FAYETTEVILLE — The head chef was about a halfhour late, and the junior youth choir never showed, but the community advocates who were honorees at a thank-you banquet thrown by the Marshallese community Wednesday took it all in stride and with good humor.
They are well acquainted with Islander Time.
“Thank you for coming to this late, late lunch,” joked Albious Latior, the event’s chief organizer and main cook, as he opened Wednesday afternoon’s luncheon program in Fayetteville nearly an hour after its scheduled 1 p.m. start time. He also announced that the youth choir was running late.
More than 30 people dined and listened to speakers, including those who serve on the Gaps in Services to Marshallese Task Force and the Marshallese residents themselves.
Those who volunteer with the task force on behalf of the Marshallese migrants living in Northwest Arkansas not only got to partake in a spread featuring Marshallese, American and Chinese cuisine, they heard from a former attorney general of the Republicof the Marshall Islands.
And they did hear some songs eventually, though the ensemble was composed of adults and not the group originally scheduled.
The buffet table, like the Marshallese residents themselves, was culturally assimilated. Guests were filling their plates shortly after 1:30 p.m.
“This is one of our favorites,” said Latior as he pointed to a pan of American-style fried chicken. There was also Chinese fried rice, bow-tie pasta with shrimp and veggies in a creamy sauce, salad, and a boiled-egg dish.
Wana Bing, a Marshallese who works in the Arkansas Department of Health’s Marshallese outreach office, identified some of the dishes of her native land as the coconut-rice balls and pumpkin custard, which are like pumpkin-filled dumplings in a coconut milk pudding.
“This is about like banana pudding,” she said, trying to think of an American counterpart to the dish. Further down the line, she found another Marshallese specialty.
“Would you like a fish head?” she said to one guest. For the less adventurous, a pan of tasty tilapia cutlets were also on the menu.
Under the Compact of Free Association between the U.S. and the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Marshallese who come here live and work without the need for a visa as“non-immigrant migrants,” not immigrants, U.S. officials have said previously.
The 2010 U.S. Census counted 4,324 Marshallese living in Arkansas, most of them in Springdale. That is the highest population in the continental U.S., with Arkansas’ population second only to Hawaii, which has about 7,400 Marshallese.
Reasons the compact was forged include the nuclear weapons testing the United States conducted in the Marshall Islands after World War II, which amounted to more than 65 nuclear bombings over a period of years, as well as the current location of a strategic military base there, in a remote area of the PacificOcean.
Once the diners were seated at Wednesday’s feast, Latior announced the first speaker, former Marshallese Attorney General Atbi Riklon.
Riklon thanked the volunteers for the Gaps group who have been working in recent years to help the Marshallese community work on a variety of issues, including healthcare, social services and education.
“You have taken a lot of time to learn about us,” he said. “There is so much youhave discussed.”
Riklon moved to Springdale in May because he has family who lives there. He first moved to the U.S. in 2005, first settling in Sacramento, Calif., before moving to Tulsa last year.
“You are like a guiding light for us,” Riklon said. “Many things we may not know, in how to move forward as a people. I know we have a long way to go, but we will get there.
“Be patient with us.”
Riklon suggested that the preamble to the Marshallese Constitution would be an informative read. Then he read a few passages for those attending and mentioned the islanders’ nuclear legacy.
Latior, an employee of the Arkansas Support Network, announced shortly after 2 p.m. that there was still plenty of food left.
“The Junior Choir is still not here,” he added. So, an impromptu group of Marshallese adults would sing instead. It included Riklon and Carmen Chong Gum, consul general for the Marshall Islands Consulate in Springdale.
Task force volunteer Kathryn Birkhead, remarked how lovely the Marshallese harmonies always are, and then said she hoped they would sing their country’s national anthem. When they did, she said: “That wasn’t the one I was thinking of.”
Latior - who was out of earshot of Birkhead’s musings - then said, as if on cue: “That was our first national anthem. We have two.”
Chong Gum gave the keynote talk, in which she noted that other Pacific Island nations with their own Compacts of Free Association are beginning to settle in the Springdale area, including the Chuuk.
“They’re in a similar situation,” she said. “They come to our office, and I cannot turn them away.”
Roughly a year ago, Chong Gum said, a representative from Fayetteville’s OMNI International office asked her if she was aware of the possibility that Marshall Islanders back home could one day become climate change refugees, as some scientists are predicting that climate change will cause rising oceans that threaten Pacific Island nations.
“That is one of the top issues before our country right now - climate change,” she said, adding that during a visit back home in 2009, she noticed a visible difference in the shore line of the island of Majuro, including trees falling into the sea.
The second issue involves political change at the federal level in the United States itself.
“The health-care reform: Where do we fit in?” Chong Gum asked. For some benefits, she added: “We may be eligible because of income, but because of status we are not.”
The task force’s organizer, Grace Donoho, said its mailing list includes more than 100 people. The group’s monthly meetings are tackling issues that range from the availability of healthcare, social services and benefits for migrants to asking the state why driver’s license tests are not offered in the Marshallese language.
And there have been efforts to educate the Marshallese about American ways, including the importance of punctuality, especially in work places and in schools.
In the Marshall Islands, which isn’t an industrialized nation, time is not so important, and the word “appointment” is not part of the Marshallese language. Its English version had been adopted into the native language as spoken by Springdale-based migrants.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 11/29/2012