Dad's response to "Our House in Nanikai"

This post was a "comment" response from my Dad to my House in Nanikai post. I decided to post it separately, as it deserves that! Thanks, Dad! Feel free to send me stuff to post here anytime!

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Nei Rona was the president of the School Board for AKAS (Auriaria Kokoi Ataria School). When it became known that our family had been called to help at the school (as a teacher at first) the school board was responsible to provide us a place to live. The best house available was her own, which was provided to them by the government because her husband, Tawai, was a government employee. In addition to providing us a place to live, they also provided food, and services like clothes washing, child care, etc. We had to be careful in making comments about the food. They probably didn't know what would please us, so if we commented that something really tasted good, we'd get that for three meals a day until we gently told them we'd enjoy something else as well.

Tawai built a native thatched hut right next to the ocean behind our house, and they lived there. Tawai did a lot of the work - it wasn't just Nei Rona. "Nei" means Miss or Mrs - the female title. The students in Tonga called Karen "Nei Kiribati."

If you look at your map, the part of the island on the bottom running approximately East and West is what they called South Tarawa. North Tarawa was the part that angles North-West. Only South Tarawa has causeways so there can be roads between the tiny islets that make up the atoll. Therefore, roads, busses, etc. are limited to South Tarawa. The islets are mostly less than about 250 feet wide, though there are a few wider spots. Nanikai was only about 150 feet wide, so there was about 60 feet from our house door across the road to the lagoon, and about 80 feet behind our house to the ocean. The house was 14 feet wide.

Betio is the Western-most islet on South Tarawa, and it was too far from the rest to be connected with a causeway, so they had a landing barge that plyed back and forth between it and Bairiki. We could drive on the barge with the motorcycle, and it would take about 20 minutes for the trip. Betio was the biggest islet, and it was the only place where there was more than just a single roadway. On Betio there was a road that went all around the island - a distance of more than half a mile. Betio was the scene of the battle of Tarawa which was the first offensive action of the Americans against the Japanese in WW II. There was one other place on the island where it was quite wide, and that was at the handle of the backwards "L" that makes up the atoll. That is where the airport was built by the American Army. They dredged the lagoon to build up that corner so that it would be big enough to make an airport. The Japanese had built their airport on Betio, but it was so small that few planes could land there. There was a wrecked plane in the water that hadn't been able to make it. Aerial views of the islet showed where the old airstrip had been because of the difference in the growth of the coconut trees.

AKAS had not been popular with the government for quite a while before we arrived because of many improper activities of its headmaster (main teacher = principal). Actually, the government had decided to close the school, but then they learned that we had been called to go and teach there. They decided to wait and see if we would correct some of the problems. As we discovered much of what was going on within the first month and took steps to correct the situation, they never did issue the closure notice. After discovering some of it, I went to the school board and reported what I had found and told them I could not remain associated with the school unless specific changes were made, including the removal of the old Headmaster. After giving them my report, they proceeded to discuss the situation in their own language for most of two hours. Occassionally they would ask a question through a translator, but they finally made their announcement: The old headmaster was to leave and not even come to the school property again. His family members living there would also move as soon as possible. Only at the end of their report did they announce that I had been selected to be the new Headmaster. I reported these developments to the Minister of Education, and it was then that I learned that they had discovered the same problems and that was why they had planned to close the school. We had passed the test we didn't even know we were taking, but the result was only temporary, because the ministry gave permission for the school to continue operation only as long as I remained as the Headmaster, and that it would then be closed. This certainly wasn't the solution to the problem of finding educational opportunities for the young people of the country, particularly for those who were now members. We reported this unhappy development in our weekly report, and from that time on we didn't hear anything back from those we were reporting to except that they were considering the problems in Kiribati. We were having so many problems I wasn't even sure which problems they meant.

After working pretty much alone for two or three months - maybe four or more - we got word that Elder Groberg was comming to visit. The day he arrived I met him at the airport and took him to the hotel where we met for several hours. This is the way it went whenever we had visitors. After working ourselves into weariness, Elder Groberg proposed a break, and he handed me a copy of the Church News that had been printed the previous Saturday. The picture of the Provo temple on the cover made me homesick, but Elder Groberg invited me to read through it. Just past the middle I was surprised to discover my picture. The accompanying article explained that CES had decided to build a school in Kiribati and I had been appointed to be in charge of the project. That was how I learned of their decision. By this time we had already succeeded in getting the Church officially recognized in the country, so that provided a solid foundation for the rest of the work to be done.

At first we looked for a new place to build the school, but the school board offered repeatedly to turn AKAS over to the Church. I had objections, but slowly gave in under the persuasions of the Mission president and CES officials. (The school was built on the site where Auriria first landed on the island and where he and his henchman Kokoi had ruled as despots, thus establishing the ancestors of the nation. There was a pagan shrine to them on the school property. It contained a skull bone along with several other objects. I had always been disturbed by the evil nature of that part of the school's location, and of their names being included in the school's name.) The solution was to use the reputation of a good school to reduce the negative impact of the past, and that is what we decided to do. Pat and I spent a Sunday after church discussing what the school should be named, and we chose a name that could overcome the less respectable names from the past. I've read that others also considered the question of naming the school and had come up with the same name.

We had stayed in Nanikai more than six month, but eventually we built our home on the school compound in Eita. Later we were to build another home just like ours for another faculty member, and replace the old low maneaba with a new big one that provided beauty to the school. Our improvements were able to capture the attention of our neighbors and achieve the desired result. Now the school has grown in reputation to the point that it is the premier school in the nation - being respected even more than the government high school.