hind, Despite being the last
(09:16):
person to get one. She was very grateful and it
served as a great illustration of the priorities of the group.
They wanted to go to the hardest places first because
they knew people then needed help. The most his President
Hilde Heine. After receiving her filter.
Speaker 9 (09:31):
I was telling Monique that we don't drink from our
tab water hours we have our own system, or we
don't know if it's cleaned, so we buy our drinking
water all the time. So with this one I probably
will stop bang for to make pure water.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
I joined Kio and several other journalists for the final
leg of their project, which involves installing the water filters.
This doesn't really take long. They're basically a soil filter
attached to a five gallon bucket with a length of
flexible hose, and then explaining their value and upkeep to
the community. As we heard yesterday, ground water is harder
and harder to come by in the Marshall Islands thanks
(10:14):
to climate change, and so people rely almost exclusively on rainwater.
They collect rainwater in giant plastic tanks. They've only recently
replaced a hodgepodge of different collection vessels. Incidentally, a visiting
scientist from a CDC told me that the installation of
these tanks has increased a safe disposal of waste because
people no longer need to take their bins to collect
rainwater when it rains. Once water is in the tanks.
(10:38):
The residents can draw it out into their five gallon
bucket and then filter it for safe drinking. The soil
filter system may seem very simple, and it is, but
that's what makes it a perfect solution here. A complicated
electric filter, or one that relied on pipe water pressure
or had a ton of moving parts would require constant maintenance,
which is hard given a long journey to the outer Islands.
(11:00):
In my career in journalism and in nonprofit, I've seen
countless well intentioned aid projects completely failed to consider the
need for sustainability and become useless olities in a few years.
Cargo bikes made a huge different coffee farmers in Rwanda
until they needed new brake pads and there wasn't an
importer for them. The same goes for countless glucometers I've
(11:20):
seen distributed to people who can't access the batteries they
use or the test trips they rely on. This won't
happen in the Marshall Islands in part because the project
was led by the community itself and not by outside
nonprofits looking to maximize donation dollars or media opportunities, and
in part because the only maintenance or sort of filter
needs is a backflush of the filtered water that it makes.
(11:42):
Yesterday we had a little from the Marshal Lee's Environmental
Protection Agency about how they grapple with climate change. Today,
I want to explain how they're working alongside KIO to
ensure that even as sea levels rise, Marshal's people will
have access to safe water. The Marshal Lease EPA works
to ensure that the water in people's tanks isn't contaminated,
(12:02):
and the filters that KIA provided work to make sure
that even if it is, people won't get sick. They
often travel to the outer islons together to reduce the
cost sharing a small boat. It's a rare example of
a nonprofit in the government working together without competing or
doing the same thing twice. At first, Marianna explained, people
weren't sure that such a tiny filter could make such
(12:24):
a big difference, so KIA worked with the EPA to
use a visual test for microbial activity to show people
how effective it was. He She is explaining how the
EPA helped KIO build trust in the efficacy of the
soil filters.
Speaker 12 (12:37):
When Sires and Kio approached us with the filters. Before that,
a lot of people were already asking us, so, can
we can we trust this, you know, can you do
a test in your lab to tell us and confirm
(12:57):
that this is, you know, as good as the claim
it to be.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Doing the test allowed the e PA to help ko
get greater uptake for their filters and allowed Kio to
help the EPA achieve one of its mandated goals.
Speaker 12 (13:10):
And so when we produced these very visual like Quanta
Quanta or Quanti trays, the the experts will.
Speaker 11 (13:21):
Get into it.
Speaker 12 (13:21):
But when we produce them and show a visual contrast
between the water before the filter and then the water
before the after the filter filtration, it was you know amazing,
like it's it's so clean, and you know, we we
(13:44):
make decisions based on science, and that science right there,
and so we use that visual photograph outside of that
that that meeting to show people, you know, we're not
going to get in to the microbils of whatever. This
is the difference the water before the filter and then after.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
And so.
Speaker 12 (14:11):
We're just really happy that Kiyo was able to include us.
This is one of our mandates, but we're never resourced
that way to do all of the things that we
want to do to address water quality issues.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Of course, it's impossible to deal with the water issue
in isolation. Everything in the Marshall Islands are really anywhere
elsewhere you're paying attention has to take into account the
impact of climate change and how communities are going to
survive when faced with an increasingly hostile home planet. No
yain't explained how access to clean water helps make the
community in the Marshall Islands even more resilient.
Speaker 12 (14:49):
Well, if you're trying to survive, the last thing you
want to worry about is an outbreak of diarrhea or
apatitis or you know, water born diseases that are preventable,
and so clean water, you know you're much much more
(15:11):
better as a community if you can thrive and on
clean water. It's as simple as that.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Water is life.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
One night during my trip to the Marshall Islands, I
was able to join Kia for a dinner that celebrated
the completion of their water project, meaning that everyone in
the Marshall Islands had access to water that won't make
them sick. To get a better sense of what this
really means, I wanted to talk to some families who
had received those filters and to see what the clean
water access meant to them. We've all heard that water
(15:58):
is life, and that was a slogan news for Kio's project,
but it's difficult to appreciate that if you live in
a place where you can just turn on a tap
and have access to clean, safe water whenever you want.
When Kio made their posters for that dinner, they included
a photo of a little girl on Arno Island who'd
been one of the first to receive their filters, happily
drinking from a jar of clean water. That was back
(16:20):
in twenty eighteen. Since then they thought they'd heard the
terrible news that she died, but just before the dinner
they found out she hadn't, and so they invited her
to join the celebration. I was able to sit down
with her, her mother, and other recipients of the filters
for a quick interview via translator. On the tiny island
of boken Boat, al.
