Yesterday, we went ashore a bit after 9 AM, so that we could get a ride in the truck down to Airek (about 6 to 7 miles away). When we arrived, we found out that the truck had made an impromptu run earlier and would return "shortly." That ended up being probably an hour or an hour & a half. That was okay, though, we're used to island time. Plus, it gave us time to give Flomina & her family their grab bag of items donated from Kwajalein.
The ride was worth the wait. I definitely wouldn't have wanted to walk all the way down there & back - especially with two boxes of books.
Buoj is probably the most spread out of the villages. There seems to be more space between each of the houses. It's the southwestern post village of Ailinglaplap Island. Heading east, after Buoj is a couple miles of thick jungle, as well as a grove of mangrove trees. I don't think I've ever seen mangroves in the Marshalls, & definitely not that many!
We met Steve (World Teach) at the Jabwan school. He was delighted to receive the box of books and said that he has been trying to figure out a way to reach out to give Marshallese parents English lessons/class. He thought the books would be helpful. Plus, he said he'd enjoy reading them himself.
We also found out that the Jabwan and Airek schools received grants from the Yokwe Yuk Women's Club on Kwajalein. So I found out what they had purchased with the grant money - MANY pencils and composition notebooks, a regulator, batteries, & inverter for their solar panels (the panels were provided by the Ministry of Education, but they didn't have the other components), an electric typewriter, a printer, a digital camera, a TV/VCR/DVD combo, a computer, a lawn mower, and a pool table. Yep, a pool table. However, the kids do use it at recess, and it seems widely used by the community as a whole after school hours. I took pictures, which will be fun to share with the YYWC upon our return.
Jabwan and Airek are pretty close to each other, which explains why they are able to share school equipment. These two villages seem to have houses placed much more closely together.
Then we went down to Airek with Steve (it was his lunch break) to meet his wife Sarah, and drop off a box of books at her school (Airek). I was surprised by her cheerfulness. I don't think that I'd have been in such high spirits, if I'd had typhoid and dysentery just a couple weeks before. She said that she had been vaccinated against typhoid, but apparently it's only 50 to 80% effective, or at least that is what she was told. It'll be interesting to research that on the internet when we get back.
We ended the day inviting Lee, Flomina, Omela (Flomina's sister & Ellie's new BFF), and Claire out to tour the boat and for dinner. First, we offerd them triscuits and cheddar cheese. Clare was so excited since she hadn't seen cheese since August. Then we ate a delicious dinner prepared by Ellie and Tiimo - they used the tortillas TC and I made the previous night to make an enchilada casserole of sorts. She also breaded some ono with panko and fried it up. I provided homemade brownies with chocolate peanut butter icing for dessert. Claire and Omela (who has had more experience with western foods) seemed to be in heaven, as they enjoyed their food.
It was a great day!
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