WEBVTT - The Marshall Islands, Part Four: Water Is Life 0:00:02.880 --> 0:00:19.640 This for all you guys, so you get there. 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:22.439 Twice In the week I spent on Marjoro, I didn't 0:00:22.440 --> 0:00:25.040 get to sleep until after midnight because the hotel's event 0:00:25.079 --> 0:00:27.560 space was about eight feet from my pillow and someone 0:00:27.600 --> 0:00:30.960 in that event space was having an absolute rago. Before 0:00:31.000 --> 0:00:33.159 trying and failing to go to sleep, I chatted with 0:00:33.280 --> 0:00:34.680 some folks who were at the party to see what 0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:38.360 was going on. The first night was a first birthday party. 0:00:39.159 --> 0:00:41.479 Infant mortality has been so high in this area in 0:00:41.520 --> 0:00:43.519 the past that children making it through the first year 0:00:43.560 --> 0:00:47.239 of their life was a cause for massive celebration. It 0:00:47.280 --> 0:00:49.280 was rather sweet to see adults enjoying such a good 0:00:49.280 --> 0:00:51.480 time around a one year old who had no idea 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:54.840 what was going on. The next party, a few days 0:00:54.880 --> 0:00:57.360 later was no less festive, but for a much more 0:00:57.360 --> 0:01:00.640 somber reason. It was a celebration to an eight year 0:01:00.640 --> 0:01:04.440 old girl who died exactly one year before. People showed 0:01:04.480 --> 0:01:07.039 me her photo, and despite my condolences, they assured me 0:01:07.040 --> 0:01:09.520 that it wasn't a sad affair. I don't want to 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:12.120 make this series a sad affair either, because despite the 0:01:12.160 --> 0:01:16.160 incredible challenges they have faced, Marshally's people have persevered, and 0:01:16.200 --> 0:01:18.200 they clearly have a great pride in their islands, and 0:01:18.240 --> 0:01:19.640 I don't think they would want to be seen as 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:24.200 helpless and acted upon by global forces beyond their control. Instead, 0:01:24.640 --> 0:01:26.720 they should be seen as a strong community that has 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:29.039 withstood some of the worst things a history can thriller 0:01:29.120 --> 0:01:34.160 community and continue to thrive. As we spoke about yesterday, 0:01:34.640 --> 0:01:36.960 they're taking huge steps to ensure that they lead the 0:01:37.000 --> 0:01:40.480 way on sustainable development. They're also ensuring their future in 0:01:40.520 --> 0:01:42.920 other ways. Some of those might not be as shiny 0:01:42.959 --> 0:01:45.640 and glitzy as solar power grids or canoes powered by 0:01:45.640 --> 0:01:48.320 the sun, but which have made a huge difference to 0:01:48.360 --> 0:01:51.280 the residence of the country, particularly in the outer atolls. 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:53.400 What I want to talk about today is one of 0:01:53.440 --> 0:01:58.760 those projects. It's a project imagined, implemented, and executed by 0:01:58.800 --> 0:02:03.120 the women of Quarter in the name means women who 0:02:03.200 --> 0:02:06.440 rise at dawn, and it's very appropriate every interview you've 0:02:06.480 --> 0:02:09.040 heard so far and every place we went to thanks 0:02:09.040 --> 0:02:11.360 to the women of Kio. The trip I was part 0:02:11.400 --> 0:02:13.760 of was there to witness the installation of the final 0:02:13.800 --> 0:02:16.720 water filters on the island of wrong Ram that will 0:02:16.760 --> 0:02:19.560 bring to a successful conclusion a five year project to 0:02:19.639 --> 0:02:22.320 ensure that every single person in the Marshall Islands had 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:25.560 access to clean water. I'll let them introduce themselves to 0:02:25.600 --> 0:02:27.160 you as it did to us. 0:02:27.440 --> 0:02:31.440 My name is Francine wasase Jacklick, but most people around 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:34.600 town called me, so if you hear Francine, they're not 0:02:34.639 --> 0:02:38.239 going to go today. I am a queu member. I'm 0:02:38.280 --> 0:02:43.560 one of the officers as the secretary, and I've been 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:47.360 a queue member of GOSH. I can't remember when, but 0:02:48.080 --> 0:02:50.720 you know we've got we've come along when he is 0:02:50.760 --> 0:02:56.200 about seventeen years old right now? Wow, seventeen. Yeah, it's 0:02:56.320 --> 0:02:57.959 been a very. 0:02:59.480 --> 0:02:59.920 Fun road. 0:03:00.160 --> 0:03:03.480 It's my fun job outside from Q. As my fun work, 0:03:03.919 --> 0:03:06.440 I work at the Ministry of Health and Human Services. 