This past summer, Jo-Jikum was happy to finally host the second instalment of our Climate Change Arts Camp in its new iteration as the Climate and Health Arts Seminar.

The Climate Change and Health Arts Seminar was an arts camp for high school students that allowed participants to explore the connections between climate change and health through the medium of the arts.

The Seminar, run by our nonprofit with partnership from Ministry of Health, recognizes the power of the arts in communicating and understanding the complex issue of climate change. With the COVID-19 pandemic impacting and closing the borders in the Marshall Islands, these discussions became all the more relevant, in understanding how the destruction of natural habitats is interwoven with climate impacts and manifests in community health impacts such as COVID-19 as well as other illnesses such as dengue.

The theme for the camp, “Ejelet añõneañ im rak” is a theme that was given to us by the Culture, Language, and Law Commission (CLLC), who explained that añõneañ and rak are seasons for harvest. “Añõneañ” is the season for preserving pandanus, or bõb, as well as other traditional foods such as bwiro, makmok, and jaanwkin, while “Rak” is the season for preserving breadfruit or ma. Members of CLLC explained that climate change makes bõb season or ma season unpredictable. Sometimes the harvest is late, or sometimes it’s too early. The changing temperatures and rising sea level affects growth of plants, which in turn affects our health and food security. The logo featured on the seminar tshirts incorporates this theme and was designed by Marshallese graphic artist Ronnie Reimers.

The Seminar took place July 20 – 31 at the College of the Marshall Islands campus. The Seminar worked with 39 students in total, 13 boys and 23 girls, with representation from high schools across Majuro and Micronesia. The 39 students came from the Marshall Islands High School, Assumption High School, COOP School, Seventh Day Adventist High School, Kwajalein High School, Marshall Islands Baptist Christian Academy, and Xavier High School, and were from 9th to 12 grades.

The Seminar daily schedule was broken up into team building exercises and presentations from partners who with expertise in environment and health in the mornings, followed by intensive art classes in the afternoons. Students were able to choose between weaving, painting, songwriting, and poetry for their art classes – they ranked their top preferences and they stayed in these classes for the duration of the seminar.

The art classes were taught by local artist professionals. The camp was also assisted and facilitated by 6 college student interns – these interns acted as “camp counselors” and provided additional administrative support as well as moral support for the students, and were affectionately known as “Powerpuff Rangers.” A component of preparation for the seminar was spent in providing leadership workshops to these 6 interns to provide proper support for them as well.

The presentations included representatives from the Ministry of Health, Climate Change Directorate, Weather Station, Culture Language and Law Commission, CMI Land Grant, Red Cross, and MICS. Besides presentations, the students were able to go on two field trips – one for coastal planting with CMI Land Grant, and another to snorkel to observe coral bleaching effects with MICS. The topics of discussions included COVID-19 and dengue and links to climate change, climate change and its effects on manit (Marshallese culture), coastal erosion and coral bleaching.

The final showcase was the night of July 31, with students sharing their painted and woven pieces, and the poets and songwriters performing their new work, with opening remarks from the Secretary of Health Jack Niendenthal.

The products created from the Seminar are in the process of being shared. The songs will be recorded by the local radio station 103.5, while the poetry and art work will be reprinted into small chapbooks by local printers. The weaving will be framed and along with the artwork will be transferred to the Majuro Hospital for display, before being transferred to other locations for the purposes of dissemination.

We are grateful to these organizations for providing the funding for this program: RMI Ministry of Health, Scaling Up Pacific Adaptation (SUPA) – GCCA+, Marshall Islands Conservation Society (MICS), with support from College of the Marshall Islands (CMI).

