Chikin Melele

12/23/2025

Earlier this spring, a team from UAMS traveled to Majuro to provide a week-long training for community health workers and providers focused on their Family-Model Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support (FDSMES). Led by Marshallese physician Sheldon Riklon, alongside Jonell Hudson and the UAMS Northwest Regional Campus team, the 40-hour training brought together community health workers, nurses, and providers Kora in Jiban Lorlorjake Ejmour, MEI, Canvasback Wellness Center, and the RMI Ministry of Health and Human Services. The visit builds on more than five years of collaboration with Marshallese communities in Northwest Arkansas, Hawaiʻi, and Washington—and now, in the Marshall Islands themselves. We also interviewed, Preston Tolliver, who traveled with the team and visited Majuro for the first time. He recalls watching the sun rise from the Outrigger hotel, visiting Laura Beach, and attending Nuclear Remembrance Day events. With diabetes affecting an estimated up to 60% of adults in the Marshall Islands, leaders in RMI emphasized that prevention and education are national priorities. UAMS has said that this is not a one-time visit, but part of a sustained, reciprocal commitment to community-led health.

This year, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) expanded its long-standing partnership with Marshallese communities by taking diabetes education and training directly to the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Last spring, in March...

12/22/2025

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Governor Joseph Receives Courtesy Visit from New Imam of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community

Peilapalap, Pohnpei: December 16, 2025 — Governor Stevenson A. Joseph today received a courtesy visit from Faheem Arshad, the newly appointed Imam of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Pohnpei.

During the brief meeting, Governor Joseph welcomed Imam Arshad. He exchanged general views on community programs and ways the Ahmadiyya community may assist and contribute to the well-being of the people of Pohnpei.

Governor Joseph expressed appreciation for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community’s longstanding commitment to peace, service, and compassion, noting their positive role in supporting community-based initiatives.

The Governor extended his best wishes to Imam Arshad as he begins his service in Pohnpei and reaffirmed the State’s respect for all faith-based organizations working for the common good.

12/21/2025

Alex Rhowuniong writes about Chuuk Lagoon’s oil leak crisis for Chikin Melele—and centers the story where it belongs: with the Chuukese people whose land, water, and food sources are at risk. (Headline photo is from Majuro but the full article has additional photos of the actual wreck leaking oil and 3D imaging, a map of the 60+ shipwrecks, and screenshots of bubbling oil from the reef habitat.)

According to Chuuk State officials, the most recent oil leak from the WWII-era Rio de Janeiro Maru has been brought under control, with a containment tank installed to capture leaking oil. The State of Emergency declared in September 2025 was intended to trigger support from FSM leaders and international partners as the threat became clear.

But this is not an isolated incident. During Operation Hailstone in 1944, U.S. forces sank 50+ Japanese warships and supply vessels in Chuuk Lagoon—with many estimates today citing 60+ ships still resting on the lagoon floor. Over time, these wrecks became artificial reefs and vital fish habitat—but they also hold millions of gallons of aging fuel oil, some of which has been leaking for decades.

Rhowuniong highlights how most outside coverage has focused on the disaster from non-Chuukese perspectives, while Chuukese concerns are far more immediate: food security, fishing grounds, reefs, shorelines, and land. For Chuukese families, damage to the lagoon is not abstract “environmental harm”—it is harm to their living rooms, gardens, and dinner tables.

The article weaves in lived experience, including a haunting final story: a Chuukese diver tasting yellowfin tuna that smelled and tasted like oil and gasoline. What began as “just one fish” quickly became a terrifying question—what if all the fish are next?

The report calls for long-term accountability, urging the U.S. and Japan to go beyond short-term fixes and commit to a joint task force to remove oil from all 60+ wrecks, before another leak becomes a regional Pacific crisis.

“Our lagoon is our lifeline,” Chuuk leaders warn. And from a Chuukese point of view, protecting the lagoon means protecting life itself.

The environmental oil leak disaster in Chuuk Lagoon is under control, according to a press release from the Chuuk Governor’s office. “On behalf of Chuuk’s Environmental Protection Agency’s diligent work, and with the help from donor...

12/19/2025

Earlier this spring, a team from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) traveled to Majuro to deliver hands-on diabetes education directly to community health workers, nurses, and providers in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. The visit builds on more than five years of collaboration with Marshallese communities in Northwest Arkansas. In our video interview, Preston Tolliver, UAMS associate director of communications, who traveled with Dr. Sheldon Riklon, Lynda Riklon, and Dr. Jonell Hudson, reflects on the professional and personal impact of visiting Majuro: "What really stuck with me was how familiar it felt being in Majuro. It felt really similar to some of the small towns in Arkansas." Having grown up in a one road-town in Arkansas, walking the train tracks to the river in the mornings, he said he felt that same sense of security in Majuro: "being 6000 miles away but still feeling a sense of home there."