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:12.200 My permanent position is the Deputy Secretary overseeing Office of 0:03:12.240 --> 0:03:20.320 Health Planning, Policy, Preparedness, Personnel and epidem analogy. And three 0:03:20.400 --> 0:03:24.360 months ago I was also given the authority rule as 0:03:24.360 --> 0:03:29.440 the acting Secretary of Health because the Secretary was not 0:03:29.560 --> 0:03:40.160 the nude politics. So yeah, Q is q Corina Rani 0:03:40.240 --> 0:03:43.720 and we're very happy because our founder is here and 0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:45.080 it's money. 0:03:45.200 --> 0:03:48.640 So we'll do introduction and then we'll go into the agenda. 0:03:48.680 --> 0:03:52.320 Is that okay, okay, so I will hand it to 0:03:52.440 --> 0:03:55.960 the bag, which is our founder money. 0:03:56.320 --> 0:04:00.040 Somebody go ahead, ill everyone. 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:02.640 Hi, how come my money? 0:04:03.200 --> 0:04:04.360 I am the cocoon there? 0:04:04.640 --> 0:04:05.360 You actually not. 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:11.800 We're really happy that you've made it. You know, your 0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:16.080 flight wasn't canceled last week. So many flights are canceled, 0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:19.600 so were so but welcome. 0:04:19.720 --> 0:04:23.440 In our language, we say yah yeah. 0:04:23.400 --> 0:04:25.760 Means rainbow and quays you. 0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:27.840 So you are a rainbow to us. 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:34.720 I am a mother for now. 0:04:34.760 --> 0:04:36.119 I don't I don't work. 0:04:36.520 --> 0:04:40.719 Most of us have their work, but I'm a full 0:04:40.760 --> 0:04:47.839 time mother and this is my baby. Actually, Kiyo started 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:53.400 sixteen years ago. Myself and a friend. 0:04:54.000 --> 0:04:56.680 We were in school in the East Coast and we 0:04:56.880 --> 0:05:02.800 graduated and we all came back and you know, we 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:05.560 were raised with this mentality to give back. 0:05:06.400 --> 0:05:12.120 We have lots of Marshallese proverbs and what bio means. 0:05:12.400 --> 0:05:13.400 To turn the tides. 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:16.040 So it was our time to turn the tides. 0:05:16.720 --> 0:05:21.839 So we banded together, always like minded, smart ladies and 0:05:22.240 --> 0:05:26.360 created Q And it's a volunteer organization. 0:05:27.600 --> 0:05:29.279 We do this in our sleep. 0:05:29.440 --> 0:05:34.560 Basically all volunteer, yes. 0:05:34.760 --> 0:05:40.280 So we do various work from small projects like you know, 0:05:40.400 --> 0:05:43.400 reading with the kids and just. 0:05:43.600 --> 0:05:45.520 Big projects like water. 0:05:45.880 --> 0:05:47.120 It's water culture project. 0:05:47.480 --> 0:05:51.200 My name is Kathleen. I work for the Ministry of 0:05:51.720 --> 0:05:55.760 Natural Resources and Commerce with the Fisheries. 0:05:56.880 --> 0:06:02.240 Memora and I've been in film members and it's of 0:06:02.279 --> 0:06:10.919 course you're what sixteen years ago and it is like 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:14.480 moving said, it's it's an honor and we are very 0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:19.040 humble when visited. A welcome you all and hope we 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:20.000 have a great visit. 