The Marshal Islands - "Who gives a damn?"

In 1969, Henry Kissinger, when discussing the future of the Marshal islands, said the following:
"There are only 90,000 people out there.  Who gives a damn?"

And so these Blog Posts are about what it means to "give a damn" and the many forms it can take.
When I think about the Marshal Islands, a country of 50,000 people spread over many islands and 29 Atols, I think of the Dr Seuss Book, Horton Hears a Hoo.  I think of a small island, with children calling out, "We are here."

I think of an unsuspecting, sustainable culture being caught in the middle of world wars, atom bomb testing, international trade and now climate change.  It was and is, in many ways, the world's Sacrifice Zone.

I write this, in the midst of fear about a spreading virus and a presidential election.  My own neighborhoods spill over with people camping on the streets.  We have much to care about within our own country.  So, how do we, with the  Heart of a Midwife, care about this story?   How do we tell the stories of World war II with the people on the ground, watching bombs fall, as the main characters?

What does it mean to create a way of life, of education, of policy that forever gives a damn for everyone.  I hope these few stories fill in the holes we all had in our education about the Pacific Islands and in particular, the Marshal Islands.

One way that we can "give a damn" when there is so much to care about,is to simply bear witness, to take a moment to say in your heart.  "I understand what happened."

And to know that you can never, ever drop bombs, ignore climate change, pollute an ocean without it hurting mothers and children.   The first thing we do, as midwives, in walking into a birth space, is to assure safety, privacy and cleanliness.  When the world, becomes the birth room, we notice the air, the water, the food and the assurance of a fair and safe future.

Beautiful children on the Marshal Islands, play beside the life giving lagoon, so essential to their culture and way of life.