Watch: Climate Change and Health Highlights Video

Photos from the Final Performance and Showcase Night

Full statement script:

Minister Loeak:
My name is Christopher Jorebon Loeak. I represent the Government of the Marshall Islands as Minister-in-Assistance to the President and Minister of Environment. On behalf of President Kabua, the government, and the people of the Marshall Islands, I would like to present a warm iokwe and greetings to the government leaders, civil society representatives, and youth that have joined this event. The Republic of the Marshall Islands recognizes the importance of youth involvement in the decision making process for issues such as climate change and covid. We demonstrated this through the Kwon Gesh pledge, calling for governments to sign on to incorporate youth meaningfully into government processes on climate change. Recognizing the importance of youth voices, I would now like to recognize some of our youth from the Marshall Islands, who will share some of their perspectives with you all today.

Jae Marie Mae Digno (Jo-Jikum): Youth representatives must be made part of the decision-making process in regard to covid responses because they must have a say in what will impact their future. If voices of future leaders of our nations go unsaid, unheard, and disregarded, how can they be reassured that they will be taken care of in dire times like this. Allow the youth audience to have a seat at the table so they may have the opportunity to voice out their concerns and share their ideas of strategies that they believe will ensure their future. Let’s listen to them.

Frank “Chase” Domnick (Jo-Jikum): Here in the RMI, our youth led in local efforts such as a Tiktok Challenge, a hand-washing video, and a quarantine video. These local efforts presented by the youths help spread the awareness of COVID-19.

Jollia Peter (Jo-Jikum): As youths, we see that students both here and abroad are being affected by COVID-19. These issues are not just issues experienced and specific to the RMI but worldwide issues. For example, students studying abroad are being stranded, some far from their homes. Students, including those abroad, are also facing times of increasing financial difficulties. Because of COVID-19, we see the severity of some challenges that our fellow youths face. We recognize these issues and request that students here in the RMI, as well as those studying abroad, and from all over the world be prioritized.

Jobod Silk (Jo-Jikum): Although covid is still a big problem around the world today, it is important that we don’t lose sight of our fight against climate change. The RMI is one of the nations suffering greatly impacted climate change, and should we fail to do something about it during this pandemic,by the time it dies down, we will still be affected. Because of quarantine, carbon emissions in bigger countries have decreased. This shows that when faced with a crisis, the world is capable of reducing carbon emissions. We need to make people realize that climate change is as big of an issue as covid.

Anfernee Nenol Kaminaga (Youth to Youth in Health and Brighten the Rainbow – both are Marshall Islands non-profit organizations): The Marshall Islands is still threatened by climate change no matter the status of COVID-19 and we have to remember we, the Marshallese people, who have thrived off of the land given to us by our ancestors just sits 2 meters above sea level. We must recognize that climate change has become the oppressor and that we will not compromise without a fighting chance. We, the Marshallese, stand in solidarity with black, brown and indigenous voices calling for change. With climate change already in effect our chances of survival are threatened to a greater extent and we ask to not be forgotten in your steps towards healing your community as well as ours.

Nuclear Remembrance Day is an important opportunity for Marshallese to commemorate the legacy of nuclear testing conducted by the United States on our island. It’s an important yearly ceremony that honors those who died due to the testing, as well as the forced sacrifices of the 4 atolls in particular that were deemed irradiated by the US – Bikini, Rongelap, Utrik, and Enewetak atolls.

This history is a contentious one, filled with broken promises, destroyed documents, unheeded testimonies by countless Marshallese to the US, as well as incredibly high death tolls due to radiation related illnesses.

For my part, I’ve continually created poetry performances that engaged with different aspects of the nuclear issue. You can view some of these poems here.

Here at Jo-Jikum, we wanted to make sure that our organization is just as involved in nuclear issues as climate and environmental issues. We recognize the many intersections between nuclear and climate issues – the ways in which Marshallese lives have been viewed as dispensable during the nuclear testing program, as well as the ways we’re viewed as dispensable today in the era of climate change and rising sea levels. There is also the simple fact that the nuclear testing program had major impacts on our environment – from completely vaporizing islands off the map, to irradiating our islands so that it’s no longer safe to live on, to dumping and leaving nuclear waste in our islands.

With all this history still alive and unresolved today, days like the Nuclear Remembrance can feel hollow, especially when the US has yet to apologize, clean up the nuclear waste in Enewetak, or properly address and compensate our islands for the destruction.