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:22.000 Thank you, Okay, names all. 0:06:25.640 --> 0:06:27.479 Yeah, but my name is Samantha. 0:06:27.920 --> 0:06:31.719 I work at the Munictrial Fight Access as an accountant 0:06:31.800 --> 0:06:33.839 and I'm cure of treasure. 0:06:34.440 --> 0:06:35.839 Thank you, thank. 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:36.200 You me. 0:06:39.520 --> 0:06:42.039 Yeah, why everyone, and welcome you to our shore. 0:06:42.880 --> 0:06:45.600 My name is Graised, but everyone call me Kuma. 0:06:46.480 --> 0:06:48.880 So I'm very pleased to meet all of you. 0:06:49.560 --> 0:06:52.359 When they say we have uh all these media, you know, 0:06:52.839 --> 0:06:55.400 big news media, I would let come. We probably say 0:06:55.400 --> 0:07:00.360 that I was kind of nervous, but anyways, I've been 0:07:00.360 --> 0:07:05.160 a few remembers since twenty fourteen, and I was so 0:07:05.240 --> 0:07:07.800 amazed by all the work that these ladies have been 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:11.640 doing for the Marshall Islands. And I'm there probably be 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:16.000 part of quet club. I work at Romola at all 0:07:16.040 --> 0:07:19.800 Local Government and I'm not sure you know, but Ronav 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:22.760 is one of those. It's all that was affected by 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:24.120 the nuclear testing. 0:07:24.920 --> 0:07:29.280 So again, welcome here. Work with Sawyer, the people who 0:07:29.360 --> 0:07:31.480 make the Ubiquitous water filter, which is a favorite for 0:07:31.560 --> 0:07:34.800 through hikers and other outdoors people, to provide a water 0:07:34.800 --> 0:07:37.920 filtration system that allows Marshal's people to filter the rain 0:07:38.000 --> 0:07:41.320 water they collect and remove harmful bacteria that can cause 0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:45.040 diarrhea and vomiting. Well, these might seem undesirables listeners in 0:07:45.080 --> 0:07:48.800 the US, they can be fatal in other settings. Twenty nineteen, 0:07:48.960 --> 0:07:52.080 around one point five million people died from diarrheal diseases. 0:07:52.680 --> 0:07:56.760 That's more than all violent deaths combined. Around half a 0:07:56.760 --> 0:08:01.120 million of those deaths were children. One thing that's remarkable 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:04.360 about the project is a way it was realized. KEO 0:08:04.440 --> 0:08:07.040 began distribution in the most remote and hard to reach 0:08:07.080 --> 0:08:10.360 the tolls, taking tiny boats across choppy seas for days 0:08:10.360 --> 0:08:12.400 at a time to get to remote islands, and then 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:15.280 working with traditional women leaders to ensure that everyone on 0:08:15.320 --> 0:08:18.920 the islands knew how to use the filters. Then they 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:23.320 began working towards Marjora the capitol. I've seen lots of 0:08:23.400 --> 0:08:26.280 ENDO projects in dozens of countries I've worked with someone, 0:08:26.840 --> 0:08:30.160 but I've rarely seen a model that prioritizes need this well. 0:08:31.040 --> 0:08:35.040 In far too many cases, proximity to power ensures access 0:08:35.040 --> 0:08:38.480 to resources. This is a global problem. Just look at 0:08:38.520 --> 0:08:41.920 how the US distributed masks and COVID resources to reservations 0:08:42.040 --> 0:08:44.960 last or if I step outside, they can see how 0:08:45.000 --> 0:08:47.240 the lowest income parts of San Diego, the city I 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:49.439 live in, have the worst roads and get the least 0:08:49.480 --> 0:08:53.400 infrastructure spending. The fact that KYO did things differently is 0:08:53.440 --> 0:08:56.400 a testament to the strength of their commitment to their community. 