Grace
"Ugh, why are they still honking at us?" I complained to Hanny. For the fifth time in a row, the driver in the car passing us had honked and waved flirtatiously. It was getting old.
Just then, another honk sounded from behind us, and the driver of the car slowed down. I turned, ready to tell someone off, but I could see the driver was an old woman.
"It's Grace!" I exclaimed, and Hanny and I both climbed into the car.
Grace is the mother-in-law of a PICRC employee, and we met her today on our way to a festival in town. She's a delightful, sweet woman, and at 69, she does not act her age.
"That was a lot of fun," I told Grace, referring to the festival we had all just attended. Palau's independence day is tomorrow, so there was a boat race on the water and booths with food and crafts. Hanny and I had gone to the celebration on our day off. It was a fun way to connect to the community and explore more of Koror. Palauans are exceptionally polite, friendly people, and the festival felt just like a street fair in a small town in the U.S.
"Yes, it was fun," Grace replied to me as she accelerated down the road. Her medium brown skin and broad facial features gave away her Micronesian heritage. She was wearing an orange-and-red shirt, and her dark hair was in a bun. Faint music played from the stereo of her car with lyrics in Palauan, but I recognized the melodies of Christian worship songs from the U.S.
As she drove, Grace told us about Palau. She complained that the weather was much hotter now than it used to be, and she attributed that to climate change. She told us that the sea level had been rising and putting some houses on the Palauan coast at risk. There was a neighborhood not far from here, she told us, where the houses were right next to the mangroves, but they were all getting flooded and having to be rebuilt. Could she drive us there and show us?
The neighborhood was lower-middle-class, with houses made out of cinder block. Behind each of them, mangrove trees were visible, and Grace pointed out the rising intertidal zone. She told us the new houses were all being built at higher altitude.
As we pulled out of the neighborhood, Grace mentioned that when she was a child, she used to go to a bay in the rock islands to see a group of dugongs - sea cows, like manatees. She and her friends would count them as they came into the bay. Then the government decided to fill in the bay to build on it, so the dugongs had to go elsewhere. She drove us to the spot and turned around in a parking lot that used to be ocean. "That was before we knew about conservation," she said.
I asked Grace when Palau had started its conservation efforts. "Very recently," she responded, "Maybe 10 years or so." I was surprised. Ten years was very recent indeed, especially considering how strongly Palau has now regulated and protected its marine habitats. I asked her what caused the change.
"It's because the Palauans go away to school," she said, "They learn about conservation, and then they come back and want to do it here."
There is not a university in Palau, but Palauans study in Guam, the U.S., and Taiwan, at least according to Grace. She also said that Palau's current president is very aware of the need for ocean conservation and is dedicated to it 110%. Education and political change fueled the creation of Palau's extensive marine protected area.
It was fascinating to talk to Grace, and I'm very grateful that we got to meet her. She's a lovely woman.
Just then, another honk sounded from behind us, and the driver of the car slowed down. I turned, ready to tell someone off, but I could see the driver was an old woman.
"It's Grace!" I exclaimed, and Hanny and I both climbed into the car.
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| The boat race under a bridge between two of Palau's islands. The independence day celebration was a fun event! |
"That was a lot of fun," I told Grace, referring to the festival we had all just attended. Palau's independence day is tomorrow, so there was a boat race on the water and booths with food and crafts. Hanny and I had gone to the celebration on our day off. It was a fun way to connect to the community and explore more of Koror. Palauans are exceptionally polite, friendly people, and the festival felt just like a street fair in a small town in the U.S.
"Yes, it was fun," Grace replied to me as she accelerated down the road. Her medium brown skin and broad facial features gave away her Micronesian heritage. She was wearing an orange-and-red shirt, and her dark hair was in a bun. Faint music played from the stereo of her car with lyrics in Palauan, but I recognized the melodies of Christian worship songs from the U.S.
As she drove, Grace told us about Palau. She complained that the weather was much hotter now than it used to be, and she attributed that to climate change. She told us that the sea level had been rising and putting some houses on the Palauan coast at risk. There was a neighborhood not far from here, she told us, where the houses were right next to the mangroves, but they were all getting flooded and having to be rebuilt. Could she drive us there and show us?
The neighborhood was lower-middle-class, with houses made out of cinder block. Behind each of them, mangrove trees were visible, and Grace pointed out the rising intertidal zone. She told us the new houses were all being built at higher altitude.
As we pulled out of the neighborhood, Grace mentioned that when she was a child, she used to go to a bay in the rock islands to see a group of dugongs - sea cows, like manatees. She and her friends would count them as they came into the bay. Then the government decided to fill in the bay to build on it, so the dugongs had to go elsewhere. She drove us to the spot and turned around in a parking lot that used to be ocean. "That was before we knew about conservation," she said.
I asked Grace when Palau had started its conservation efforts. "Very recently," she responded, "Maybe 10 years or so." I was surprised. Ten years was very recent indeed, especially considering how strongly Palau has now regulated and protected its marine habitats. I asked her what caused the change.
"It's because the Palauans go away to school," she said, "They learn about conservation, and then they come back and want to do it here."
There is not a university in Palau, but Palauans study in Guam, the U.S., and Taiwan, at least according to Grace. She also said that Palau's current president is very aware of the need for ocean conservation and is dedicated to it 110%. Education and political change fueled the creation of Palau's extensive marine protected area.
It was fascinating to talk to Grace, and I'm very grateful that we got to meet her. She's a lovely woman.
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