Speaker 7 (16:41):
So, they never filtered the water before. They would drink
straight from the water wells or the water catchments.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Sometimes, she said, people would get sick. We also spoke
to Aneiti, a resident of Wrong Wrong, on the day
that she got her filter Frontine helped translate her.
Speaker 15 (17:00):
Responses, Yanity, thank you, okay, but she had heard about
that there was going to be filters coming to the island.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
When she first heard, she thought the filters were going
to go directly to the water tanks. And now that
it's more accessible, it's like she saw this bucket. She's happy.
It's better. It's better.
Speaker 16 (17:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Recently there have been an outbreak of diary around the atoll,
so this was a welcome relief.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
So she had heard that there was optic of cases
in major, the capital, and when she had first learned
about her she was scared and worried. But to hear
that there's folks coming here to the island to check
(17:57):
on the water, it made them feel a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
You addings the family from Ana who travel a long
way on a small boat to meet us, we're looking
forward to getting back to their home. Life on the
outer a tolls isn't easy, but it's not one they
want to walk away from. With the threat of climate
change already putting their home in peril, having access to
clean water must be a welcome relief. I asked to say,
(18:21):
preferred life here on the Capitol a toll or back home.
Speaker 7 (18:24):
Yeah, she says life in the outer Islands is better.
There's more space, more freedom to move around for the kids.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
There are things she'd like to change, of course, but
mostly her concern was preserving their little piece of paradise
for future generations.
Speaker 7 (18:38):
She'd like her kids to be able to enjoy access
to clean water, whether it be through more water catchments
that are being available to the family, and also the
electric city as you mentioned, perhaps with the generator stuff
(19:04):
like that to make life more easier being the outer lands.
She'd like to, you know, like in the future, be
able to see the fishing grounds preserved as well as
the land for their farming needs.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
The way here works with local communities because they're from
local communities, enables them to be much more effective than
a nonprofit which comes from outside the community. On wrong
wrong they joke to laugh at local women Whenik's husband
comes from the island, so they were already welcome, and
then after some time bantering, they explained the way the
water filters work in marshal Leeds families. They're still a
(19:46):
fairly gender division of labor in many cases, and it
seemed to be that the women on the island were
the ones who stayed to learn about the filters, so
it was appropriate that it was women who were teaching them.
Preservation doesn't mean they can't change. The Marshall Islands have
seen a huge change in the last few years, and
much of that is down to the dedicated work of
(20:06):
a large number of women who form community groups to
empower each other and address social, ecological and public health
issues that are facing their communities. The umbrella organization that
works with these women's groups is called whit Me. I
let Maria from Whitney explain what that means and why
they started the group in the first place.
Speaker 11 (20:24):
First of all, welcome, as you know, with ME stands
for women in Needed Together marshal Allands. It also means
in Marshalise your flower, and that's how we wanted the
acronym to be to mean both English and Marshalise. And
as it was established in nineteen eighty seven to fill
(20:46):
a gap with respect to the advancement of women. In
nineteen seventy five there was the Decade for Women Union
Decade for Women, and there were two conferences that took
place and there were a lot of issues that came
about In those two meetings, they were dealing with domestic violence,
(21:10):
alcohol abuse, suicide, the youth, other problems of child abuse
and neglect. So from those women started to meet, at
least some women started to talk about this was there
were no representatives of women in the decision making bodies,
(21:31):
whether at the local government levels or at the national level.
So that's and we got the support of our traditional
women leaders.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Woman works alongside traditional leaders are not around them. The
same was true of all the programs that have been
successful on the islands. On our last day, we visited
one the program that builds the canoes we heard about.
Although the programs founded to preserve the cultural heritage of
the islands and their unique seafaring technologies, some of which
are only just being replicated in modern crafted Europe in
(22:05):
the USA, it also responded to a need that the
community had. In this case, that need was education.
Speaker 10 (22:12):
So we are a training program for at risk young
men and women of the Martial Lands who It started
out as a project back in the eighties. One of
our twenty found co founder of this program. The museum
contracted him to go through various islands within the Republic.
(22:32):
And you're talking about back in the eighties and we
were losing our designs fasts. People were coming to Maaguro
or going to the States, which is going off islands
to the many reasons, and because of that, they wanted
to capture that uniqueness of these design But when he
was going through from one adult to another, he noticed
(22:55):
that there were a lot of young kids not going
to school. I am sure you if you're aware of it.
But throughout the republic there's only about four or five
high schools, and most of them are a boarding school.
So for example, I grew up in Jeluit, and in
that at all there's a high school, boarding high school,
(23:18):
and then it gators to about six or seven other islands.
So parents have no choice but to send their kids.
If they want to go beyond eight grade, you have
to leave home and go to these boarding schools.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
In addition to offering a skill set and an education,
the program has counselors in mental health and addiction. They
teach young men and women maths, literacy, and how to
build the canoes, but they also empower them in creating
the sustainable alternative transport method that will be vital in
building a sustainable future for their home likewise would meet
the approach. It's based on listening to people.
Speaker 17 (23:53):
Women a chiefs you know, will let them know what
we'll be doing and what what would they want us
to do, and we has tom to talk with their
you know, like because these women chiefs are owning some
of the neighboring islands and they know their people and
do need assessments so they can really understand what their
needs are because all their neighboring islands are different needs.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
They make an effort to tie their efforts to traditional
Marshalist principles and in doing so they keep their culture alive.
