The Winds of Fate Micronesian Love Story is an adventurous story about a brave, young, ambitious African American woman and university professor, who accepted the challenge to train teachers in Micronesia during the 1970s on how to educate children with handicaps in their classrooms. The obstacles she faced were enormous and the lessons she learned were immeasurable. She traveled and worked alone in places she had never heard of; each island was very different, undeveloped and undergoing major political changes. She discovered that special education concepts and practices were not part of the native's culture, understanding, vocabulary or languages in the societies where she worked. She had to learn how to train teachers using their cultural norms, learning styles, languages and experiences. She learned immediately that the training agenda and materials from the U.S. mainland would not work in Micronesia. She learned that the teachers used storytelling, their ancestral medium, to teach and learn; therefore, she had to change her approach overnight. She created stories every night in her hotel room to be able to train the teachers. During her seven year assignment on the islands, a riveting love story was born between her and a Micronesian man. They were two people from two different worlds, cultures, languages and ways of life but their romance became an enthralling, passionate, powerful love affair that seemed destined to happen.

The Winds of Fate

Micronesian Love StoryBy Jean E. Roy van Keulen

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2012 Jean E. Roy van Keulen Ph.D
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4685-8523-0

Contents

1. Micronesia in Transition...........................................................12. From Colonialism to Freedom The New Micronesia.....................................103. Beginning of Elizabeth's Story.....................................................134. First Assignment: Trip to Truk (Chuuk).............................................175. Truk (Chuuk) to Yap (Wa'ab)........................................................356. Yap (Wa'ab) to Palau (Balau).......................................................537. Palau Continental Hotel............................................................648. Life Changing Experiences..........................................................679. Unexpected Invitation from Saipan..................................................7110. Midnight Swims....................................................................7911. Prisoners' Story Boards...........................................................8912. The High Commissioner.............................................................9713. Storytelling in a Palauan Bai.....................................................10714. An Emotional Connection...........................................................12315. Palau (Belau) to Guam (Guahan)....................................................14916. Elizabeth Returns Home............................................................19617. Aurora Island: The Goddess of Dawn................................................22618. Aurora to Saipan (Northern Mariana Islands).......................................28019. Saipan to Ponape (Pohnpei) Island.................................................31520. Ponape (Pohnpei) to Marshall Islands The Pearl of the Pacific.....................38221. Marshall Islands to San Francisco.................................................45822. Micronesian Special Assignment Ends...............................................46623. Desperate Search for Madison......................................................47424. Good Morning Mr. President........................................................48525. Their Extraordinary Reunion.......................................................49526. The Winds of Fate.................................................................50527. An Affair Two Worlds Apart........................................................51628. Always & Forever..................................................................520

Chapter One

Micronesia in Transition

This story begins in 1974 in the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands where the islands are scattered across a vast expanse of water as wide as the continental United States, with over twenty-one hundred islands, that make up the cultural region known as Micronesia. The area includes three major archipelagoes: the Marshalls, Carolines and Marianas. It is here that major battles of World War II were fought in the air, on the land and sea between Japan and the United States of America.

This period of history drastically changed the landscape and lives of the Micronesian Islands and the people who resided there before, during and after the war. The changes affected the colonial ownership of the islands, the people, their lifestyles, cultures, customs, languages, dress and day-to-day survival among other things.

America's influence began to take hold of these islands during 1944, and began to surface within the islands shortly after the conclusion of the war, and more intensively after the Trusteeship of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands was passed formally to the United States under the auspices of the United Nations in 1947.

Having passed through the colonial rule of the Spanish, Germans and Japanese, the islands of Micronesia became a United States administered, United Nations strategic trusteeship. This new arrangement of the islands was then named and became known as the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.

Initially, the United States Navy controlled the Trust Territory before the islands were transferred to the United States Department of Interior in 1951. At that time the administrative headquarters were located in Honolulu, Hawaii before moving to Guam, and then finally to Saipan.

Relics and evidence of the war are still evident all across the islands and divers often survey wrecks of Japanese, American, German and other ships and airplanes under Micronesia's warm, clear waters.

A High Commissioner, an appointee of the United States President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, administered the Trust based Territory islands and for administrative purposes, divided the islands of Micronesia into six districts on earlier colonial precedent: the Marshalls, Ponape, Truk, Marianas, Yap and Palau with the later additions of Kosrae and Aurora.

Micronesia was marching toward political self-government and it became a long and unsteady journey. It began when the Trust Territory made up six districts under the US administration, but a major step forward was taken with the creation of the Congress of Micronesia in 1965. Then, more ground was covered as the congress carried on negotiations with the US through the 1970s over its future political status. The districts began voting to end the trusteeship with the United States.

Successfully achieving this objective in 1986, the United States notified the United Nations that its obligations were fulfilled. Then, in 1990, the United Nations officially dissolved the Trust Territory with Palau being the last of the Trust Territory districts to vote to end its trustee status in 1994.

Along the way, the Trust Territory dissolved into four groups, each pursuing its own political goals and each with its own flag and self- government; this was a distant dream in the 1960s, however, today it is a reality in Palau, Marshalls, Federated States of Micronesia, Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands and Aurora.

The back-drop of this Micronesian love story is set in an important place and era of enormous change that was taking place among the island districts and the United States. The districts were busy determining the paths to their futures.

In the midst of these political changes and time in Micronesian history were two people, two strangers whose lives were about to change in ways neither would have ever imagined. She is an American woman from San Francisco and he is a Micronesian man born and reared on the island of Aurora. They met during this period of history-a time when the island people were warm and friendly but restless and relentless toward overcoming colonialism on their islands and homelands of their ancestors. They wanted to be in charge of their destiny and determine the course of events and actions that would occur on their islands.

Historically, the island people of the Pacific Islands had strong chieftainships that were decided by the people, were well respected and worked for their societies. They wanted their islands to regain the power and respect of their people and the fundamentals of their social structures, while at the same time, establishing their own modern day government structures and systems that would take them into the millennium.

The islanders wanted equity, freedom and social justice while maintaining their dignity, identity, customs, traditions, languages, religions, unique differences and lifestyles. They had learned from their histories...