Friday, September 19, 2003 ~ Pohnpei

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Beginning with my June 2008 post "It's Been Five Years," the following is the continuing story of my travels from the United States into Micronesia ~ Pohnpei, Guam and Saipan ~ and my life since June 2003.

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Friday, September 19, 2003 ~ Pohnpei

My mother notes in an email that in the recent United Nations vote condemning Israel for their decision to remove Yasser Arafat from power by force if necessary, only two nations ~ the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands ~ joined Israel and the United States in opposing the resolution. What that suggests to me is that the FSM and RMI remain entirely too dependent on the U.S. to exercise independent judgment in world affairs, including, regrettably, those that directly impact the region here, such as in fisheries, control of coastal and territorial waters, environmental concerns and the like. U.S. tuna fishing interests are extremely strong lobbies in Washington and exert powerful influence on Congress.

It was the same blind deference with supporting the war in Iraq. FSM natives who serve in the U.S. armed forces have already suffered casualties there. The FSM gets nearly $1 billion a year from the U.S., is entirely dependent on the U.S. for it's military protection, etc. Any time the U.S. doesn't automatically get its way with FSM, it threatens that it'll affect Compact negotiations and how much money and "subsidies" the FSM will get in the future. Although it has a growing understanding of what sovereignty means as an internal matter, it will never be a truly independent sovereign nation. In that sense, it will always retain a colonized mentality.

I won't be going to Chuuk Saturday. The judge granted my motion to hold the hearing scheduled for Monday by telephone conference. The judge sounded nice on the phone, very thoughtful, prepared. But the thing took an hour for what should've taken 20 minutes. In law school, and in my former practice, we're taught to argue precedent, and throw in policy arguments afterward. Here, there's so little FSM precedent that policy argument come first. That can make for some convoluted arguments that just ramble at times. Not my style. This country, whose law is based on U.S. law, doesn't need to reinvent the wheel.

Last weekend I was on my front porch listening to music, drinking morning coffee, with Lynn. I was visited by a walking Australian Jehovah's Witness, a local vocational education teacher. He was the most interesting Jehovah's Witness I've certainly ever met. We had a most pleasant conversation before he got to "witnessing," when it sounded like everything else you'd expect. I was polite and respectful, offered my phone number in case he needed anything, and he was soon on his way before wearing out his welcome.

I finally saw Lynn's "house," basically a couple of cement walls with corrugated metal for a roof and rain cover. It's dry, but so primitive. She "showers" outside with a hose. I don't know how they can all stay so clean, but they do. Very difficult for me to navigate the muddy stones up to and from it. My weekends often result in very muddy clothes from visiting her village.

Sex roles are so 50's/60's here. While women are in a number of positions of responsibility in a variety of areas, feminism hasn't really struck the islands. Lynn shoo's me out of the kitchen when cooking or washing dishes or sweeping. She thinks nothing of offering to wash my clothes from the weekend. A guy could get used to this. (No. He couldn't. Yes, he could. No, he shouldn't.)

But there are trade-offs that I don't think I'd like to get used to. The father of her children stopped sending her money when he learned of me. She hasn't worked since we met, and has no income. I'm trying to get her to appreciate I'm not made of money (though the other mehn why attornies and I are the highest paid government workers on the island), that she needs to learn to budget what I give her, but it just goes in one ear and out the other. No concept of planning for tomorrow's or next week's needs here. She pays no rent, has no electricity, but does have a phone and water. So, her only real needs are for food and supplies for herself and children. But everyone shares everything here, so it's not limited to just herself and her kids. Other family too. Those that fish or catch crab reciprocate in their way, but I'm increasingly having to say "no" when asked to contribute more than what I consider my proportionate share.

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