The Woman and Her Two Daughters



Mothers should love their children.

 In this story there was a woman and two daughters on

a small Island. The elder daughter’s name is Jowl and the youngest daughter’s name is Aurok. The woman loves the younger daughter more than the elder daughter. Every day when she goes somewhere she brings many delicious foods for her youngest daughter, but she doesn’t give her elder daughter food. She does this many times but the elder daughter doesn’t complain because she loves her mother and her younger sister. One day the woman gets mad at her elder daughter and sends her from her house. The younger daughter really misses her sister. She doesn’t want to eat, sleep, or play and all she wants to dois cry. One day when the mother is gone from the house the younger daughter goes to the jungle and looks for her sister. She brings her sister to the house and feeds her. When their mother sees them she tries to kill them but they run away. This story is really interesting to me. The story means that we must make everything equal for all the people who we love, and respect one another. It means we must loveanother and not hate anybody.

Making Canoes

Marshallese people enjoy making canoes. In addition it is the part of our culture. They often make these traditional canoes so that the younger generation can appreciate their skills and maintain their culture. Marshallese people, especially people who live on the outer islands, also build canoes to meet their daily needs; for example, for fishing, transportation and for racing. During holidays Marshallese race canoes to find out who on the outer islands has the best skills in making and sailing canoes. Mostly outer islands people make canoes because they don’t want to use motor boats. The problem is the oil from the boat destroys their resources and food from the sea, which is happening in the capital of Majuro today. 

(Stevenson)

Jolukwor and Banana Trees

Banana Trees

There is a story of a man named Jolukwor who had a boil on his right leg. The story is from the Arno Atoll. The boil was a big one that nobody had seen before. One day, Jolukwor was very sick because the boil was almost open. Every day he was crying so hard because of the boil. When the boil finally opened, a pair of human twins came out. After that, Jolukwor died. A week later, a banana tree came up from the place where they buried him. Then the people of Arno named it Jolukwor. From the legend of Jolukwor, we still plant banana trees on Arno. Bananas are an important crop because we use it in many ways as food, local medicine and more. I know that it is not only important for Arno people, but for all Marshallese. So if you want to get more information about this story, please come anytime and I will show you to the place on Arno.

Making Copra

      People of the Marshall Islands enjoy working with copra. Copra is the seed of a coconut tree and it can start to grow when it becomes old enough that it fells from the coconut trees. ,they risk their lives  making copra because they need money to support their families, sometimes they don’t spend much time with their family or their kids because they are always busy doing their works with copra doing very hard works.  Some of the people in the Marshall Islands don’t have jobs; however, they can make money by making copra. They can gather the copra as many as they can get and fill the bags with copra and deliver the copra to a company      First, the people gather all the copra under every coconut trees in their Wato, Marshallese people call their house or their own piece of land, Wato.Then, after they filled up the copra to one spot, they use a long and narrow metal spike to take the cover of the copra. When the cover has been taken, they moved the outside cover of the copra and cut the inside of the copra in small pieces. Then after they had been cut in small pieces, they put them on the ground so the copra can get warmed until they are very dry and get ready to fill the bags with copracalled “Tobolar

Marshallese Racing Canoe



Marshall Islands canoe racing

Have you heard that racing canoes here
in the Marshall Islands is a very popular sport?  Since long ago until now people still enjoy this sport. This is for men and not for women. For the chiefs (irooj), it is their traditional and that’s their favorite sport. If you travel around here both men and boys are racing canoe in the islands. There are two kinds of canoe which have different sizes. One is small enough to carry and other is not. The small canoe is called a ri-wuit that it can raced by both men and boys. The other canoe is big, and it only men can race it. It is really common for celebrating the Marshall Islands’ important event like manit days and Marshallese liberation day. People sometimes race canoes to find out who is the best in racing. The best racing canoes will be the one that win the prices. Some prizes that given to the winner are Marshallese handicraft and sometimes they receive money. But if it’s Chiefs’ racing canoe, the price that given to the winner is a land. Racing canoe here is popular since long ago.

Where is the Love?

I wonder what is more important…MONEY or FAMILY?The way I see it, even people with Master’s Degree don’t  get the amount of money other non-graduates have. I just don’t  understand what is more important…MONEY or FAMILY?

