_     I have written extensively of the many roadblocks and frustrations we encounter throughout our work here in Pohnpei, but trust me, I barely scratch the surface.  I knew when I came here it wasn’t going to be easy and our collective perseverance and resolve would be tested.  Of course though, knowing something in your head is entirely different than experiencing it firsthand.  I remember the exact moment when all this hit home.

    Way back in October, a few weeks after I arrived, Mr. B and I were in a slight state of shock with just how bad the schools really are.  We were sitting in the car about to leave from a school that had only one teacher for three grades.  Most of the kids were sitting around or had gone home, even though it was only 11:00.  Despite the negative circumstances Mr. B was often making jokes and laughing about the whole thing.  I said while laughing along with him, “Mr. B, what are we going to do?!?  Why are you laughing?!?”  His response was priceless and classic Mr. B ---

_While his response obviously made me laugh, there is so much truth to it.  This attitude has served Mr. B extremely well throughout his life on Pohnpei working to help his people.  Indeed, he very well might have had a heart attack by now if he didn’t have this approach!

    Today we went to our largest adopted school which has six classes – two classes each for 6th, 7th and 8th grade.  There were only three teachers and the principal wasn’t present.  This left each teacher responsible for their 20 some kids, plus the 20 some other students.  When the teachers are left with this predicament they stay with their class and give the other class a bunch of busy work a few times throughout the day.  You can imagine how productive a group of 6th graders are when left alone to do busy work from a textbook.  This happens all the time on Pohnpei – I have never heard of substitute teachers.

    When we got to the 8th grade classroom, and saw that there was only one teacher for the two classes, I had to step outside the classroom and remember Mr. B’s wisdom.  I had seen both 8th grade teachers earlier that morning, but one left for Kolonia during lunch.  Heck, without any principal, who is there to enforce anything?  It's worth noting that this is one of our better schools!

    Despite all the frustration, I have learned, and rather quickly, that you can’t expect change to happen quickly, if at all.  What I mean by this is that change can take years, even decades.  In order to survive days like today, it is critical to have an even-keeled mindset.  And it helps for personal health, when working in a place like Pohnpei, to take everything with a grain of salt, and if at all possible, laugh about the craziness.

    There are countless lessons I’ll take with me when I leave this island, and this will be at the top of the list.  We all encounter difficulties but if we can laugh about it and recognize how imperfect this world is and all the people in it, then we’ll be better for it.  And less likely to get a heart attack.

   Looking at my past posts, I haven’t written much about what I’ve done outside of work for a while.  Well, I got a story from this morning.  I’ve always wanted to learn to surf.  Being an East Coast guy I haven’t been presented with many opportunities and hoped I would get the opportunity to catch some waves here in Pohnpei.  As the old phrase goes, be careful what you wish for.

    Pohnpei has a world-famous surfing spot known as Palikir Pass.  It doesn’t produce the biggest waves in the world but is renowned for creating perfect barrels.  That said, the waves can still get pretty big!  I first went surfing a few weeks ago.  As I have never even seen surfing up close I stayed on the outside at the beginning and watched how it was done.  When I finally thought I’d give it a shot there were many surfers in the water and I didn’t want to take the waves of people who had traveled thousands of miles to surf here.  I got hit by a decent size wave and tumbled through the water once, but it wasn’t too bad.  Then today happened.

    We got there around 7:30 and I knew from the last time I wanted to be aggressive and try to catch a wave early before more surfers came.  I almost caught one but backed up when I realized it was too big.  I had an inkling I was in “over my head” (pardon the pun) but I didn’t want to call it a day after only a few minutes.  The waves were much bigger than my first surfing experience.  It was at this point I saw that I was too shallow and was right in the place where most of the waves break.  A set was coming any minute so I started to paddle out of there.  It was then I saw Ben, a MAHI volunteer who is working as a doctor in the State Hospital, wave me over to the inside.  Uh-oh: a set was coming.  I only got a few feet before I saw Ben drop in on this MONSTER wave.  I froze.  I didn’t want to get in his way.  By that point it was too late anyways. 