But there’s also small, insidious ways in which the nuclear legacy impacts us, at  the local level. And being a part of the organizing committee illuminated these concerns. “Jejamin meloklok im jejamin ebweer” was this year’s theme, meaning “We will never forget, we will never give up.” In addition to participating in the national nuclear march, Jo-Jikum also coordinated art workshops and an open mic for youth.

One concern was our elders – those who were a part of the original communities that were affected by the testing, many of whom have passed away since then. We discussed with the organizing committee how many of these elders are brought out to the ceremony during the Nuclear Remembrance Day  – some are asked to speak, while some are a part of the crowd. Some have difficulty moving due to illness and age. We’d heard complaints about what the purpose was in these ceremonies – why did we bother when nothing has changed? Or how in the past these elders were left to stand in the hot sun, with no shade or chairs due to poor planning. We wanted to find another way to honor them.

An idea was raised that was inspired by a Marshallese New Years tradition. During New Years Eve, Marshallese children and youth will go house to house, singing a New Years song. For their songs, they’re generally rewarded candy and food by the household. We took this tradition, and decided we’d gather a group of youth and have them visit the elders from the 4 atolls, those who experienced the testing in some form, and visit them house to house, singing songs to them to honor their experience. And instead of getting food, we’d bring food to them – traditional Marshallese food in woven baskets called banninur.

It was quite a bit of work to organize the visits, coordinate rides, food, as well as track down and visit each elder. We were thankful that we played a small role in coordinating the banninur and also bringing our own members to participate in the visits, but ultimately much of the credit needs to be given to the College of the Marshall Islands Nuclear Club and the Nuclear Commission. All this effort was worth it, to see these elders light up, as well as share their own experiences of the testing.

This was an action, led by our youth, that was locally-involved. There’s something to be said about the fact that this wasn’t done for an international audience – as so much of our campaigning tends to be. This was an intergenerational moment that was as much for our youth as for our elders, and was meant to do nothing more than honor our elders and grieve with them over their experiences.

For myself, with all of my international campaigning background, this was a very powerful and moving experience to be a part of. And luckily, it was captured on film. Please see the video below.  

-Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, Jo-Jikum Director

Photos and video by Corrie Lejjena

Our organization has experience teaching and creating workshops in climate change – however this has been limited to day long workshops, or workshops spread over months. From my own observation as an educator, this has resulted in a training that feels disconnected, and a team that isn’t as close as they can be.

Last year, I participated two weeks of training at Training for Change, a nonprofit in Philadelphia which is “a training and capacity building organization for activists and organizers.” I took the “Super T” training, where “participants learn the major principles of direct education, an approach to training groups that is about liberation and empowerment.” I wasn’t able to finish the training, but the skills that I got from those 2 out of the full 3 weeks were enough for me to apply to the creation of this workshop. “Building a container” became an important part of the workshop – a concept I learned during the training which was all about making sure participants feel comfortable with each other, with us as facilitators, and feel empowered with the subject matter. We did this through buddy systems, energizers, small group work, regular check ins, incorporating cultural protocols, and teaching climate change without using the usual presentation styles. Rather than starting off with basics of climate change workshop, we instead had each of them share in small groups what they knew, questions they had, and then we addressed and established important information as a larger group.

Most of the workshop models around Majuro which Jina (our Program Manager) and I have attended tend to focus on powerpoint presentations and passive listening from participants. Games can be incorporated, energizers, but these tend to be focused entirely on waking participants up, rather than having it contribute meaningfully to the process. During our lunch breaks, we had chats with several participants, reflecting on this style. Kumit Bobrae, another nonprofit that is focused on substance abuse, follows a similar model in making sure their presentations are interactive and engaging, especially since they’re working with youth. Youth to Youth in Health, an organization founded by former activist Darlene Keju Johnson, also recognized the need for innovative approaches – she historically used Marshallese song, dance, and skits in her outreach.

As we move forward with growing our organization and our movement I hope there will be more opportunities to learn the best ways to reach our community.