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Small Islands Voice
In preparation for the January 2005 "Youth Visioning for Island Living" conference in Mauritius, Island Youth created an Internet forum, called "Small Island Voice," where young people could share their ideas about reform in their island homes.
The online message boards started as simple questions, either from the Small Island Voice coordinators or the students themselves: "What could your island do better to preserve its natural environment?" or "How could you change the bad rep that youth have in your island community?" Before long, though, the conversations between participants expanded far beyond the original prompts.
The youth established a cordial familiarity with each other over the year, exchanging greetings like "wazzup" and wishing readers "peace and love" at the end of a posting. They were candid, too. "Some people on my island don't even have the decency to put their trash in a garbage can—like they're animals, or something," writes one student from the Pacific island of Palau.
While many contributors translated their messages into French or Spanish, English was the common language, even though it was the mother tongue of few. WKCD has lightly edited grammar and punctuation in postings where the meaning may be unclear.
Click below for excerpts relating to:
Cultural heritage and national pride
CULTURAL HERITAGE AND NATIONAL PRIDE
Cayon High School, Cayon, St. Kitts: Regarding cultural traditions, our youth generally do not know much about their local heritage. This is probably because local heritage is not emphasized in school or history lessons. Not only that, the strong influence of the American pop-culture is adversely affecting ours. How do we balance keeping abreast with development and global trends and maintaining our cultural identity and the unspoiled beauty of our islands?
Bequia High School, Grenadines: The country whose culture we often adopt is the United States of America. I don't want to offend any one who lives there, but many of our people, including our teenagers, are taking up that country's means of speaking, dressing, and even eating. I do not see what is wrong with our culture. We have traditions that attract people regionally and internationally. We celebrate nine mornings in the Christmas season, Carnival, Easter, Reagattue, and Fisherman's Day. Still, we don't seem to appreciate our history. This is a sad thing, because without knowledge of your past you are lost in the future. What are your different religions and cultures and are they held to be very valuable by your people?
Bequia High School, Grenadines: [posted by Kamala and Jenson] In our school, some of the students have organized a heritage club so that we can widen our minds with the interesting things our ancestors did before us. In our country, we also have carnival which is always fun. We catch whales, which we know most of you disapprove of, but we cannot change our heritage. That's the way we were brought up.
We are not allowed to catch more than four whales each year. Sometimes we catch two or three, but we never miss a year. We have many different styles of preparing our whale meals, including roasting or corning, where we cut the whale in slices and put it in the sun to dry for several days, making sure no water falls on it.
Anse Royale Secondary School, Seychelles: Now as much as we like traditions, we have to disagree with you when you say that you catch whales during your festivals. In Seychelles, we are very aware of our environment. We try to protect it as much as we can. Even if we are a tourist destination, the government has made it their duty to watch the impact it can have on our environment. We are developing what is called eco-tourism. Turtle meat was a delicacy at some stage in the past, but we have never tasted it. The killing of turtles for its meat and shells has been banned. Whatever whales we have in our waters are protected rather than killed. We do not wish to offend, but we feel that such species should be protected. We should not destroy our natural environment just to keep up traditions.
We have our own festivals too, like "Creole Week." Ours celebrates our culture. We are just over two hundred years old. Our ancestors came from Europe, Africa and Asia. This makes us a real multi-cultural society, perhaps another advantage of being a Seychellois. We have three national languages and we only hear about the issue of race on television.
10th Mindszenty High School, Republic of Palau: [posted by Marona] As a foreigner, I say to you locals, be proud of your island. Help your community. Do your best with what y'all already have and acquire the education that awaits you so that you could do something for your island in return. And don't forget who you are and where you came from: islanders from paradise!
IMMIGRATION
Hope Town School, Abaco, Bahamas: During a recent discussion on our island about developing resorts, someone mentioned, "We must live in paradise!" We'd like to make that a discussion question: Is all as it seems in paradise? At the rate our small island's land is being sold to foreigners, there may not be any land left for us!
Bequia High School, Grenadines: [posted by Kamala and Jenson] Hey you all in Bahamas. We are students at the Bequia Community High School and we agree with what you are saying about foreigners taking over our country. We are basically having the same problem in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Foreigners, mostly from America, Canada, England, and Europe, are coming to our small island buying all our BEST lands and have the conscience to take over our island's commerce.