    There I was, a huge wall of water, at least 10 feet high, about to break right on me.  When I think 10 feet high, I think of a basketball hoop.  That’s not that high, right?  Well I realized later on that in surfing you’re on the “ground.”  Next time you’re next to a basketball hoop, lie on the ground and picture a wall of water as high as the top of the backboard about to crash down on you!  At this point, any thoughts of the beauty of being in the barrel were quickly overwhelmed by an all-consuming sense of fear.  I don’t think there’s a human being in the world who wouldn’t be scared in that moment!

    Before I knew it I was in the world’s largest washing machine being tossed around like a rag doll.  It was at this point I remembered John telling me a story of him getting crushed after dropping in on a monster wave and getting a quick breath of air before being pummeled again.  I got a quick breath of air, along with some salt water, before getting swept away by another massive wall of white water.  This is when it got a little scary.  For those who don’t know, you wear a leash on your ankle which is attached to the back of the board, so you don’t lose your board in situations like this.  Despite getting some air before the second wave, I was out of breath and still under water.  Then the leash got tangled around my neck.  My board was being pulled along with the wave just like me.  I don’t know how, but by the grace of God I got some super human strength and managed to pull the leash off my neck.

    The ocean showed no mercy.  I got another quick breath, along with some more salt water, before being consumed again.  At this point I felt like a dead fish.  I was completely out of breath, energy and adrenaline.  Some scary thoughts entered my mind of potential consequences if this barrage didn’t end soon.  After the third sweeping I felt some coral on my feet.  This was a relief but a bit concerning at the same time.  I knew that any severe consequences, i.e. drowning, were unlikely as I could stand on the reef, but at the same time I knew the coral was likely to inflict some damage.  Two more walls of whitewater came and my legs and feet got cut up pretty bad, but that was the least of my concerns.  I was just happy to finally be out of the worst of it.

    Getting pummeled by waves is nothing new to surfing, especially to rookies.  My friend Kohei came to see how I was doing and could see the fear in my eyes.  The whole leash strangling deal was a bit alarming.  Apparently it doesn’t happen very often and my concern was warranted.  The currents were pretty strong and Kohei helped navigate me back to the boat.  Later on Kohei somehow convinced me to get back in the water, though this time I went without a surfboard and with fins.  I wanted to get some close up pictures with my waterproof camera, which you can see below, along with a video!  FYI, the wave in the video is about half the size of the wave that crushed me, to give you some perspective.

    I would just like to say that this obviously wasn’t my brightest moment!  Sometimes you don't know what you're getting into until it's too late.  I still want to learn to surf, but what I did today was skip the bunny hill to try double black diamond.  Live and learn._
   
    We’re still in the thick of it in our education program.  The work is difficult and tedious but worthwhile.  I’m excited this week that I will be starting a new internship at the College of Micronesia!  More information on that to come!

__

Last year at this time I spent spring break going on a service trip with my college to New Orleans, spending a week rebuilding homes.  During the trip we kept a group journal which was later typed up and sent to everyone.  I thought I would revisit the trip a year removed from the experience.  The words I wrote jumped off the page.  Before I explain why, here are a couple excerpts:

 


March 13, 2011
    Today during our large group reflection a common theme was the frustration over government inefficiency in solving the many problems presented in the city.  Ultimately what it boils down to is the current state of the city, and particularly its education system, simply is not good enough.  As a nation we need to hold ourselves to a higher standard – the wealthiest nation in the world should not have desolated communities such as the ones we saw today.  While perhaps this is a bit idealistic, I am hopeful that we as a generation, and as engaged Dickinsonians, can work to improve these communities by attacking flawed, corrupt systems of oppression and implementing innovative and comprehensive policies to create lasting change.  This is a broad idea in theory however, as it is abundantly clear that these problems are complex beyond our comprehension.  I found myself dumbfounded today to see homes completely refurbished that would fit well into any normal neighborhood, surrounded by abandoned homes, clearly destroyed by the storm.

    While we all will learn a lot during our time here, I believe it is important to recognize that our understanding of the problems facing New Orleans and the effects of Hurricane Katrina will always be limited.  We can hear survivor’s stories, see the destruction and experience the culture, but we will never be able to fully comprehend what this city and these people have gone through.  It is with this approach of humility that I hope to attempt to grasp the infinitely complex problems presented, all the while doing my best to lend a helping hand.  This week we will be making a small contribution to rebuilding New Orleans by repairing homes.  However, I believe the lessons we all learn and the experiences we all have this week will lead to a changed mindset, forever reminding us of the desperate need for compassion and understanding in this world.

