The North Star Project, 2013-2014 Report Number Twenty-Six — Ruuwuw by James Merle

The North Star Project, 2013-2014 Report Number Twenty-Six — Ruuwuw by James Merle

My stay in Chuuk has been unique to say the least. Each day can bring challenges and complications that you may not have ever imagined could happen: a typhoon might blow in some nasty wind and rain, cancelling school, or a volunteer might have decided to abandon ship and return home.  Funerals are an enormous cultural events in Chuuk. Because families are so large, when someone dies anywhere around the world, the casket is shipped back to the home island, and there are lavish commemoration ceremonies. When this happens, large families of students are absent for up to an entire week from school.

While the weather in Chuuk is that of an envisioned paradise, and there are coconut trees, geckos, delicious local foods like taro, bananas, mango, and papaya, life on Chuuk is sometimes dangerous. At night…