Cayon High School, Cayon, St. Kitts: Here in St. Kitts we have a problem with the influx of migrants, namely the Hispanics, Guyanese, and now a growing number of Caucasians. Why do they come? The Guyanese are brought as a solution for labor requirements in the sugar industry. Others come to seek better opportunities, for investments, or for the purpose of business expansion. A number of problems have resulted from this influx. Job opportunities are lost and foreign investors stifle local entrepreneurship for citizens. The investors are amassing large profits and exporting them to their homeland.
Bequia High School, Grenadines: Hello, again, to our fellow Bahamians. Lately we have discovered that part of Friendship Bay Beach (a village in Bequia), and one of the most beautiful plots on the island, have all been taken over by a foreigner who thinks he is in control of whatever he pleases. He bought one of the best ocean views and fenced off half of the beach next to him. He filled up our beautiful waters with stone and dirt, wanting more land and causing tremendously terrible erosion. We are really frustrated and mad and we really need some advice on how to go about resolving this problem, so please e-mail us and share with us your ideas. We thank you!
10th Mindszenty High School, Republic of Palau: Okay people, let's get the facts straight! Foreigners do not pose a big threat to our island nation of Palau. Maybe it's the same way on other islands. Foreigners do not even have equal rights as all citizens of Palau do. To be a Palauan, you must have Palauan blood. Either your mom or dad must be Palauan. I hope you all know that! You cannot be called a citizen of Palau just because you were born here in Palau to American naive born parents. And what's more important, you have to be a Palauan citizen to be allowed to own land.
Now ya'll are asking what's my proof that foreigners don't pose a threat to Palau. I have a lot of concrete evidence and facts.
SAFEGUARDING THE ISLAND ENVIRONMENT
Hope Town School, Abaco, Bahamas: It is up to our generation to ensure our island is worth returning to! We must take an interest in what's going on around us and learn to voice our opinions about how our countries are run today, because we will be running them tomorrow! Our class at school goes to town meetings and later discusses what politicians said and what they really meant.
Ahmadiyya School, Male, Maldives: The 1997-98 El Nino caused worldwide coral bleaching due to sustained high temperature. Maldives is no exception. A consequence of the El Nino was the decrease in the tourist dives and snorkeling in Maldivian waters.
In order to care for our islands, we need to acquire related education. In some remote islands, resources are scarcer and there are difficulties in transportation facilities as well as skilled personnel. Male, the capital island, and nearby islands and almost all resorts, which are not far from Male, transport their waste materials to Thilafushi. Thilafushi is an island reclaimed with garbage and used for industrial purposes.
Anse Royale Secondary School, Seychelles: [posted by Juliette and Thyra] Like the Maldives, the El Nino did not spare us. A vast majority of the coral was bleached, but fortunately not all died. The corals are now being closely monitored. There is more good news as it was discovered that the bleached corals were giving new signs of life. The coral bleaching did not affect our tourism industry. Divers and snorkelers were able to continue these activities in areas that have been spared. This was done as a means of educating tourists about the importance of conserving the corals and protecting the sea.
As a means of safeguarding our environment, environmental groups are being set up in schools. Earlier in the year, our school joined together in hard work in order to install wooden barriers at the beach opposite our school. This was done as a means to control beach erosion, created in part by the numerous vehicles that park too close to the beach. The vehicles not only remove the sand but also destroy small beach vegetation.
Hope Town School, Abaco, Bahamas: Our island was nearly destroyed in 2000 by Hurricane Floyd. One year later we were looking better than ever! How? Because we all worked together and were helped by donations from former visitors and foreign second-home owners. The government stood by watching while we put ourselves back together again. However, our roads were in shambles and four years later they are in even worse shape, if that is possible. Many appliances, cars and unburnable items ruined in the hurricane were deposited in our dump, which quickly filled up. One of our younger residents died from breathing the smoke of burning pressure treated lumber during the clean up. Four years later, we are still forced to breath toxic smoke from the dump we outgrew long ago.
Our island was recently in the news because we all gathered to protest the conditions of the roads and our disgusting dump and to petition the government for long overdue aid. They noted the presence of our class taking notes. Let's hope our presence helped! We wonder how much longer the tourists—our life-blood—will continue to pay to come and breathe our smoke and put their lives in danger on our roads!