12/17/2025

Micronesian veterans serve in the U.S. military at some of the highest per-capita rates, yet many returning to Palau, the FSM, or the Marshall Islands have long faced limited or nonexistent access to VA health care. A newly introduced bipartisan bill—the Caring for Veterans and Strengthening National Security Act—aims to change that by requiring the VA to deliver concrete services, including telehealth, mail-order prescriptions, and travel reimbursement, to veterans living in the Freely Associated States within one year.

Patrick Pedrus, US Navy Veteran from FSM, writes: “As a Micronesian and a U.S. military veteran, I see this as good news—real progress, not just language. But experience also teaches caution…This bill matters because it compels action and sets expectations. [But] passage must be followed by oversight, pressure, and continued advocacy to ensure the VA actually delivers.” Read his entire post below.

U.S. Senators John Boozman (R-AR), Jerry Moran (R-KS) and Brian Schatz (D-HI) introduced the bill on December 11, 2025. The measure is cosponsored by Senators Roger Wicker (R-MS), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), James Risch (R-ID), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH). Comment from representatives from the RMI, FSM, and Palau are quoted in several press releases about the introduction of the bill.

RMI Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kalani Kaneko, said, “This is not a political issue, it is personal and rooted in shared sacrifice. As a retired U.S. Army veteran, I recruited nearly 200 Marshallese men and women who served under the U.S. flag and earned these benefits. Allowing veterans to receive care at home strengthens families, stabilizes communities, and advances shared national security interests by reducing forced Marshallese out-migration driven by lack of access to care, while reinforcing the enduring defense partnership between the United States and the Republic of the Marshall Islands. This legislation honors the service of Marshallese and American veterans alike and is a win-win for both nations.”

Supporters say the legislation acknowledges both the Pacific’s strategic importance and the shared sacrifice of COFA veterans, while addressing long-standing inequities in access to care compared to veterans in places like the Philippines and Puerto Rico. Pedrus also writes: “It acknowledges the imbalance [and] recognizes the Pacific. Equal service should mean equal care—no matter which ocean you call home.” While advocates urge cautious optimism and continued oversight to ensure implementation, the bill marks a meaningful step toward honoring Micronesian veterans with the care they have earned—without forcing them to leave home.

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Patrick Pedrus for bring our attention to the recent introduction of a bipartisan bill requiring the Veteran’s Administration to deliver concrete services in Palau, FSM and the RMI (A Good...

12/05/2025

https://chikinmelele.com/be-well-arkansas-quit-4/

KŌJPAROK MOUR ARKANSAS Joḷọk jepaake kiiō Kōm maroñ jibañ kwe ñan joḷọke Kōn kein jibañ ijin. —————————————- Be Well Arkansas Quit to***co today We can help you quit With local resources. 833-283-WELL bewellarkansas.org

12/05/2025

MAJURO, MARSHALL ISLANDS - December 5, 2025 - Enaan eo an H.E. President Hilda C. Heine ilo rainin emoj an Kien eo kar kōjenolok ñan ad kememe itaktok eo an Gospel ion Aelon Kein ad.

12/03/2025

In a recent Pacific Times piece, Jack Niedenthal makes a powerful case for why the Marshall Islands should consider reclaiming its real name: Aelōn̄ Kein Ad (“Our Islands”). He explains how our current name came from a British captain who only spent a few days here back in 1788—part of a larger colonial habit of putting foreign names on Pacific places that already had their own. Jack reminds readers that Aelōn̄ Kein Ad comes from our own language, culture, and history—from people who have lived here for thousands of years. The name in Kajin Majōl affirms identity, unity, and survival—from ancestral navigation to today’s climate realities. Switching to the traditional name, he says, wouldn’t erase anything; it would strengthen who we are and how we present ourselves to the world. He even suggests easing into it with a dual name at first. At the heart of his message: our islands deserve to be called by the name that truly reflects us.

Majuro—The name of a country is never just a collection of words; it is a vessel of memory, belonging and even power. Our country’s name, the Marshall Islands, honors an English sea captain who spent only a few days here in 1788. Yet our people have lived on these atolls for several thousand yea...