Speaker 11 (24:21):
So being together and getting this the other thing that
with me as done, which is connect our our being
to our culture. Being a matrilineal society, we have different
sayings or traditional traditional roles of women. Yeah, and then
(24:42):
we have our domestic balance when it's called whether in
weather meaning it's a land parcel, no mean to be alive,
to live and not to be killed as opposed to
being abused. So what do is somewhere you go to
(25:02):
and you're able to live freely or in a being
I mean you're well protected. So in all our conferences
we do use these traditionals, so that it's something that
it's not new, it's traditional, so they cannot say, you know,
you cannot do that because it's a tradition, and we
(25:22):
keep the culture alive through that way as well.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Almost everyone you've heard from in this series, aside from
the Man, is a member of With Me or both.
Kio is one of the chapters With Me and many
of the leaders as the Daughters of Woodman's Leadership With Me,
have implemented parent as teacher, early childhood education programs, domestic
violence prevention programs, and many other social economic programs across
(26:01):
the islands. The results are easy to see. All over
the Marshall Islands, government officers and NGOs are run by women. Now,
the Marshall Islands had the first woman president in the
whole Pacific, and she was elected in January twenty sixteen,
a year when rampant misogyny was more evident than ever
in the United States presidential election. Of course, many Marshal
(26:22):
LEAs women go to the United States, and Woman's Members
are no exception.
Speaker 11 (26:26):
One of the major challenges has been to make sure
that we keep the organization intact. You guys, it's especially
at present time, because there's a lot about migration that
we have to constantly work, especially with women in the
islands where they are. They come and then they're stay
(26:47):
long in the urban areas, they just migrate out. So
now there are so many of them that they're trying
to form women's group in the in the United States
as well. Seeing so so they come and visit US
and we communicate with them occasionally, share and sharing information
(27:09):
or other issues because what the issues they experienced, you know,
they're also experience in the United States, and so they
need to be aware of how we're trying to deal
with those.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
But many women also go to the US for their
education and then return to be part of their community
and help lift their community up. Now, thanks to Whipman's
hard work and the government's efforts, women don't have to
leave to get these skills. The Energy Department has trained
women on outer islands, for example, to fix their own
power grades.
Speaker 13 (27:41):
Yeah, so we're kind of all over the place, and
one time we went and actually uh train a community
of all women, like uh, you know, we had to
include men to allow women to be part of the training,
and we have nine women that graduated certified trainers and
(28:06):
we awarded them with tools and everything, so.
Speaker 10 (28:11):
When there's.
Speaker 13 (28:13):
Power outages and there's solar home systems and they can
address it. And Grace who's in the middle, that that's
the island where she's from, where we train the woman
to become trainers, and it's our first ever. So when
we found that it was successful, we try to extend
it out to the other islands. So I think that's
(28:34):
one of the reasons why it's difficult for countries such
as US where we've been colonized and trying to find
a balance between a modern day government form of democracy
where you're taught that individualism is important and your rights
are important, and then you have your traditional structure where
(28:56):
when you're grow up, you're taught that it's a collective society.
Your piety is important, respecting your thoughts are not worth it.
Your elders and you know your chiefs in So I
think that's where we have to find the balance.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
This comment that Angeline made in our chat after her
excellent presentation on energy sovereignty really got me thinking about
the post colonial future of the Marshall Islands. Today, they're
empowered as an independent nation, but they still have to
exist within a framework where corporations and more powerful governments
don't have to pay for the consequences of their actions.
In twenty twenty two, the US unsealed indictment of a
(29:38):
Chinese couple who bribe five Marshallease members of parliament and
attempted to bribe a six in order to help them
carve out a kind of mini state, a so called
special economic zone, as a tax haven on wronga Lapatole.
This is one of the places is heavily impacted by
the nuclear testing we spoke about earlier. Hildehind, among others,
opposed this. She said economic di element is and should
(30:01):
be encouraged, but not at the expense of money laundering
and other similarly ill activities that are usually a part
of money laundering. As was obvious in the wrong l
Appatol Special Administrative Region legislation, the people of wrong Glapp
deserved better standards of living and economic development. While there's
no evidence of CCP involvement in the scheme, it came
(30:22):
as part of a larger panic about Beijing's influence in
the region. Twenty twenty two, the Solomon Islands signed a
pack with China to help improve their internal security, and
China has already provided the Solomons with police training and
donated replica guns and riot control equipment such as water
cannon vehicles. The Solomon Islands are still covered in bombs
from the US and Japan's fighting in the Pacific, but
(30:44):
instead of helping dispose of these, this form of investment
is sending more weapons to the government, not help to
the people there. According to a recent published study in
the journal Science, the world's corporations produce so much climate
change causing pollution that it would eat up forty four
percent of their so they had to pay damages for
the impact of their activity. Your reusable straw might help,
(31:05):
and it's good that you're using it, But until the
world and giant corporations especially listen to the voices of
people impacted by our choices, things won't change. I want
to end by talking about the future of the Marshall
Islands and how Marshallysee people are determining that in the
last century they've been let down by the League of
Nations who reallocated the islands to the Japanese under Southeast Mandate,
(31:29):
then let down by the US and the UN after
the war, and They're still being let down by international
institutions today when their demands for climate fairless are ignored,
But this doesn't mean they can't benefit from international solidarity.