0:08:57.200 --> 0:09:00.319 In fact, the project finished distribution during my trip to 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:04.200 Marshall Islands, completing the last island on madro Atoll in 0:09:04.240 --> 0:09:07.160 early July, but a few days later than that, when 0:09:07.240 --> 0:09:10.280 QO invited myself and some other journalists to a goodbye breakfast, 0:09:10.559 --> 0:09:12.800 they presented a filter to the former President of the 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:16.640 Republic of Marshall Islands, hilde Hind, Despite being the last 0:09:16.640 --> 0:09:19.320 person to get one. She was very grateful and it 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:21.720 served as a great illustration of the priorities of the group. 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:25.079 They wanted to go to the hardest places first because 0:09:25.080 --> 0:09:28.840 they knew people then needed help. The most his President 0:09:28.880 --> 0:09:31.319 Hilde Heine. After receiving her filter. 0:09:31.600 --> 0:09:35.520 I was telling Monique that we don't drink from our 0:09:35.600 --> 0:09:39.000 tab water hours we have our own system, or we 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:42.760 don't know if it's cleaned, so we buy our drinking 0:09:42.800 --> 0:09:46.000 water all the time. So with this one I probably 0:09:46.000 --> 0:09:50.280 will stop bang for to make pure water. 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:55.400 I joined Kio and several other journalists for the final 0:09:55.480 --> 0:09:58.720 leg of their project, which involves installing the water filters. 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:02.199 This doesn't really take long. They're basically a soil filter 0:10:02.280 --> 0:10:04.240 attached to a five gallon bucket with a length of 0:10:04.280 --> 0:10:08.560 flexible hose, and then explaining their value and upkeep to 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:12.280 the community. As we heard yesterday, ground water is harder 0:10:12.280 --> 0:10:14.200 and harder to come by in the Marshall Islands thanks 0:10:14.200 --> 0:10:17.840 to climate change, and so people rely almost exclusively on rainwater. 0:10:18.679 --> 0:10:22.200 They collect rainwater in giant plastic tanks. They've only recently 0:10:22.240 --> 0:10:25.840 replaced a hodgepodge of different collection vessels. Incidentally, a visiting 0:10:25.840 --> 0:10:28.160 scientist from a CDC told me that the installation of 0:10:28.200 --> 0:10:31.440 these tanks has increased a safe disposal of waste because 0:10:31.480 --> 0:10:33.480 people no longer need to take their bins to collect 0:10:33.600 --> 0:10:37.760 rainwater when it rains. Once water is in the tanks. 0:10:38.000 --> 0:10:40.040 The residents can draw it out into their five gallon 0:10:40.080 --> 0:10:43.920 bucket and then filter it for safe drinking. The soil 0:10:43.960 --> 0:10:46.760 filter system may seem very simple, and it is, but 0:10:46.840 --> 0:10:50.559 that's what makes it a perfect solution here. A complicated 0:10:50.559 --> 0:10:53.240 electric filter, or one that relied on pipe water pressure 0:10:53.360 --> 0:10:56.240 or had a ton of moving parts would require constant maintenance, 0:10:56.320 --> 0:10:58.840 which is hard given a long journey to the outer Islands. 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:03.040 In my career in journalism and in nonprofit, I've seen 0:11:03.040 --> 0:11:06.400 countless well intentioned aid projects completely failed to consider the 0:11:06.480 --> 0:11:10.280 need for sustainability and become useless olities in a few years. 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:14.560 Cargo bikes made a huge different coffee farmers in Rwanda 0:11:14.640 --> 0:11:16.560 until they needed new brake pads and there wasn't an 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:20.319 importer for them. The same goes for countless glucometers I've 0:11:20.320 --> 0:11:23.000 seen distributed to people who can't access the batteries they 0:11:23.120 --> 0:11:26.760 use or the test trips they rely on. This won't 0:11:26.800 --> 0:11:29.720 happen in the Marshall Islands in part because the project 0:11:29.760 --> 0:11:31.920 was led by the community itself and not by outside 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:36.520 nonprofits looking to maximize donation dollars or media opportunities, and 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:38.760 in part because the only maintenance or sort of filter 0:11:38.840 --> 0:11:41.240 needs is a backflush of the filtered water that it makes. 