November 15, 2010- The Kwaj Experience

     After almost 14 years on the atoll and visits to various places around the globe, I can say with confidence that living on Kwajalein is like no other experience anywhere in the world.  The last few days I’ve had a friend visiting who is doing research on the relationship between the Marshallese and Americans from WWII to the present, and trying to explain to someone who has never lived here what it’s like is challenging.  What other place in the world do you know that has regular large scale reunions for all residents of that “town” past and present who wish to attend? Who else creates newsletters to send out updating former and present residents about what’s going on in the lives of those who’ve had a Kwaj experience at some point in their lives?
     Kwaj is its own familiar entity.  People here become each other’s families for better or for worse.  It’s hard to tell anyone else stories about the island because you develop your own language for talking about it full of acronyms, anecdotes, and day to day stuff that has to be explained as an aside to non-residents. If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, you’ve already experienced this (in parenthesis, of course, which is how I choose to clarify and elaborate on all the Kwajisms that I know need to be explained to the “lay person” in the states or elsewhere in the world). There are many evolving and complex relationships between the diverse groups that inhabit and/or visit the island regularly including main land Americans, Hawaiians and other Polynesians, Marshallese and other Micronesians, Philippinos, Japanese, and many, many other Indo Pacific, Asian, Hispanic, and French speaking countries around the world. I suppose this is like just about anywhere else in the states nowadays, but for such a small island and population of people, it’s quite incredible how diverse it’s always been.  And what’s most amazing is that any stereotypes, misconceptions, or misinterpretations of other cultures and peoples tend to fall away for the most part.  There’s no room for that stuff on a three mile long, half mile wide island three thousand miles from the big city and civilization as the majority of us know it.  Sure, there’s pettiness, bitterness, complaining, cliques, and all the other gossiping and rumors associated with human beings in any small town where you know everybody’s business, but when you really need a helping hand or someone to grieve with, the community is there for you. There’s always someone willing to help the little girl who fell off her bike riding home from school or to put on a talent show to raise money for a family who has suffered a great loss. And there are those who go above and beyond their jobs and families here and give of their time and education to volunteer teach at the schools on Ebeye and support the Yokwe Yuk Women’s Club with their Christmas drops to the outer islands or organize social and educational cultural exchanges with the Marshallese women’s clubs in the area.
     Why am I writing about all this?  Well, maybe to dispel some of the fear that those who have never lived here will have trouble understanding what we are and what we do and how positive it is and continues to be. There has been a preponderance of negative stuff written about the atoll and about the American military presence here, but not a lot has been written about the wonderful aspects of the leasing of these islands to the U.S. I believe there have been more advantages than disadvantages, more positives than negatives over the years of the relationship between the host nation and the rest of us.  These are the stories that need to be told to and shared with outsiders.  It’s hard to trust outsiders to our community because they too often have burned the way of life here and have made it out to be something evil and disparaging to those who have invested their entire careers and families in Kwajalein. 
     It’s not a perfect place, the American government is not perfect, but neither is the Marshallese government or the people that are associated with this place or those governments, but in that way, it’s no different from anywhere else.  We simply do our best to live our lives and perform our jobs to the best of our ability in order to take care of our families and our livelihoods.  Kwaj is a unique place, like none other, and it is a peaceful place, a place where two cultures work almost seamlessly together and support each other through thick and thin despite any hurts or slights from the past. After all, it’s a familiar place. People here become each other’s families for better or for worse, no matter what culture you originally came from, once you arrive here to stay, you are part of the culture of Kwajalein.