It was American made water filters and a significant donation
from a company better known for hiking that helped every
(31:49):
single person in the Marshall Islands get clean water. It
was Greenpeace who relocated people when the US government wouldn't,
And it was Marshally's women who took week long Norse
or induced boat rides across dangerous seas to distribute those
water filters that save lives in places where there's less
access to care. With access to the right resources and
international solidarity and good will, the possibilities for the Marshall
(32:12):
Islands seem endless. They've endured World War, survived the dropping
of the atom bond, and they're adapting to climate change
by centering community and their obligations to each other rather
than trying to each take what they can and get out.
With access to clean water and homes free of smoke,
their children will be healthier, and every child I met
on the island seem to have bright hopes for the future.
(32:35):
I met one kid who wanted to be a basketball player,
and another who aspired to apparently be as tall as
I am. People in the Islands don't focus on their past,
but on their future, and with a little solidarity and
decency from the rest of the world, they have a
very bright one. I want to finish this series with
the explanation we got from Whitney of the Marshal Lely's flag.
It's a great flag, by the way, and you should
(32:56):
look it up if you haven't seen it. It's one
of the most common flags of convenience for merchant vessels
all over the world. I've seen it in several continents
but never really knew what it meant. At least for now,
it seemed to mean that these tiny islands, which have
been through so much still have great hopes for the future.
Speaker 11 (33:14):
The Marshalist flag there's two the orange and the white right,
and there they represented the relic chain and the Radit chain,
the sunrise chain of island and the sensor chain of
violent which formed the Marshal Land. So those two lines,
but those lines there's one orange and one weight. Orange
(33:37):
is for courage, it's called cleo and and the white
is for peace. So but these lines are not parallel.
I mean they become larger as they move up, and
they don't start from the corner. They start from a
(33:58):
little bit over the corner of the flag, meaning that
we have a past. We didn't start from the beginning
when we started this new government in nineteen seventy nine.
And then you have the moves out. It doesn't go
all the way to the corner at the top because
we're always growing. There's so you know, we're always growing.
(34:19):
We need to grow. It's very important.
Speaker 16 (34:26):
It could happen here as a production of cool Zone Media.
For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website
cool zonemedia dot com or check us out on the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
You can find sources for It could Happen Here, updated
monthly at coolzonemedia dot com slash sources. Thanks for listening.
This for all you guys, so you get there.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Twice In the week I spent on Marjoro, I didn't
get to sleep until after midnight because the hotel's event
space was about eight feet from my pillow and someone
in that event space was having an absolute rago. Before
trying and failing to go to sleep, I chatted with
some folks who were at the party to see what
was going on. The first night was a first birthday party.
Infant mortality has been so high in this area in
(00:41):
the past that children making it through the first year
of their life was a cause for massive celebration. It
was rather sweet to see adults enjoying such a good
time around a one year old who had no idea
what was going on. The next party, a few days
later was no less festive, but for a much more
somber reason. It was a celebration to an eight year
old girl who died exactly one year before. People showed
(01:04):
me her photo, and despite my condolences, they assured me
that it wasn't a sad affair. I don't want to
make this series a sad affair either, because despite the
incredible challenges they have faced, Marshally's people have persevered, and
they clearly have a great pride in their islands, and
I don't think they would want to be seen as
helpless and acted upon by global forces beyond their control. Instead,
(01:24):
they should be seen as a strong community that has
withstood some of the worst things a history can thriller
community and continue to thrive. As we spoke about yesterday,
they're taking huge steps to ensure that they lead the
way on sustainable development. They're also ensuring their future in
other ways. Some of those might not be as shiny
and glitzy as solar power grids or canoes powered by
(01:45):
the sun, but which have made a huge difference to
the residence of the country, particularly in the outer atolls.
What I want to talk about today is one of
those projects. It's a project imagined, implemented, and executed by
the women of Quarter in the name means women who
rise at dawn, and it's very appropriate every interview you've
(02:06):
heard so far and every place we went to thanks
to the women of Kio. The trip I was part
of was there to witness the installation of the final
water filters on the island of wrong Ram that will
bring to a successful conclusion a five year project to
ensure that every single person in the Marshall Islands had
access to clean water. I'll let them introduce themselves to
you as it did to us.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
My name is Francine wasase Jacklick, but most people around
town called me, so if you hear Francine, they're not
going to go today. I am a queu member. I'm
one of the officers as the secretary, and I've been
a queue member of GOSH. I can't remember when, but
(02:48):
you know we've got we've come along when he is
about seventeen years old right now? Wow, seventeen. Yeah, it's
been a very.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Fun road.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
It's my fun job outside from Q. As my fun work,
I work at the Ministry of Health and Human Services.
My permanent position is the Deputy Secretary overseeing Office of
Health Planning, Policy, Preparedness, Personnel and epidem analogy. And three
(03:20):
months ago I was also given the authority rule as
the acting Secretary of Health because the Secretary was not
the nude politics. So yeah, Q is q Corina Rani
and we're very happy because our founder is here and
(03:44):
it's money.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
So we'll do introduction and then we'll go into the agenda.
Is that okay, okay, so I will hand it to
the bag, which is our founder money.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Somebody go ahead, ill everyone.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
Hi, how come my money?
Speaker 6 (04:03):
I am the cocoon there?
Speaker 7 (04:04):
You actually not.
Speaker 6 (04:07):
We're really happy that you've made it. You know, your
flight wasn't canceled last week. So many flights are canceled,
so were so but welcome.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
In our language, we say yah yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
Means rainbow and quays you.
Speaker 7 (04:26):
So you are a rainbow to us.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
I am a mother for now.
Speaker 5 (04:34):
I don't I don't work.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Most of us have their work, but I'm a full
time mother and this is my baby. Actually, Kiyo started
sixteen years ago. Myself and a friend.