In the Marshall Islands, families don’t get along with each other. Some families

already have grudges with their relatives because

of MONEY. It is like  they forgot that a long time

ago, Marshallese people didn’t use money

to get food or transportation. They also forget that

our ancestors worked hard to hold on to their

families. When you go to court, most of the

complaints made are from family members. When

you go to funerals or parties, you will hear family
members talking behind each other’s back. The lifestyle  nowadays has changed so much that there is no longer the pride which I carry around  with me. It is like a stake has struck my heart and I no longer breathe in the clear atmosphere. The sounds of the ocean have disappeared in the sound of the modern inventions.  I no longer see the smiles of friends walking around the island. For they are exhausted from working hard to provide for their families. It is not like in the past when they just stayed home and got food from gardening and drinks from the coconut trees. I feel sorry for my  own country because there is nothing I can do to bring it back to how it was before. It is like I’m living on a lost island that used to be full of peace and easy life.

Victoria

The Dwarfs of Kileman

It is said that there were two kinds of people living in the Marshall Islands years ago; the land people and the underground people, called dwarfs.  The dwarfs are small, skillful, and intelligent people compared to the land people. The land people are the ones who always misunderstand the dwarfs and chase them deeper into the ground. Today they are rarely seen. 

Years ago on Arno, there uses to be a group of dwarfs who lived in Kileman Arno. Their home was  under a big rock in the shallow lagoon at the northern side of the Kileman. Every day when the tide was low, they would walk to the other islet where the people live. They would go and wait until the fishermen came back from fishing, so they could steal their canoes and go fishing. They knew many good fishing grounds, and every time they went they caught a lot of fish. When they went home they would take only some of the fish they caught with them and leave the rest in the canoes. Every morning when the fisherman came and took their canoes to go fishing they saw a lot of fish in their canoes. They often wondered who was doing that. One day they made a plan to find out who the people were who took their canoes for fishing. It was getting dark and the dwarfs had just come and were taking the canoes when they fisherman jumped out from behind the coconut trees where they were hiding and captured them. Some were caught and some ran way.

There were no dwarfs left on Kileman, but today Kileman is different from the other small islets in Arno. And it’s where many men from Arno go fishing. If you visit Kileman you’ll see the big rock where the dwarfs used to live. Not many Marshalleses, not even the people living in Arno, know about this story. Many people think this is a true story about the island of Arno. I have heard it many times from my grandfather when he tells stories to his grandchildren.   

Lijakwe

                A longtime ago there was a beautiful woman name Lijakwe, Lijakwe live in Ebon atoll. There were two men fighting for her. The man from Arno called Lolot; Lolot always came to Ebon to visit Lijakwe because he likes her. The other man from Ebon called Lobo lap; Lobo lap likes Lijakwe because he said Lijakwe is so pretty woman in the world.

      One day king Lolot tell to his entire worker to prepare the canoe because he wants to go to Ebon to visit her, and he told all his man to bring food to the canoe, and he said, all the food are going to Lijakwe’s Island. After that he goes and visits Lijakwe. When he saw Lijakwe he says to his man, bring all food to my lover, and Lijakwe tell all Lolot man, I don’t like all your foods, tell king Lolot I don’t like him anymore, he is a bad man.

                Few years later the man name king Lobo lap, he hears the story about king Lolot, and he tried to go to visit Lerooj Lijakwe. Before he goes he tells all entire workers to bring all the good Marshallese food because he wants to see Lijakwe face. And he says all the food going to my girlfriend’s village. After that he tell one of his man, go and tell Lijakwe I’m here, Lijakwe get out from his house and see Lobolap outside her house, and Lobolap said, here is all your foods my dear. And Lijakwe said, shame on you I don’t like your food and I don’t like you, you are very big stomach. Lijakwe is a beautiful woman in Ebon, but she didn’t want to get a husband. She likes a single woman.

Being A Mother In The Marshall Islands

 The number of teen mothers in the Marshall Islands is increasing, and being a mother here is especially hard. Many Marshallese teenagers are having babies without fathers to support them. Some Marshallese teen mothers are having a baby without a job to buy what they need.

Mother Like Daughter!!!!!!!!!!<34>

I can tell about one of my sisters who got pregnant when she was in middle school. She dropped out of school because she got pregnant. Our parents got angry with her and she ran away with the father of her baby. Neither of them finished their education. And they didn’t have jobs. When the baby was born, they didn’t have money to buy things he needed. They have no money to support their baby. My sister, her husband and their baby stay with both of their parents. When her husband’s parents don’t have money they come to our house. This has been happening from the time the baby was born eight months ago until now.

Using Canoes

Marshallese people work with canoes everyday. Marshallese people think that canoes are very important because they help people fish and bring food from other islands. Marshallese people use canoes to transport materials to build their shelters and take people from place to place. People feel strong and healthy because they exercise their bodies by using canoes every day. Using canoes are an important part of Marshallese culture and they don’t lose gas. Or spend money to go out anywhere and to islands to islands. People like to use canoe to go the small islands.