A Very Ebeye Christmas

Another Christmas was coming around, and Scrooge and Scroogette were wondering what to do to shore up their sagging holiday spirit (actually, they were trying to find a quiet place to hide), so they went to the neighboring island of Ebeye for something a bit different.

Kwajalein (where we live) is a tiny island itself (1.2 square miles) with about twelve hundred people on it. Ebeye is an even tinier island (0.12 square miles) with fifteen thousand people living there.

Yes. ten times smaller with over ten times the population.

The Scrooges found a really different place.

It comes out to two hundred and thirty two square feet per person. It is right up there with Manilla for the most densely populated place on earth.

But…

When we got there, we found a pretty cool place, covered with lovely, friendly and generous people.

It wasn’t until I (Scrooge) got there that I realized how much I was missing the “foreignness” that we had been living in for the last couple of years: the smell of cooking meat and open sewer systems and scruffy kids in shockingly spotless clothes and stray dogs sneaking scraps from chickens in the gutters.

There is none of that on Kwaj.

And man, did I miss it.

I was told by a really amazing kid I met named Melvin, at the Honolulu airport, that I really should go to Ebeye for Christmas, because it is “very festive”. He said the members of every church on the island wear bright costumes and clothing, and do special “traditional dances” all day and night for the holiday.

And they did. They really did.

I am just a little confused about exactly which tradition this is…

This lady is risking life and limb to give out some dollar bills to the kids.

And then there is this lady. She is feeling the spirit here for sure.

I’m not sure how or why, but the spirit must have moved her to get on the ground and dance!

But oh, man! That ninja roll to get away from the kids…The kids on Ebeye are awesome! They are all just so innocent and not mass-media and social-media-fied yet. They are just kids, playing, doing kid things. It is such a pleasure to see.

And they are all just so damned cute, and they love to interact, and to have their pictures taken.

This little guy…

Even the dog got in on the festivities.

And got a swat in the butt with a broom for it.

And of course, Tam was identified immediately as the princess that she is.

This little old lady came all the way across the room to put this beautiful flowery crown on her head. She seemed so happy to do it. It was beautiful.

Yes, there is the obvious after-effects of christian missionaries selling their gods to these islanders. You can see it in everything they do. But underneath, in between, and proudly on their shoulders still is the Polynesian culture, and the pride that they carry for that culture. They may not live in the best of conditions, but they are proud, and loving, and kind. And Polynesian.

I am grateful that we got to meet them, and spend a holiday with them. I needed a little foreignness.