0:11:42.120 --> 0:11:44.720 Yesterday we had a little from the Marshal Lee's Environmental 0:11:44.720 --> 0:11:49.000 Protection Agency about how they grapple with climate change. Today, 0:11:49.280 --> 0:11:51.840 I want to explain how they're working alongside KIO to 0:11:52.000 --> 0:11:55.120 ensure that even as sea levels rise, Marshal's people will 0:11:55.120 --> 0:11:59.400 have access to safe water. The Marshal Lease EPA works 0:11:59.400 --> 0:12:02.480 to ensure that the water in people's tanks isn't contaminated, 0:12:02.960 --> 0:12:05.560 and the filters that KIA provided work to make sure 0:12:05.600 --> 0:12:09.079 that even if it is, people won't get sick. They 0:12:09.120 --> 0:12:11.400 often travel to the outer islons together to reduce the 0:12:11.480 --> 0:12:15.040 cost sharing a small boat. It's a rare example of 0:12:15.040 --> 0:12:17.839 a nonprofit in the government working together without competing or 0:12:17.880 --> 0:12:22.160 doing the same thing twice. At first, Marianna explained, people 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:24.240 weren't sure that such a tiny filter could make such 0:12:24.240 --> 0:12:26.960 a big difference, so KIA worked with the EPA to 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:29.840 use a visual test for microbial activity to show people 0:12:29.880 --> 0:12:33.000 how effective it was. He She is explaining how the 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:35.440 EPA helped KIO build trust in the efficacy of the 0:12:35.480 --> 0:12:36.439 soil filters. 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:45.600 When Sires and Kio approached us with the filters. Before that, 0:12:45.800 --> 0:12:48.720 a lot of people were already asking us, so, can 0:12:48.800 --> 0:12:53.600 we can we trust this, you know, can you do 0:12:53.679 --> 0:12:57.120 a test in your lab to tell us and confirm 0:12:57.200 --> 0:13:00.720 that this is, you know, as good as the claim 0:13:01.280 --> 0:13:01.720 it to be. 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:04.640 Doing the test allowed the e PA to help ko 0:13:04.800 --> 0:13:08.120 get greater uptake for their filters and allowed Kio to 0:13:08.160 --> 0:13:10.560 help the EPA achieve one of its mandated goals. 0:13:10.720 --> 0:13:15.760 And so when we produced these very visual like Quanta 0:13:16.320 --> 0:13:21.480 Quanta or Quanti trays, the the experts will. 0:13:21.280 --> 0:13:21.920 Get into it. 0:13:21.960 --> 0:13:27.480 But when we produce them and show a visual contrast 0:13:27.559 --> 0:13:31.520 between the water before the filter and then the water 0:13:31.720 --> 0:13:38.560 before the after the filter filtration, it was you know amazing, 0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:44.240 like it's it's so clean, and you know, we we 0:13:44.280 --> 0:13:48.200 make decisions based on science, and that science right there, 0:13:48.559 --> 0:13:54.520 and so we use that visual photograph outside of that 0:13:54.520 --> 0:13:59.480 that that meeting to show people, you know, we're not 0:13:59.480 --> 0:14:03.240 going to get in to the microbils of whatever. This 0:14:03.320 --> 0:14:08.600 is the difference the water before the filter and then after. 0:14:08.840 --> 0:14:09.199 And so. 0:14:11.520 --> 0:14:16.240 We're just really happy that Kiyo was able to include us. 0:14:16.920 --> 0:14:19.920 This is one of our mandates, but we're never resourced 0:14:20.000 --> 0:14:24.120 that way to do all of the things that we 0:14:24.240 --> 0:14:27.320 want to do to address water quality issues. 0:14:27.680 --> 0:14:30.640 Of course, it's impossible to deal with the water issue 0:14:30.680 --> 0:14:34.240 in isolation. Everything in the Marshall Islands are really anywhere 0:14:34.320 --> 0:14:37.080 elsewhere you're paying attention has to take into account the 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:39.880 impact of climate change and how communities are going to 0:14:39.920 --> 0:14:43.720 survive when faced with an increasingly hostile home planet. No 0:14:43.840 --> 0:14:46.080 yain't explained how access to clean water helps make the 0:14:46.080 --> 0:14:48.360 community in the Marshall Islands even more resilient. 