On a positive note, our ocean line is gorgeous and teeming with delicious grouper, thanks to a recently government-imposed ban on catching them during their spawning seasons. Our depleting conch needs a ban now so that our grandchildren may taste our county's favorite delicacy. Our climate is warm and our beaches are beautiful-paradise just needs a bit of polishing. What about your islands' problems? What are you going to inherit?
Mayoro School, Trinidad: [posted by Salima and Saleem] We also have a problem with the poor preservation of the land, beaches and disposal facilities. My country will soon become a city dump, and we all may be extinct because of diseases that may come our way. If people of this island can only use the garbage bins, we would all live long, knowing that we are breathing fresh and not toxic air. It is really a shame to see foreigners coming to this island state and seeing it in this untidy way.
Cayon High School, Cayon, St. Kitts: [posted by Andy] Litter poses a serious threat to our survival [also]. Too many times I have seen people throw things out of vehicles and garbage on the floor. Sad to say, this has apparently become the norm in our society today. Where has our pride gone? Do we not realize that this poses a threat to our survival on this planet?
However, all is not lost. Have you ever heard about SandWatch? SandWatch is designed to save our pristine beaches. It is an environmental program to monitor all beach activities. Data is collected and analyzed on a monthly basis. Then a program of action is designed to solve any problems that affect the beach. SandWatch also caters for beach cleanups. School children are involved in SandWatch. It is a school-based program. They are truly making a difference. SandWatch is restoring our beaches and saving them also.
Anyone interested in finding out more about SandWatch please let me know.
Bequia High School, Grenadines: [posted by Kamala and Gordon] In our country people seem to think that Bequia cleans itself, they dirty it and think the country will just stay clean somehow. How ignorant! Do you have the same problem? Well, if you do, our suggestion to you is to get together with your peers or the members of your SandWatch group and plan to go and talk to your community. Tell them that you are the new generation and that you have had enough of their littering and you cannot take it anymore!
We hope that you will take our advice because young people have loud and influential voices!
MONEY IN OUR POCKETS
Anse Royale Secondary School, Seychelles: Although we are small, we Seychellois get by. Our main income comes through tourism and fisheries. Large vessels such as tuna ships are allowed to fish in our territorial waters. In return, the catch is exported to foreign countries. A major company, Heinz, that is the owner of the Indian Ocean Tuna Company, does this. This company specifically prepares canned tuna fish for export. Lots of work opportunities are found in fisheries. Although not many young people want to work in the factory, a lot of immigrants, especially from the Philippines, come and work in them. Seychellois youth are often seen on tuna vessels going fishing.
Rakiraki High School, Fiji: Sugar cane is the backbone of Fiji. Almost all of the cane cutters are totally dependent on large sugar cane farms for their living. [What we took for granted, a steady income, is now changing.] As the world is modernizing so is Fiji. New technology and machines are being introduced. Recently a cane harvester was introduced in the western side of Viti Levu. It is a gigantic machine that cuts the cane and loads it into the truck-and replaces a huge amount of labor force on the cane farm.
Cane harvesters are [good for the farmers,] but not for the cane cutters. The only source of income for their family is lost. The harvester causes unemployment to the cane cutters and puts them on the verge of poverty. These leads them to beg or even steal for money.
Asha, Dominica: Some action must be taken now. People are always talking about the youth not doing anything, but can you believe that when some of the youth try to sell a few vegetables and fruits by the roadside to make a living, the police chase them? All this is leading the youth to crime and drugs. People in government are just talking and not doing anything. Something needs to be done.
Bequia High School, Grenadines: [posted by Lesroy and Jenson] Our economy in St.Vincent and the Grenadines is not a very strong and effective one. People are learning to keep money in their pockets by creative thinking. We use the local wood to built furniture instead of using money to send money abroad or buy furniture in stores. Instead of using electricity, some use sunlight to operate appliances, and we use the wind also. In our school we use garbage, such as broken bottles, to build benches mixed with cement.
Hope Town School, Abaco, Bahamas: As more and more of our island's land is sold to foreigners, we are pushed out. Building their homes and acting as property rental caretakers does provide an income for islanders—but hey, we want to [keep some land] for ourselves and our grandchildren, too!
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