The end is here...

The year is coming to an end for this year’s WorldTeach volunteer cohort. Since my school is the last school to finish, I get the unique opportunity to see the vast majority of the volunteers return to Majuro and depart from the Marshall Islands (possibly forever). I cannot believe that this “year-long” commitment is almost over. For some people, they are ready to return to the life they once knew and left behind. For a few other people, they are not quite ready to leave, even though they know that their time to depart has come. For all, whether or not they ever desire to return to the Marshalls or their “home” atoll, they will miss this unique place that shows up as a speck on a world map, or sometimes doesn’t even show up at all.

People are going to return home changed by the harsh conditions, environment, or situations they have often endured on their own. Sadly it will be nearly impossible for returned volunteers to convey their experiences to their closest family and friends who have never trekked to this part of the world. They will lack a certain understanding that one only receives when they have experienced a small pacific island first hand.

Before I embarked on my journey to the Marshall Islands I thought I was completely prepared. I read every website related to the Marshall Islands (the RMI government site, the US embassy site, university web pages, CIA factbook, Wikipedia,etc. ), I read personal blog and magazine articles, and I looked at on-line picture and watched video clips (thanks to the innovations of flickr, picasaweb and youtube). Additionally, I talked to multiple returned volunteers, who lived on Majuro and on outer islands, through email and on the telephone. (I chose to collect my information in this manner so it would be more relative to my situation and, hopefully, more up to date than a book written in the 1990’s or earlier.) With all of my preparation, the transition to move to a small, developing country with inadequate infrastructure, and few resources (and even fewer local resources) was eased. But certain aspects of life, the nuisances of living on an island, isolated from the rest of the world had to be experienced firsthand to be understood.

However, to truly succeed, or at least appear to be comfortable, people coming to the Marshall Islands (especially to live for an extended period of time) need to have a certain level of patience and flexibility (when I say a certain level, it sometimes has to be very high…this would be a very difficult place for a neurotic person). Unfortunately, not everyone who passes through this region of the world comes with these traits and they often leave cynical, disgusted and with little faith in the long term future of this region. The people who come with these traits, or learn to hone these traits while living in this region, may leave frustrated, but they leave with a better understanding and have given deep thought to the past, current and potential future situations that will ultimately shape this region.