0:14:49.200 --> 0:14:53.040 Well, if you're trying to survive, the last thing you 0:14:53.040 --> 0:14:56.520 want to worry about is an outbreak of diarrhea or 0:14:57.560 --> 0:15:04.040 apatitis or you know, water born diseases that are preventable, 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:11.480 and so clean water, you know you're much much more 0:15:11.600 --> 0:15:17.840 better as a community if you can thrive and on 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:20.720 clean water. It's as simple as that. 0:15:20.760 --> 0:15:21.720 Water is life. 0:15:36.880 --> 0:15:39.440 One night during my trip to the Marshall Islands, I 0:15:39.480 --> 0:15:41.760 was able to join Kia for a dinner that celebrated 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:45.080 the completion of their water project, meaning that everyone in 0:15:45.120 --> 0:15:47.680 the Marshall Islands had access to water that won't make 0:15:47.720 --> 0:15:50.400 them sick. To get a better sense of what this 0:15:50.480 --> 0:15:52.720 really means, I wanted to talk to some families who 0:15:52.720 --> 0:15:55.240 had received those filters and to see what the clean 0:15:55.280 --> 0:15:58.720 water access meant to them. We've all heard that water 0:15:58.800 --> 0:16:01.760 is life, and that was a slogan news for Kio's project, 0:16:02.400 --> 0:16:04.880 but it's difficult to appreciate that if you live in 0:16:04.920 --> 0:16:06.640 a place where you can just turn on a tap 0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:08.880 and have access to clean, safe water whenever you want. 0:16:09.640 --> 0:16:12.520 When Kio made their posters for that dinner, they included 0:16:12.520 --> 0:16:14.880 a photo of a little girl on Arno Island who'd 0:16:14.880 --> 0:16:17.520 been one of the first to receive their filters, happily 0:16:17.600 --> 0:16:20.560 drinking from a jar of clean water. That was back 0:16:20.560 --> 0:16:24.120 in twenty eighteen. Since then they thought they'd heard the 0:16:24.240 --> 0:16:27.000 terrible news that she died, but just before the dinner 0:16:27.040 --> 0:16:29.360 they found out she hadn't, and so they invited her 0:16:29.360 --> 0:16:32.200 to join the celebration. I was able to sit down 0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:35.280 with her, her mother, and other recipients of the filters 0:16:35.280 --> 0:16:38.320 for a quick interview via translator. On the tiny island 0:16:38.320 --> 0:16:40.120 of boken Boat, al. 0:16:41.640 --> 0:16:47.480 So, they never filtered the water before. They would drink 0:16:47.560 --> 0:16:50.480 straight from the water wells or the water catchments. 0:16:51.120 --> 0:16:55.400 Sometimes, she said, people would get sick. We also spoke 0:16:55.440 --> 0:16:57.800 to Aneiti, a resident of Wrong Wrong, on the day 0:16:57.800 --> 0:17:00.880 that she got her filter Frontine helped translate her. 0:17:00.760 --> 0:17:11.200 Responses, Yanity, thank you, okay, but she had heard about 0:17:11.960 --> 0:17:14.760 that there was going to be filters coming to the island. 0:17:15.600 --> 0:17:18.639 When she first heard, she thought the filters were going 0:17:18.720 --> 0:17:22.639 to go directly to the water tanks. And now that 0:17:23.080 --> 0:17:27.480 it's more accessible, it's like she saw this bucket. She's happy. 0:17:27.640 --> 0:17:28.640 It's better. It's better. 0:17:28.960 --> 0:17:29.160 Yeah. 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:30.520 Yeah. 0:17:30.560 --> 0:17:33.119 Recently there have been an outbreak of diary around the atoll, 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:34.640 so this was a welcome relief. 0:17:35.680 --> 0:17:41.160 So she had heard that there was optic of cases 0:17:41.200 --> 0:17:44.480 in major, the capital, and when she had first learned 0:17:44.480 --> 0:17:52.240 about her she was scared and worried. But to hear 0:17:52.359 --> 0:17:57.520 that there's folks coming here to the island to check 0:17:57.520 --> 0:18:00.320 on the water, it made them feel a little bit more. 