March 17, 2011
    A strong focus of this trip has been actively reflecting on our experiences.  While I believe this is a valuable activity, something I have learned is how the most valuable reflections have come after much time has passed.  It can take weeks, months, and even years to learn all the lessons from one specific trip or experience.  I’m sure that my reflections of this trip will continue to grow and change as time distances itself from this moment.


    While New Orleans and Pohnpei are on the opposite ends of the globe, it has become abundantly clear that many of the problems facing these developing communities are the same.  In my journal entry, along with many of the others written by my classmates, it was cited how frustrating it is to witness government inefficiency and lack of action.  Well, if you thought American bureaucracy can be a headache, you haven’t been to Pohnpei!  The fact that I then went on to specifically state how the “education system simply isn’t good enough” made me laugh considering what I have been doing the past five months.

    Looking at what I wrote, I see a fundamental shift in my approach to social change.  Specifically, this sentence stood out: “While perhaps this is a bit idealistic, I am hopeful that we as a generation, and as engaged Dickinsonians, can work to improve these communities by attacking flawed, corrupt systems of oppression and implementing innovative and comprehensive policies to create lasting change.”  I read this now and shudder.  Even if you look back to my October and November posts, I used this type of language.  Let's dissect it: It is well written, and uses several big words and phrases when it comes to social change like “systems of oppression,” “innovative and comprehensive,” and “lasting change.”  I read it and it sounds very appealing – who wouldn’t want to attack “systems of oppression,” being “innovative” to create “lasting change?” 

    Here’s my point: it’s all talk.  When the rubber hits the road, big sentences like this might sound good, and maybe help people open their wallets to support whatever cause, but it doesn’t do anything.  It’s not necessarily wrong to talk like this, but if it’s not supported with action, it doesn’t do anything but inflate the ego of the speaker.  When it comes to social change, especially in developing communities, it is essential that the leaders are men and women of action.

    I’m really happy though that I followed up that “big” sentence with acknowledging that it is “abundantly clear that these problems are complex beyond our comprehension.”  I knew when I went to New Orleans for only a week that I would not even start to slightly understand the problems that the communities there are facing.  I thought however after spending five plus months on this tiny isolated island in the middle of the Pacific I would begin to grasp how to address the many problems on the island.  Today I found myself saying, “The longer I stay here the more confused I get at how we can help this place.”

    I think that whenever attempting community reform we will find ourselves saying something similar to this.  There are just so many factors – culture, government, race, education, history, religion – the list goes on and on.  From New Orleans to Pohnpei, Somalia to Lima, Peru, Afghanistan to Sierra Leone, the difficulties in bringing “lasting change” to a developing community are vast and remarkably complex.  There are no silver bullet solutions, despite how tempting it might be to search for them.  I have become more and more convinced however, as evidenced in my last post, that when tackling any type of social change, the best and most effective approach is not attempting to reform a government policy or institution.  Rather, it is to take an individual approach, working with the members of the community, learning how as an outsider you can best serve them in their efforts to better themselves and their community.  This is a much less attractive approach – it doesn’t have the glitz and glamor of “fighting systems of oppression” and it certainly is much more difficult than finding the silver bullet solution.  But in the end what’s most important?

    I look back a year ago in my week in NOLA with fond memories of friendships that were strengthened and created and being surrounded by like-minded peers who chose to attempt to grasp the complex problems of the world for a week rather than having fuzzy memories of a night on some beach.  We left an indelible mark on the communities where we served, making them one step closer to recovery.  We weren't working to reform vast institutions.  Instead, we worked to help individuals, serving them the best way we knew how.   As far as the future of New Orleans goes, I’m sure that most of us can look back at our time there and conclude that we learned a lot but ultimately left with more questions than answers.

    This struggle persists and always will.  There is no utopia, no happily ever after.  However, I have been taught by several individuals, and have come to believe, that there is always hope.  I know this is cheesy but let me explain.  I’m reading a biography on Abraham Lincoln, entitled “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln” by Doris Kearns Goodwin.  In the book, Goodwin describes how Lincoln was “acutely aware of his own emotional needs,” finding rejuvenation and relief in several ways from the overwhelming burden of leading America through its most perilous years.  Goodwin goes on to reference Daniel Goleman’s study on emotional intelligence which states, “Having hope means that one will not give in to overwhelming anxiety, a defeatist attitude, or depression in the face of difficult challenges or setbacks.  [Hope is] more than the sunny view that everything will turn out all right, [it is] believing you have the will and the way to accomplish your goals” (631).  Goodwin then writes, “More clearly than his colleagues, Lincoln understood that numerous setbacks were inevitable before the war could be brought to a close.  Yet in the end, he firmly believed the North would prevail.”