Speaker 5 (04:54):
We were in school in the East Coast and we
graduated and we all came back and you know, we
were raised with this mentality to give back.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
We have lots of Marshallese proverbs and what bio means.
Speaker 7 (05:12):
To turn the tides.
Speaker 8 (05:14):
So it was our time to turn the tides.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
So we banded together, always like minded, smart ladies and
created Q And it's a volunteer organization.
Speaker 7 (05:27):
We do this in our sleep.
Speaker 9 (05:29):
Basically all volunteer, yes.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
So we do various work from small projects like you know,
reading with the kids and just.
Speaker 6 (05:43):
Big projects like water.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
It's water culture project.
Speaker 5 (05:47):
My name is Kathleen. I work for the Ministry of
Natural Resources and Commerce with the Fisheries.
Speaker 8 (05:56):
Memora and I've been in film members and it's of
course you're what sixteen years ago and it is like
moving said, it's it's an honor and we are very
humble when visited. A welcome you all and hope we
(06:19):
have a great visit.
Speaker 10 (06:20):
Thank you, Okay, names all.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Yeah, but my name is Samantha.
Speaker 11 (06:27):
I work at the Munictrial Fight Access as an accountant
and I'm cure of treasure.
Speaker 12 (06:34):
Thank you, thank.
Speaker 13 (06:35):
You me.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
Yeah, why everyone, and welcome you to our shore.
Speaker 14 (06:42):
My name is Graised, but everyone call me Kuma.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
So I'm very pleased to meet all of you.
Speaker 14 (06:49):
When they say we have uh all these media, you know,
big news media, I would let come. We probably say
that I was kind of nervous, but anyways, I've been
a few remembers since twenty fourteen, and I was so
amazed by all the work that these ladies have been
doing for the Marshall Islands. And I'm there probably be
(07:11):
part of quet club. I work at Romola at all
Local Government and I'm not sure you know, but Ronav
is one of those. It's all that was affected by
the nuclear testing.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
So again, welcome here. Work with Sawyer, the people who
make the Ubiquitous water filter, which is a favorite for
through hikers and other outdoors people, to provide a water
filtration system that allows Marshal's people to filter the rain
water they collect and remove harmful bacteria that can cause
diarrhea and vomiting. Well, these might seem undesirables listeners in
(07:45):
the US, they can be fatal in other settings. Twenty nineteen,
around one point five million people died from diarrheal diseases.
That's more than all violent deaths combined. Around half a
million of those deaths were children. One thing that's remarkable
about the project is a way it was realized. KEO
began distribution in the most remote and hard to reach
(08:07):
the tolls, taking tiny boats across choppy seas for days
at a time to get to remote islands, and then
working with traditional women leaders to ensure that everyone on
the islands knew how to use the filters. Then they
began working towards Marjora the capitol. I've seen lots of
ENDO projects in dozens of countries I've worked with someone,
but I've rarely seen a model that prioritizes need this well.
(08:31):
In far too many cases, proximity to power ensures access
to resources. This is a global problem. Just look at
how the US distributed masks and COVID resources to reservations
last or if I step outside, they can see how
the lowest income parts of San Diego, the city I
live in, have the worst roads and get the least
infrastructure spending. The fact that KYO did things differently is
(08:53):
a testament to the strength of their commitment to their community.
In fact, the project finished distribution during my trip to
Marshall Islands, completing the last island on madro Atoll in
early July, but a few days later than that, when
QO invited myself and some other journalists to a goodbye breakfast,
they presented a filter to the former President of the
Republic of Marshall Islands, hilde Hind, Despite being the last
(09:16):
person to get one. She was very grateful and it
served as a great illustration of the priorities of the group.
They wanted to go to the hardest places first because
they knew people then needed help. The most his President
Hilde Heine. After receiving her filter.
Speaker 9 (09:31):
I was telling Monique that we don't drink from our
tab water hours we have our own system, or we
don't know if it's cleaned, so we buy our drinking
water all the time. So with this one I probably
will stop bang for to make pure water.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
I joined Kio and several other journalists for the final
leg of their project, which involves installing the water filters.
This doesn't really take long. They're basically a soil filter
attached to a five gallon bucket with a length of
flexible hose, and then explaining their value and upkeep to
the community. As we heard yesterday, ground water is harder
and harder to come by in the Marshall Islands thanks
(10:14):
to climate change, and so people rely almost exclusively on rainwater.
They collect rainwater in giant plastic tanks. They've only recently
replaced a hodgepodge of different collection vessels. Incidentally, a visiting
scientist from a CDC told me that the installation of
these tanks has increased a safe disposal of waste because
people no longer need to take their bins to collect
rainwater when it rains. Once water is in the tanks.
(10:38):
The residents can draw it out into their five gallon
bucket and then filter it for safe drinking. The soil
filter system may seem very simple, and it is, but
that's what makes it a perfect solution here. A complicated
electric filter, or one that relied on pipe water pressure
or had a ton of moving parts would require constant maintenance,
which is hard given a long journey to the outer Islands.
(11:00):
In my career in journalism and in nonprofit, I've seen
countless well intentioned aid projects completely failed to consider the
need for sustainability and become useless olities in a few years.
Cargo bikes made a huge different coffee farmers in Rwanda
until they needed new brake pads and there wasn't an
importer for them. The same goes for countless glucometers I've
(11:20):
seen distributed to people who can't access the batteries they
use or the test trips they rely on. This won't
happen in the Marshall Islands in part because the project
was led by the community itself and not by outside
nonprofits looking to maximize donation dollars or media opportunities, and
in part because the only maintenance or sort of filter
needs is a backflush of the filtered water that it makes.
