Christmas on Roi-Namur
Well Christmas is almost upon us so I would like to thank all of my readers and wish everyone out there a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Most likely your next question is, what is Christmas like on Roi-Namur. That is a very good question but it is one I cannot answer. I spent almost 3 years on Roi but never a Christmas on Roi. My first year there, 2002, I skipped off to the Philippines to visit a friend there. It was my first Christmas in a different culture but the Philippines is a Christian nation so they celebrate on Christmas Eve. I spent Christmas Eve with my friend’s family and it was quite fun and there was a lot of celebrating going on around town. In sharp contrast, nothing at all was happening on Christmas day. Evidently they do not celebrate the actual day of Christmas in the Philippines.
My next Christmas, I at least spent in the Marshall Islands on the island of Airok. I already covered that Christmas in my blog published on August 7th so will not say anything more other than I wish I could spend another Christmas there soon. For me, Christmas memories of Roi involves the Enniburr Christmas Fund. The closest island to Roi with Marshallese residents is 3rd Island, also known as Santos which I’m told means 3rd Island in Japanese and Enniburr which probably is Marshallese for 3rd Island. There are around 800 people living on this tiny island. The homes are made of plywood generally. There is only 1 flush toilet that I know of on it (I had the honor of using it), and only about half of the homes have any electricity. The earned income average is considerably lower than say Beverly Hills, so the good folks of Roi-Namur have established a fund raiser almost every year to buy Christmas presents for the beautiful children of this island.
This fund raiser is almost a year long effort with many different activities to earn money for the fund. One such activity was a kareoke night. Another was a plastic duck race. My duck did not cooperate at all with me. Some guys got pretty creative with their ducks adding various forms of propulsion and steering mechanisms if I remember right. I think they actually had two separate categories, one of un-altered ducks and one for altered ducks. They did not distinguish between drakes and hens. There were many other activities to earn money. I think there was a golf challenge between Roi and Kwaj. The biggest of all though was the ECF Chili Cook off. This was a huge deal and maybe the largest event every year on Roi. Folks came from as far away as Kwaj for it. The highlight of it was of course the Chili contest but there were numerous other activities including a dunk tank constructed by Roi residents. If I remember right the base commander and company president took turns in the tank.
The year I was involved as the fund raiser secretary Roi residents raised close to $15,000 if I remember right. That is an amazing accomplishment for a community of little over 100 residents. The money was used to buy clothes, sandals, books, school supplies, and a few toys for each child. The gifts were presented in a school back pack. We had a party for the children that day and they and their families were allowed on Roi. There were many carnival like games and other fun things for the kids including a visit from Santa Claus. We had it early enough that he’d have time to get back to the North Pole to prepare for his Christmas eve ride. Visiting dignitaries from Kwaj came up to receive rewards for the hard work that the people on Roi did. The reward for the Roi residents was to see the happy children.
So on behalf of all of us here at Roi Rat Journal I’d like to wish you all a very merry Christmas, a Happy Kwanzaa, and a happy and fortunate New Year.
One Response to “Christmas on Roi-Namur”
 Comment by Richard Jones December 29th, 2007 at 12:40 am |
Looks pretty cool. BTW, thanks Santa!!! Don’t know if you knew this or not, but congratulations on Roi Rat Journal obtaining a Google Page Rank of 2!!! To give you an idea, Lightning-Alley has a page rank of 3 and Tucson Complete has a page rank of 0… so you are moving up pretty quickly, good work!!! |