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:04.800 You addings the family from Ana who travel a long 0:18:04.840 --> 0:18:07.080 way on a small boat to meet us, we're looking 0:18:07.119 --> 0:18:10.000 forward to getting back to their home. Life on the 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:12.560 outer a tolls isn't easy, but it's not one they 0:18:12.600 --> 0:18:15.359 want to walk away from. With the threat of climate 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:18.119 change already putting their home in peril, having access to 0:18:18.160 --> 0:18:21.359 clean water must be a welcome relief. I asked to say, 0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:24.080 preferred life here on the Capitol a toll or back home. 0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:27.800 Yeah, she says life in the outer Islands is better. 0:18:28.000 --> 0:18:31.440 There's more space, more freedom to move around for the kids. 0:18:31.640 --> 0:18:33.480 There are things she'd like to change, of course, but 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:36.480 mostly her concern was preserving their little piece of paradise 0:18:36.560 --> 0:18:37.680 for future generations. 0:18:38.920 --> 0:18:44.480 She'd like her kids to be able to enjoy access 0:18:44.520 --> 0:18:53.160 to clean water, whether it be through more water catchments 0:18:53.280 --> 0:18:57.879 that are being available to the family, and also the 0:18:57.920 --> 0:19:04.720 electric city as you mentioned, perhaps with the generator stuff 0:19:04.760 --> 0:19:08.040 like that to make life more easier being the outer lands. 0:19:09.000 --> 0:19:13.639 She'd like to, you know, like in the future, be 0:19:13.720 --> 0:19:19.720 able to see the fishing grounds preserved as well as 0:19:20.200 --> 0:19:23.760 the land for their farming needs. 0:19:24.640 --> 0:19:27.560 The way here works with local communities because they're from 0:19:27.640 --> 0:19:30.679 local communities, enables them to be much more effective than 0:19:30.680 --> 0:19:33.880 a nonprofit which comes from outside the community. On wrong 0:19:33.920 --> 0:19:37.399 wrong they joke to laugh at local women Whenik's husband 0:19:37.440 --> 0:19:40.359 comes from the island, so they were already welcome, and 0:19:40.400 --> 0:19:42.800 then after some time bantering, they explained the way the 0:19:42.880 --> 0:19:46.600 water filters work in marshal Leeds families. They're still a 0:19:46.640 --> 0:19:49.040 fairly gender division of labor in many cases, and it 0:19:49.200 --> 0:19:50.919 seemed to be that the women on the island were 0:19:50.920 --> 0:19:52.720 the ones who stayed to learn about the filters, so 0:19:53.400 --> 0:19:58.359 it was appropriate that it was women who were teaching them. 0:19:58.560 --> 0:20:02.280 Preservation doesn't mean they can't change. The Marshall Islands have 0:20:02.320 --> 0:20:04.760 seen a huge change in the last few years, and 0:20:04.840 --> 0:20:06.760 much of that is down to the dedicated work of 0:20:06.800 --> 0:20:09.280 a large number of women who form community groups to 0:20:09.320 --> 0:20:12.640 empower each other and address social, ecological and public health 0:20:12.680 --> 0:20:16.960 issues that are facing their communities. The umbrella organization that 0:20:17.000 --> 0:20:19.359 works with these women's groups is called whit Me. I 0:20:19.480 --> 0:20:22.320 let Maria from Whitney explain what that means and why 0:20:22.359 --> 0:20:23.800 they started the group in the first place. 0:20:24.600 --> 0:20:27.600 First of all, welcome, as you know, with ME stands 0:20:27.600 --> 0:20:31.320 for women in Needed Together marshal Allands. It also means 0:20:31.320 --> 0:20:36.480 in Marshalise your flower, and that's how we wanted the 0:20:36.520 --> 0:20:41.040 acronym to be to mean both English and Marshalise. And 0:20:41.080 --> 0:20:45.399 as it was established in nineteen eighty seven to fill 0:20:46.680 --> 0:20:51.600 a gap with respect to the advancement of women. In 0:20:51.680 --> 0:20:54.760 nineteen seventy five there was the Decade for Women Union 0:20:54.880 --> 0:20:59.400 Decade for Women, and there were two conferences that took 0:20:59.440 --> 0:21:03.560 place and there were a lot of issues that came 0:21:03.560 --> 0:21:09.360 about In those two meetings, they were dealing with domestic violence, 0:21:10.000 --> 0:21:17.840 alcohol abuse, suicide, the youth, other problems of child abuse 0:21:17.840 --> 0:21:24.760 and neglect. So from those women started to meet, at 0:21:24.840 --> 0:21:27.760 least some women started to talk about this was there 0:21:27.760 --> 0:21:31.920 were no representatives of women in the decision making bodies, 0:21:31.960 --> 0:21:35.879 whether at the local government levels or at the national level. 