Monday, September 19, 2011

Traveled to Ebeye

This weekend we went to Ebeye, which is the island 6 miles to the North of Kwajalein up the reef.  Ebeye is an island about half the size of Kwaj, but home to nearly 12,000 people.  Ebeye is considered a third world nation and has no American presence on the island.  It really opened our eyes to what life is like for the Marshallese.  We walked the island and observed the living conditions of the residents of the island.  From a teaching perspective, it was very good to see where some of our students live.  The people were incredibly friendly and all of the little kids wanted to give us "high fives" when we would walk past them.  We were also able to enjoy a restaurant on the island, our first sit down restaurant since we left Nebraska!  Check out the pictures below for a glimpse of the island.


A young girl was washing her clothes in the ocean.  The water supply is not always available to the Marshallese.


Housing consists of piecing together wood scraps and tin pieces that people can find.  


Only half of the kids have the option of going to school due to limited availability of space.  Therefore, at all hours of the day you will see young children out and about with out any adult supervision.  


Here is a graveyard and a house in the background.


Basketball is one of the most popular sports on the island.  This picture was taken during school hours, so we assumed these were some of the kids with out the opportunity to attend school.  

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