    All those in the field of social change, especially those working in developing communities, could learn from Lincoln and his emotional intelligence.  While there will inevitably be countless challenges and a never-ending stream of questions, if we have hope we are armed with the power to make a difference.  And that is needed everywhere in the world, from New Orleans to Pohnpei.

_     Way back in October I e-mailed my college president, Dr. William Durden, asking for any general advice in our education efforts here in Pohnpei.  While he provided plenty of great advice the quote that stands out in my mind is “Reform must come from within and cannot be imposed.”  I took this to heart and throughout our efforts to reform the education system on Pohnpei, I have been constantly searching for how we can motivate the students, teachers and administration to excel.  We have informed the students of their extraordinary position of privilege, talked with teachers about their struggles and paths to improvement, and reported to administrators the severe deficiencies we have found in the classroom.  Ultimately though, I’m still left wondering what we can do to encourage the majority of the locals to improve the education system.  We can help in many ways but as Dr. Durden wisely noted, we can’t force motivation upon them.

    I have learned firsthand the need to understand a people before you can “change” them in any way, shape or form.  You don’t have to go that far back in Pohnpeian history to see that their current lifestyle is vastly different from the past.  Before the white man ever arrived on island, the Pohnpeians were largely living a very comfortable life.  They didn’t work a 9-5 job, doing the same thing every day of the workweek.  Instead, they were mostly sustenance farmers, living off the land.  Pohnpei is known as the “Garden Island” of Micronesia.  All three other states of the FSM, Yap, Chuuk and Kosrae, have more difficulties in growing food and have to worry about water collection.  Food is abundant in Pohnpei and water is one of the least of their concerns. 

A few examples illustrating Pohnpei’s “Garden Island” title:

• In November we were eating papayas here at the MAHI International Hospitality Center and tossed the seeds off the balcony.  There are now ten papaya trees, the tallest being seven feet tall.
• Mr. B told me that the old canoes found in Pohnpei were not designed for the open ocean.  The fish were so abundant inside the reef they didn’t need to go outside of it.  The canoes found in Yap, Chuuk and Kosrae however were all designed for the open ocean.
• All throughout Pohnpei there is so much food that is waiting to be harvested.  Everywhere there are Giant Taro patches, Breadfruit, Coconut, Banana and Papaya trees, and much more.
  

    Living with such plentiful resources produced a unique lifestyle on Pohnpei.  While they still had to work, the transition to the typical Western work life has been very difficult.  Throughout our time in the schools I have asked every class if the students have been off the island before, and only a handful that were born off island answered yes.  It’s worth noting that every time we have encountered a student who is clearly far ahead of their classmates, we have discovered they came from Guam or the US.  Every student who was born on Pohnpei has never left.  How are we supposed to motivate these students to excel in their education so they can go to college, if they have never been outside of this tiny island?

    What we’re ultimately trying to do here in Pohnpei is not just reform the education system, but influence the culture so that reform is possible.  As Dr. Durden noted, our real challenge is “cultural resistance and cultural change.”  How does one begin to change a culture?  Is that a desirable goal in the first place?  The fact is that much of Pohnpei’s culture has been lost due to the pervasive Western influence.  Many of their traditions have not been completely lost, but perverted.  A great example of this is sakau.  Previously, sakau was a ceremonial drink that was only drank by the high traditional leaders on very special occasions.  Now it is drank by over 70% of the islanders daily.

    It’s crystal clear that it is ridiculously difficult to reform a culture and the deeply entrenched institutions that lie therein.  Given this, I have sought to influence individuals, believing that if even one student is positively impacted by my being here, my time will have been well spent.  Institutions and certainly a culture are simply too large to tackle, especially in the short-term.  While the vision of grand change might be admirable and worth seeking, at the end of the day what we’re seeking to change are individuals.  Only the local people can shape their culture.  Indeed, reform must come from within.