0:21:36.520 --> 0:21:44.159 So that's and we got the support of our traditional 0:21:44.160 --> 0:21:45.199 women leaders. 0:21:45.520 --> 0:21:49.080 Woman works alongside traditional leaders are not around them. The 0:21:49.080 --> 0:21:50.840 same was true of all the programs that have been 0:21:50.840 --> 0:21:53.840 successful on the islands. On our last day, we visited 0:21:53.880 --> 0:21:56.720 one the program that builds the canoes we heard about. 0:21:57.480 --> 0:22:00.280 Although the programs founded to preserve the cultural heritage of 0:22:00.280 --> 0:22:03.400 the islands and their unique seafaring technologies, some of which 0:22:03.400 --> 0:22:05.960 are only just being replicated in modern crafted Europe in 0:22:05.960 --> 0:22:08.840 the USA, it also responded to a need that the 0:22:08.840 --> 0:22:11.679 community had. In this case, that need was education. 0:22:12.440 --> 0:22:15.240 So we are a training program for at risk young 0:22:15.280 --> 0:22:18.880 men and women of the Martial Lands who It started 0:22:18.880 --> 0:22:22.240 out as a project back in the eighties. One of 0:22:22.280 --> 0:22:28.280 our twenty found co founder of this program. The museum 0:22:28.400 --> 0:22:32.560 contracted him to go through various islands within the Republic. 0:22:32.840 --> 0:22:35.320 And you're talking about back in the eighties and we 0:22:35.320 --> 0:22:39.960 were losing our designs fasts. People were coming to Maaguro 0:22:40.920 --> 0:22:44.320 or going to the States, which is going off islands 0:22:44.359 --> 0:22:47.760 to the many reasons, and because of that, they wanted 0:22:47.760 --> 0:22:52.280 to capture that uniqueness of these design But when he 0:22:52.400 --> 0:22:55.119 was going through from one adult to another, he noticed 0:22:55.119 --> 0:22:58.520 that there were a lot of young kids not going 0:22:58.520 --> 0:23:01.400 to school. I am sure you if you're aware of it. 0:23:01.440 --> 0:23:06.400 But throughout the republic there's only about four or five 0:23:07.119 --> 0:23:10.480 high schools, and most of them are a boarding school. 0:23:11.080 --> 0:23:14.560 So for example, I grew up in Jeluit, and in 0:23:14.600 --> 0:23:18.000 that at all there's a high school, boarding high school, 0:23:18.520 --> 0:23:22.120 and then it gators to about six or seven other islands. 0:23:22.720 --> 0:23:25.520 So parents have no choice but to send their kids. 0:23:25.600 --> 0:23:28.600 If they want to go beyond eight grade, you have 0:23:28.800 --> 0:23:32.359 to leave home and go to these boarding schools. 0:23:32.359 --> 0:23:34.840 In addition to offering a skill set and an education, 0:23:35.240 --> 0:23:38.360 the program has counselors in mental health and addiction. They 0:23:38.359 --> 0:23:41.520 teach young men and women maths, literacy, and how to 0:23:41.560 --> 0:23:44.480 build the canoes, but they also empower them in creating 0:23:44.480 --> 0:23:47.600 the sustainable alternative transport method that will be vital in 0:23:47.640 --> 0:23:51.359 building a sustainable future for their home likewise would meet 0:23:51.359 --> 0:23:53.119 the approach. It's based on listening to people. 0:23:53.680 --> 0:23:55.679 Women a chiefs you know, will let them know what 0:23:55.720 --> 0:23:58.679 we'll be doing and what what would they want us 0:23:58.720 --> 0:24:01.320 to do, and we has tom to talk with their 0:24:01.400 --> 0:24:04.399 you know, like because these women chiefs are owning some 0:24:04.520 --> 0:24:07.720 of the neighboring islands and they know their people and 0:24:08.359 --> 0:24:11.240 do need assessments so they can really understand what their 0:24:11.280 --> 0:24:14.920