(11:42):
Yesterday we had a little from the Marshal Lee's Environmental
Protection Agency about how they grapple with climate change. Today,
I want to explain how they're working alongside KIO to
ensure that even as sea levels rise, Marshal's people will
have access to safe water. The Marshal Lease EPA works
to ensure that the water in people's tanks isn't contaminated,
(12:02):
and the filters that KIA provided work to make sure
that even if it is, people won't get sick. They
often travel to the outer islons together to reduce the
cost sharing a small boat. It's a rare example of
a nonprofit in the government working together without competing or
doing the same thing twice. At first, Marianna explained, people
weren't sure that such a tiny filter could make such
(12:24):
a big difference, so KIA worked with the EPA to
use a visual test for microbial activity to show people
how effective it was. He She is explaining how the
EPA helped KIO build trust in the efficacy of the
soil filters.
Speaker 12 (12:37):
When Sires and Kio approached us with the filters. Before that,
a lot of people were already asking us, so, can
we can we trust this, you know, can you do
a test in your lab to tell us and confirm
(12:57):
that this is, you know, as good as the claim
it to be.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Doing the test allowed the e PA to help ko
get greater uptake for their filters and allowed Kio to
help the EPA achieve one of its mandated goals.
Speaker 12 (13:10):
And so when we produced these very visual like Quanta
Quanta or Quanti trays, the the experts will.
Speaker 11 (13:21):
Get into it.
Speaker 12 (13:21):
But when we produce them and show a visual contrast
between the water before the filter and then the water
before the after the filter filtration, it was you know amazing,
like it's it's so clean, and you know, we we
(13:44):
make decisions based on science, and that science right there,
and so we use that visual photograph outside of that
that that meeting to show people, you know, we're not
going to get in to the microbils of whatever. This
is the difference the water before the filter and then after.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
And so.
Speaker 12 (14:11):
We're just really happy that Kiyo was able to include us.
This is one of our mandates, but we're never resourced
that way to do all of the things that we
want to do to address water quality issues.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Of course, it's impossible to deal with the water issue
in isolation. Everything in the Marshall Islands are really anywhere
elsewhere you're paying attention has to take into account the
impact of climate change and how communities are going to
survive when faced with an increasingly hostile home planet. No
yain't explained how access to clean water helps make the
community in the Marshall Islands even more resilient.
Speaker 12 (14:49):
Well, if you're trying to survive, the last thing you
want to worry about is an outbreak of diarrhea or
apatitis or you know, water born diseases that are preventable,
and so clean water, you know you're much much more
(15:11):
better as a community if you can thrive and on
clean water. It's as simple as that.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Water is life.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
One night during my trip to the Marshall Islands, I
was able to join Kia for a dinner that celebrated
the completion of their water project, meaning that everyone in
the Marshall Islands had access to water that won't make
them sick. To get a better sense of what this
really means, I wanted to talk to some families who
had received those filters and to see what the clean
water access meant to them. We've all heard that water
(15:58):
is life, and that was a slogan news for Kio's project,
but it's difficult to appreciate that if you live in
a place where you can just turn on a tap
and have access to clean, safe water whenever you want.
When Kio made their posters for that dinner, they included
a photo of a little girl on Arno Island who'd
been one of the first to receive their filters, happily
drinking from a jar of clean water. That was back
(16:20):
in twenty eighteen. Since then they thought they'd heard the
terrible news that she died, but just before the dinner
they found out she hadn't, and so they invited her
to join the celebration. I was able to sit down
with her, her mother, and other recipients of the filters
for a quick interview via translator. On the tiny island
of boken Boat, al.
Speaker 7 (16:41):
So, they never filtered the water before. They would drink
straight from the water wells or the water catchments.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Sometimes, she said, people would get sick. We also spoke
to Aneiti, a resident of Wrong Wrong, on the day
that she got her filter Frontine helped translate her.
Speaker 15 (17:00):
Responses, Yanity, thank you, okay, but she had heard about
that there was going to be filters coming to the island.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
When she first heard, she thought the filters were going
to go directly to the water tanks. And now that
it's more accessible, it's like she saw this bucket. She's happy.
It's better. It's better.
Speaker 16 (17:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Recently there have been an outbreak of diary around the atoll,
so this was a welcome relief.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
So she had heard that there was optic of cases
in major, the capital, and when she had first learned
about her she was scared and worried. But to hear
that there's folks coming here to the island to check
(17:57):
on the water, it made them feel a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
You addings the family from Ana who travel a long
way on a small boat to meet us, we're looking
forward to getting back to their home. Life on the
outer a tolls isn't easy, but it's not one they
want to walk away from. With the threat of climate
change already putting their home in peril, having access to
clean water must be a welcome relief. I asked to say,
(18:21):
preferred life here on the Capitol a toll or back home.
Speaker 7 (18:24):
Yeah, she says life in the outer Islands is better.
There's more space, more freedom to move around for the kids.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
There are things she'd like to change, of course, but
mostly her concern was preserving their little piece of paradise
for future generations.
Speaker 7 (18:38):
She'd like her kids to be able to enjoy access
to clean water, whether it be through more water catchments
that are being available to the family, and also the
electric city as you mentioned, perhaps with the generator stuff
(19:04):
like that to make life more easier being the outer lands.
