Marshall Islands - Majuro to Living on Ailinglaplap Atoll 2010
From 2010 to 2011 I lived and worked on the atoll of Ailinglaplap in the Marshall Islands teaching English to grades Kindergarten through 8th grade for an organization called World Teach. During this time I lived with a host family in a town called Jabwon which is in the middle of the island called Bigatyelang in the atoll of Ailinglaplap. The time I spent living in Ailinglaplap was challenging at times but was also one of the most unique, amazing and memorable experiences of my life. During that year I lived in small cinderblock house with limited electricity, no internet or cell service, no running water and very limited contact with the outside world other than a small handheld radio and letters. I did have one lightbulb in my room that was attached to a solar panel that worked for the first half of the year but that went out mid way through and I never figured out how to fix it. On the entire island there is very little in terms of infrastructure, there's one main dirt road that stretches the length of the island and no electrical grid, running water, sewage system. If I remember correctly the host family that I lived with were one of the few that had solar power electricity
Living on a small remote island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean is very similar to living in a small rural town that you can't leave. Everyone on the island knows each other and most if not all are related or probably distant family members. Since the island is a relatively small area you're around people all the time, many times just hanging out and chatting, going on walks, swimming or fishing. Most of the people in this video are people I lived with, were students of mine in the small township of Jabwon or are from a neighboring town. During my time there everyone I met was extremely welcoming and friendly especially my host family who went out of their way to make me feel comfortable and taught me a tremendous amount about the culture.
When I was there, the only way to visit Ailinglaplap was either by a small island hopping plane that leaves every week or so from the capitol of Majuro or by cargo ships that pass by every month or so. No transportation is reliable so it's very difficult to say for sure when something will arrive or pick you up for that matter. For instance when I was living on the island, there was only one airplane that made the route from island to island. If there was any sort of mechanical or weather issue with the plane you'd be out of luck and perhaps stranded for an undetermined amount of time.
My daily schedule was typically teaching M-F and prepping or grading papers outside of that. When I wasn't teaching I would hang out and talk with people, read books, swim, go on walks or spearfish. The host family I lived with were one of the few families who had a small TV and DVD player so we would often watch a select few movies that made it to our location. Highschool Musical was very popular at the time especially with the kids but generally we would watch whatever ripped DVD made it's way to the island.
The Marshall Islands are probably most known in history for being a major battle ground during World War II and for being a nuclear testing ground for the United States at Bikini Atoll. On Ailinglaplap there was not a much fighting that I'm aware of although on the western side of the island there was an old Japanese supply barge that was sunk and you could still see it resting deep in the water when snorkeling. I remember one time some students of mine showing me a Japanese shrine deep in a forested section of the island that was overgrown with vegetation that had a small statue attached to it and with some Japanese inscription. I couldn't get any info as to the story behind that but it may have been a grave to some solders who were once stationed there.
When my parents visited me in March 2010 my dad took this footage with a newly purchased Flip UltraHD Video Camera. At the time, I remember thinking how amazing the quality of the video was for this little device almost the size of a cellphone. It now looks dated because it was taken over a decade ago but I decided to upload this footage because I recently rediscovered it and think it's interesting to look at what life was like there almost 14 years later from writing this. My guess is that not much has changed but it's hard to say since it's very difficult to even find recent photos of the area.
Unfortunately these islands are extremely threatened by climate change and rising sea levels so only time will tell how they will fair. During one specific time, possibly because of a storm in the ocean or because how high the tide was, the water reached a level that I heard was the highest it had ever been. This is alarming news especially when you're standing on a small strip of land with zero high ground, everything being sea level.
I will forever look back with happiness to the time in my life that I spent in the Marshall Islands on Ailinglaplap.
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