May5, 2008

Weekend at Eneko
We had a fantastic weekend with our kids. Three of our girls and four of their (male) friends joined us for a sail down to Eneko. The girls stayed in one of the rented rooms, while the boys strung hammocks between trees and posts for sleeping. The small resort is set up with 3 sleeping rooms and a large shared kitchen building. We first had lunch on Sequester when we arrived, then went swimming, then moved ashore, where we played cards in the shared facilities. The girls cooked a great dinner of tuna steaks, salad and potatoes. I made a cake to celebrate Katie’s birthday. The girls presented us with a beautiful carving of Sequester. It looks like the logo on our boat cards, a simple line drawing looking onto the boat from the front. The girls had Forest carve it out of a black pearl shell. It has already become a prized possession and we will treasure it forever.
Forest is an amazing young man who grew up on a sailing boat. He was born in Fiji and spent 6 years as a child in the Marshall Islands, playing with the local kids. His parents have moved off the boat (which is in North Carolina) and live on an island in a lake in upper state Maine. Forest decided to return to the Marshall Islands for university. He learned how to carve bone and shells as a young boy, competing with his brother to see who was best. He sells his beautiful jewelry to pay for his university education. He is also an avid fisherman, and trolled 3 lines from Sequester on the way up and back, without catching anything (which confirms my believe that the boat is unlucky in catching fish). Forest caught a couple of fish from the beach while we were on the island and cooked them up fresh. Yum! He also made us all waffles for breakfast on Sunday morning. Delicious.
We went for walks on the beach at low tide after breakfast and then when the rain came we retreated indoors to read and paint our mooring ball. We’ve mentioned the mooring project before: the yacht club is putting down a series of boat moorings to save the coral. The committee has decided to name each mooring after a prominent Marshallese person, preferably someone who is keen on environmental matters. Our name was Naia, a 2 year old girl whose name means dolphin. (Not sure how she qualifies, but no matter.) Courtney, Katie and I spent hours painting her name, surrounded by a dolphin and a coral reef, with fish and colorful coral. We were pleased with the results. Meanwhile, Ben made his famous chili to keep our strength up.
All too soon it was time to reload the boat and sail back to the “city”. No one wanted to leave, but all 7 of the kids are teachers, so we had to come back. It takes 3 hours to beat our way back to the mooring from Eneko, but we had a pleasant trip, with the kids sprawled out on deck. Ben got out his guitar and played a few tunes. Arrived home just at dusk, tired and happy. Karen
I thought our arrival back at the mooring was an indication of how much the yachting community here works together. Before we could get our dinghy in the water, Spike from Holokai, Karen from Seal, and Dave and Patricia from Chameleon all came over in their dinghies to offer help delivering the teachers and their gear to the shore. We all enjoy the enthusiasm, intelligence and sociability of the teachers, and I think those of us who will be here for a while are trying to get a little more interaction with the kids before next month. That’s when the teaching year ends, the contracts run out, and the young teachers scatter to the winds, back to grad school, work, or other volunteer positions. Never underestimate the power of Worldteach, Teach for America and such programs. They are the face of the country as seen by millions of the citizens of the world. Ted