She'd like to, you know, like in the future, be
able to see the fishing grounds preserved as well as
the land for their farming needs.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
The way here works with local communities because they're from
local communities, enables them to be much more effective than
a nonprofit which comes from outside the community. On wrong
wrong they joke to laugh at local women Whenik's husband
comes from the island, so they were already welcome, and
then after some time bantering, they explained the way the
water filters work in marshal Leeds families. They're still a
(19:46):
fairly gender division of labor in many cases, and it
seemed to be that the women on the island were
the ones who stayed to learn about the filters, so
it was appropriate that it was women who were teaching them.
Preservation doesn't mean they can't change. The Marshall Islands have
seen a huge change in the last few years, and
much of that is down to the dedicated work of
(20:06):
a large number of women who form community groups to
empower each other and address social, ecological and public health
issues that are facing their communities. The umbrella organization that
works with these women's groups is called whit Me. I
let Maria from Whitney explain what that means and why
they started the group in the first place.
Speaker 11 (20:24):
First of all, welcome, as you know, with ME stands
for women in Needed Together marshal Allands. It also means
in Marshalise your flower, and that's how we wanted the
acronym to be to mean both English and Marshalise. And
as it was established in nineteen eighty seven to fill
(20:46):
a gap with respect to the advancement of women. In
nineteen seventy five there was the Decade for Women Union
Decade for Women, and there were two conferences that took
place and there were a lot of issues that came
about In those two meetings, they were dealing with domestic violence,
(21:10):
alcohol abuse, suicide, the youth, other problems of child abuse
and neglect. So from those women started to meet, at
least some women started to talk about this was there
were no representatives of women in the decision making bodies,
(21:31):
whether at the local government levels or at the national level.
So that's and we got the support of our traditional
women leaders.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Woman works alongside traditional leaders are not around them. The
same was true of all the programs that have been
successful on the islands. On our last day, we visited
one the program that builds the canoes we heard about.
Although the programs founded to preserve the cultural heritage of
the islands and their unique seafaring technologies, some of which
are only just being replicated in modern crafted Europe in
(22:05):
the USA, it also responded to a need that the
community had. In this case, that need was education.
Speaker 10 (22:12):
So we are a training program for at risk young
men and women of the Martial Lands who It started
out as a project back in the eighties. One of
our twenty found co founder of this program. The museum
contracted him to go through various islands within the Republic.
(22:32):
And you're talking about back in the eighties and we
were losing our designs fasts. People were coming to Maaguro
or going to the States, which is going off islands
to the many reasons, and because of that, they wanted
to capture that uniqueness of these design But when he
was going through from one adult to another, he noticed
(22:55):
that there were a lot of young kids not going
to school. I am sure you if you're aware of it.
But throughout the republic there's only about four or five
high schools, and most of them are a boarding school.
So for example, I grew up in Jeluit, and in
that at all there's a high school, boarding high school,
(23:18):
and then it gators to about six or seven other islands.
So parents have no choice but to send their kids.
If they want to go beyond eight grade, you have
to leave home and go to these boarding schools.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
In addition to offering a skill set and an education,
the program has counselors in mental health and addiction. They
teach young men and women maths, literacy, and how to
build the canoes, but they also empower them in creating
the sustainable alternative transport method that will be vital in
building a sustainable future for their home likewise would meet
the approach. It's based on listening to people.
Speaker 17 (23:53):
Women a chiefs you know, will let them know what
we'll be doing and what what would they want us
to do, and we has tom to talk with their
you know, like because these women chiefs are owning some
of the neighboring islands and they know their people and
do need assessments so they can really understand what their
needs are because all their neighboring islands are different needs.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
They make an effort to tie their efforts to traditional
Marshalist principles and in doing so they keep their culture alive.
Speaker 11 (24:21):
So being together and getting this the other thing that
with me as done, which is connect our our being
to our culture. Being a matrilineal society, we have different
sayings or traditional traditional roles of women. Yeah, and then
(24:42):
we have our domestic balance when it's called whether in
weather meaning it's a land parcel, no mean to be alive,
to live and not to be killed as opposed to
being abused. So what do is somewhere you go to
(25:02):
and you're able to live freely or in a being
I mean you're well protected. So in all our conferences
we do use these traditionals, so that it's something that
it's not new, it's traditional, so they cannot say, you know,
you cannot do that because it's a tradition, and we
(25:22):
keep the culture alive through that way as well.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Almost everyone you've heard from in this series, aside from
the Man, is a member of With Me or both.
Kio is one of the chapters With Me and many
of the leaders as the Daughters of Woodman's Leadership With Me,
have implemented parent as teacher, early childhood education programs, domestic
violence prevention programs, and many other social economic programs across
(26:01):
the islands. The results are easy to see. All over
the Marshall Islands, government officers and NGOs are run by women. Now,
the Marshall Islands had the first woman president in the
whole Pacific, and she was elected in January twenty sixteen,
a year when rampant misogyny was more evident than ever
in the United States presidential election. Of course, many Marshal
(26:22):
LEAs women go to the United States, and Woman's Members
are no exception.
Speaker 11 (26:26):
One of the major challenges has been to make sure
that we keep the organization intact. You guys, it's especially
at present time, because there's a lot about migration that
we have to constantly work, especially with women in the
islands where they are. They come and then they're stay
(26:47):
long in the urban areas, they just migrate out. So
now there are so many of them that they're trying
to form women's group in the in the United States
as well. Seeing so so they come and visit US
and we communicate with them occasionally, share and sharing information
(27:09):
or other issues because what the issues they experienced, you know,
they're also experience in the United States, and so they
need to be aware of how we're trying to deal
with those.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
But many women also go to the US for their
education and then return to be part of their community
and help lift their community up. Now, thanks to Whipman's
hard work and the government's efforts, women don't have to
leave to get these skills. The Energy Department has trained
women on outer islands, for example, to fix their own
power grades.
