FRIDAY, JUNE 26, 2009
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Orlando, Walton gradute in ROC
Orlando Paul (with hat) and Walton Bohanny (far left) graduated from Taiwanese universities this month.
Paul is the first Marshall Islander to complete the five-year language and bachelor’s course funded by the Taiwan government, earning a BA in business from the National Chengchi University, while Bohanny completed an International Nursing Master of Science Program.
College of the Marshall Islands President Wilson Hess and his wife Ellie were invited to attend Bohanny’s graduation by the National Taipei College of Nursing. RMI Ambassador to Taiwan, Philip Kabua (second from left), also attended the graduation ceremonies.
Beautify the islands... Keep trash off the streets & beaches.
Miss Billfish 2009 is Rose In Eañ Kabua, who will be gracing the dock in Uliga during the Marshalls Billfish Club tournament being held from July 1-6. Photo: Douglas Henry.
Millions for Mili
Russians to invest?
By DOUGLAS HENRY
A proposal to invest $1 billion for the development of Mili Atoll is on the table by representatives from the Russian government. According to Mili Senator Kejjo Bien (pictured), the Russian government is proposing to invest $1 billion in developing hotels, fisheries, and scuba diving on Mili. “It’s not just for Mili, but for the betterment of the Marshall Islands,” said Bien. Vasily Shestakov, vice-chairman of the Russian party ‘Just Russia in the Duma’ — and a former judo partner and confident of President Vladimir Putin — along with
Dr. Ei Ho Kim, who was appointed by President Litokwa Tomeing in 2008 as RMI’s Special Presidential Economic Advisor, traveled to Mili last week with Senator Bien to hold meetings with landowners on Mili.Bien told the Journal the next step is to request and organize a meeting in Moscow between the RMI and Russian officials to discuss the proposal.
As part of the development proposal he said he hopes to designate Mili as a
port of entry to allow direct and easy access of equipment and material to the Atoll.
Bien, who is hoping to wrap up the arrangements between the two governments within the next two months, said if successful “building equipment and materials will also be funded by the Russian government.”
No tanks is trouble
This Week's Inside Stories
1,500 leave RMI in 2008
The third highest number of Marshall Islanders left to the United States in 2008, according to the RMI government’s planning office. A total of 1,503 people left the RMI for the US in 2008, nearly triple the number in 2007, according to US Department of Transportation statistics that track in- and out-bound passengers from the RMI to the US. The 1,503 represents the “net” outbound travelers -- or the difference between the number of in-bound and the number of out-bound travelers.
Iroij Imata calls for
alab conference
The Mojen of Jeimata, the Iroijship of Imata Kabua, Iroijlaplap, has issued a call for the convening of a Conclave of Alabs, on July 6, 2009, at South Loi (Loojeirok), Kwajalein. This solemn meeting of elders of Ralik Chain, will be the first of its kind in recent memory for the holders of land rights in over half of the inhabited atolls of the Marshall Islands.
Medical mission
set for mid-September
The USNS Richard E. Byrd was scheduled to leave Guam Thursday, June 18, to carry a team of medical, veterinary, engineering, and humanitarian experts to five Pacific nations, including the Marshall Islands.
Wicked wave hits Zac
The welcome home parties in Los Angeles have been put on hold after teen solo sailor Zac Sunderland’s yacht Intrepid smashed into a huge wave on Saturday, cracking a key bulkhead, which in part supports the mast, and damaging some of the boat’s chain plates. At the time Zac was beating up the coast of Mexico having left Barra de Navidad.
Sharks filled with cocaine
The Mexican Navy last week discovered a Marshall Islands registered container ship full of frozen sharks packed with nearly a ton (893 kilograms) of cocaine. The Dover Strait was boarded off Yucatan state, Mexico, after leaving Puerto Limon, Costa Rica, for Tonala in central Mexico.
By GIFF JOHNSON
Majuro Atoll’s population has grown by nearly 8,000 people in 10 years — and many of these are without any fresh water storage for an island that depends almost totally on rain for survival, according to the government’s planning office.
A household survey of the fresh water and sanitation situation in Majuro has identified 4,177 “dwellings” (homes) compared to the 1999 census, which showed only 3,000. Based on an average of 7.5 people per home, that gives Majuro an estimated people count of 31,698, said Carl Hacker, Director of the Economic Policy, Planning and Statistics Office (EPPSO). While Majuro’s overall population and number of houses has grown by about 25 percent, Rairok’s housing growth has been an explosive 67 percent since the 1999 census, the water survey is showing.
While confirming high population growth in Majuro, the survey also shows the lack of access to fresh water for many Majuro residents, raising the fear of health threats through spread of disease. “We have 1,100 homes identified without water storage or about 8,289 people (are without water) — 26 percent,” said Hacker.
“What we have found is that many homes borrow water from neighbors or have smaller buckets, cans or barrels collecting
some water, but these are not defined or considered to be water storage, or improved water storage for the purposes of the survey.”
Hacker’s office is overseeing a European Union grant of about $2 million that is providing water catchments to help alleviate some of the problems at the household level — problems that could worsen if an El Niño weather system develops, causing more severe drought than experienced since the beginning of 2009.
Hacker warns that the EU grant will not solve Majuro’s problems and
Ebeye’s expected similar water access problems.
“The current EU project will be able to provide about 500 catchments,
meaning this can only be a critical first step in trying to improve this situation,” said Hacker. The Ebeye portion of the survey begins mid-July.
“I am expecting that as we go through the data, we will find a substantial number of households that have large families and very limited, inadequate water storage volume for that number of people,” he said.
The lack of water catchments is a more serious problem in the Laura area.
“The further we move away from DUD (Rita-Delap), the higher the percentage of homes without water storage,” said Hacker. “In Laura 47 percent of homes were identified without water storage compared to 23 percent in DUD.”
Heavy metal group
The team of steel cutters from the Philippines were this week hard at work at the Batkan dump. They arrived in Majuro earlier this month on board Enewetak’s vessel Lady E. Photos: Douglas Henry and Neil Flores.