Ebeye - Round 1

Ebeye is an island a 25 minute ferry ride away from Kwajalein where the native Marshallese people live. According to Wikipedia, it is an 80 acre island housing more than 15,000 people. We decided to venture out and take a trip one Monday afternoon.

Our first mistake was going alone. Our second mistake was not getting a map before we left. We had heard of many great opportunities on Ebeye, but did not know how or where to get to any of them!

The kids had heard that there was ice cream on Ebeye, so that was originally their sole mission - FIND THE ICE CREAM!

We started to leave the dock area in search of the ice cream, when we were chased down. Turns out our third mistake was not checking into dock security. Oops!

There were two stores right off the dock: Triple J Department Store and Payless Supermarket. We decided to venture inside.

Triple J ended up being the perfect stop for our family. Not only were we able to find the ice cream ($3 each for these massive scoops!), they had kid-sized bikes. However, that also led us to mistake number four, as it was impossible to lug two unrideable bicycles around an island. So, we hung out at the dock for 45 minutes waiting for the next ferry. I went into Payless and grabbed some chips and diet soda, as at the time neither were available to us on Kwaj.

So, needless to say there will be another trip to Ebeye, but we will be much better prepared! Stay tuned for round 2!

Also, check out this great picture of my husband transporting the bikes from the dock back to our house. The guy who stopped him to take it was laughing so hard because he "had never seen anything like it before"!

Another note about Ebeye is that the public school is so overcrowded that only the oldest child from each family is guaranteed a spot. The only alternative is for children to attend private school, which tuition costs are $500-$800 a year, which is out of reach for many of the Marshallese families. The Island Memorial Chapel has a sponsorship program which connects American donors with Marshallese students on Ebeye who need financial help in order to attend school. If you would be interested in sponsoring a student, please email imcssp@gmail.com.

Alternatively, several students from Ebeye receive a sponsorship to attend the Kwajalein School System. I have set up a Venmo account for Jerrod (@dolphingertsema) to be used to help support the students who attend GSES. If you wish to contribute to that account, he will use your donations to help cover fees, provide healthy and nutritious snacks, and other extracurricular activities.

Comments

  1. Suzie and DjSeptember 6, 2024 at 1:57 PM

    You know, mistakes are meant to happen. You learn and grow from them. Awesome bikes and a great adventure for sure!

    ReplyDelete

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