Speaker 13 (27:41):
Yeah, so we're kind of all over the place, and
one time we went and actually uh train a community
of all women, like uh, you know, we had to
include men to allow women to be part of the training,
and we have nine women that graduated certified trainers and
(28:06):
we awarded them with tools and everything, so.
Speaker 10 (28:11):
When there's.
Speaker 13 (28:13):
Power outages and there's solar home systems and they can
address it. And Grace who's in the middle, that that's
the island where she's from, where we train the woman
to become trainers, and it's our first ever. So when
we found that it was successful, we try to extend
it out to the other islands. So I think that's
(28:34):
one of the reasons why it's difficult for countries such
as US where we've been colonized and trying to find
a balance between a modern day government form of democracy
where you're taught that individualism is important and your rights
are important, and then you have your traditional structure where
(28:56):
when you're grow up, you're taught that it's a collective society.
Your piety is important, respecting your thoughts are not worth it.
Your elders and you know your chiefs in So I
think that's where we have to find the balance.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
This comment that Angeline made in our chat after her
excellent presentation on energy sovereignty really got me thinking about
the post colonial future of the Marshall Islands. Today, they're
empowered as an independent nation, but they still have to
exist within a framework where corporations and more powerful governments
don't have to pay for the consequences of their actions.
In twenty twenty two, the US unsealed indictment of a
(29:38):
Chinese couple who bribe five Marshallease members of parliament and
attempted to bribe a six in order to help them
carve out a kind of mini state, a so called
special economic zone, as a tax haven on wronga Lapatole.
This is one of the places is heavily impacted by
the nuclear testing we spoke about earlier. Hildehind, among others,
opposed this. She said economic di element is and should
(30:01):
be encouraged, but not at the expense of money laundering
and other similarly ill activities that are usually a part
of money laundering. As was obvious in the wrong l
Appatol Special Administrative Region legislation, the people of wrong Glapp
deserved better standards of living and economic development. While there's
no evidence of CCP involvement in the scheme, it came
(30:22):
as part of a larger panic about Beijing's influence in
the region. Twenty twenty two, the Solomon Islands signed a
pack with China to help improve their internal security, and
China has already provided the Solomons with police training and
donated replica guns and riot control equipment such as water
cannon vehicles. The Solomon Islands are still covered in bombs
from the US and Japan's fighting in the Pacific, but
(30:44):
instead of helping dispose of these, this form of investment
is sending more weapons to the government, not help to
the people there. According to a recent published study in
the journal Science, the world's corporations produce so much climate
change causing pollution that it would eat up forty four
percent of their so they had to pay damages for
the impact of their activity. Your reusable straw might help,
(31:05):
and it's good that you're using it, But until the
world and giant corporations especially listen to the voices of
people impacted by our choices, things won't change. I want
to end by talking about the future of the Marshall
Islands and how Marshallysee people are determining that in the
last century they've been let down by the League of
Nations who reallocated the islands to the Japanese under Southeast Mandate,
(31:29):
then let down by the US and the UN after
the war, and They're still being let down by international
institutions today when their demands for climate fairless are ignored,
But this doesn't mean they can't benefit from international solidarity.
It was American made water filters and a significant donation
from a company better known for hiking that helped every
(31:49):
single person in the Marshall Islands get clean water. It
was Greenpeace who relocated people when the US government wouldn't,
And it was Marshally's women who took week long Norse
or induced boat rides across dangerous seas to distribute those
water filters that save lives in places where there's less
access to care. With access to the right resources and
international solidarity and good will, the possibilities for the Marshall
(32:12):
Islands seem endless. They've endured World War, survived the dropping
of the atom bond, and they're adapting to climate change
by centering community and their obligations to each other rather
than trying to each take what they can and get out.
With access to clean water and homes free of smoke,
their children will be healthier, and every child I met
on the island seem to have bright hopes for the future.
(32:35):
I met one kid who wanted to be a basketball player,
and another who aspired to apparently be as tall as
I am. People in the Islands don't focus on their past,
but on their future, and with a little solidarity and
decency from the rest of the world, they have a
very bright one. I want to finish this series with
the explanation we got from Whitney of the Marshal Lely's flag.
It's a great flag, by the way, and you should
(32:56):
look it up if you haven't seen it. It's one
of the most common flags of convenience for merchant vessels
all over the world. I've seen it in several continents
but never really knew what it meant. At least for now,
it seemed to mean that these tiny islands, which have
been through so much still have great hopes for the future.
Speaker 11 (33:14):
The Marshalist flag there's two the orange and the white right,
and there they represented the relic chain and the Radit chain,
the sunrise chain of island and the sensor chain of
violent which formed the Marshal Land. So those two lines,
but those lines there's one orange and one weight. Orange
(33:37):
is for courage, it's called cleo and and the white
is for peace. So but these lines are not parallel.
I mean they become larger as they move up, and
they don't start from the corner. They start from a
(33:58):
little bit over the corner of the flag, meaning that
we have a past. We didn't start from the beginning
when we started this new government in nineteen seventy nine.
And then you have the moves out. It doesn't go
all the way to the corner at the top because
we're always growing. There's so you know, we're always growing.
(34:19):
We need to grow. It's very important.
Speaker 16 (34:26):
It could happen here as a production of cool Zone Media.
For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website
cool zonemedia dot com or check us out on the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
You can find sources for It could Happen Here, updated
monthly at coolzonemedia dot com slash sources. Thanks for listening.
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