FLYING HIGH Because to travell is all we want
The Climate Threat: Kiribati people are in risk Read on page 07
06/2018
Are you hungry? Go to page 05 and read more about the Kiribatian food.
Summary • Kiri... Who? The History of the Country ................... 03 • The Nation of the millennium goes to the Olympic Games........................................................................... 04 • Going to Kiribati......................................................... 06
• Native people............................................................... 07 • Tradicional Cousine..................................................... 11 • Interesting Facts......................................................... 15 • The Climate Threat.................................................... 17 • Gallery – Fall in love with this Paradise in Earth!..... 19
Kiri... Who? The History of the Country Kiribati is the most beautiful island you’ve never heard of The name Kiribati was adopted at independence. It is the local enunciation of Gilberts. This name derives from the main archipelago that forms the nation. It was named the Gilbert Islands after the British explorer Thomas Gilbert. He sighted many of the islands in 1788 while mapping out the Outer Passage route from Port Jackson to Canton.
The Republic of Kiribati is a sovereign country with dozens of islands, atolls and reefs scattered over a vast area at the center of the Pacific Ocean, which goes from Micronesia to Polynesia. It is a country with territorial extension of 811 km ² and population approximately of 110 thousand people, according to demographic research done in the year of 2015. Kiribati is one of the smallest countries in the world, yet it is the only one with territory that includes all the hemispheres. Flying High - Because to travell is all we want
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The Nation of the millennium goes to the Olympic Games
Located in the region of the international date line, where time zones begin to be counted, the islands - and their one hundred thousand inhabitants – were the first to enter the new millennium. Kiribati participated in the Olympic Games for the first time in the year of 2004, soon after receiving the title of "Nation of the millennium". The country became the 202st to join the International Olympic Committee's family. For Athens, the Kiribati delegation will have only three athletes (four more leaders) enough to make the nation proud. Although a member of the British Commonwealth, an organization that brings together former colonies of the United Kingdom, the country remains forgotten, without any contact with satellite television and the internet, for example. To publicize the Olympics, organizers of the local Olympics committee – almost all Australians - set up TVs in huts in the village centers and showed pictures of the Sydney-2000 Games. The devices aroused more curiosity than the images themselves. The team's situation is also precarious. The IOC has reserved three vacancies for Kiribati athletes, but two have almost ceased to be filled. A sprinter broke his foot while trying to learn the long jump. Another, for fear of flying, left the athletic team.
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The Nation of the millennium goes to the Olympic Games
The Kiribati delegation was set a few weeks before the Olympics. Go to the games the lifter Meamea Thomas and the runners Kakaianako Nariki and Kaitinano Mwemweata. Sports material is scarce. The three share eight pairs of sneakers, not all specific to their sports. To buy the uniforms, Mula has created a website to sell brooches bearing the Kiribati flag. The money collected only partially covered the costs of making the clothes. At no point in the 1,143 km² of the country (a smaller area than the city of São Paulo) there is an ideal place to train athletes. The training area of the athletics duo, located in the capital Tarawa, is improvised.Of clay, the track has less than the 400 m standards and does not form an oval circuit.
David Katoatau
David Katoatau (weightlifting): He has interesting stats, as the only athlete in his country to qualify for the IOC's uninvited Olympics and was the first champion of the country outside the limits of Oceania, by winning the category title up to 105kg in British Community Games. Katoatau is expected to return to the Games and, for a break, to be the third time the country's flag-bearer at the Opening Ceremony.
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Going to Kiribati - A travell simulation Traveling to such a beautiful and almost untouchable place can be a big and expensive adventure, there are no direct flights from Brazil to the country, in fact there are few ways to get there. The companies that connect in Kiribati, more precisely in Kirimati at the international airport of Bonriki. We can list: Fiji Airways, Solomon Airlines and Kiribati Air. 1-To get to Kiribati we will first go to SĂŁo Paulo, where we will take a two stops to Honolulu Hawaii:
2- From Honolulu, We will take a short flight to Tarawa
Bonriki International Airpoit, Tarawa- Kiribati
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PEOPLE The people are Micronesian, and the vast majority speak Gilbertese (or I-Kiribati). English, which is the official language, is also widely spoken, especially on Tarawa. Most people live in single-story accommodations. The rural population of Kiribati lives in villages dominated by Western-style churches and large open-sided thatched meetinghouses. Houses of Western-style construction are seen on outer islands and are common on Tarawa. Kiribati society remains conservative and resistant to change; ties to family and traditional land remain strong. .
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The building and racing of sailing canoes is a common pastime. The musical composition and dancing in customary styles are regarded as art forms and are the basis of widespread competition. Volleyball and football (soccer) are popular sports. Kiribati is so scattered that the population living on Christmas Island hardly identifies with those who live in Tarawa, the dense capital in the far west of the country. According to the Ellis book, in Tarawa things quickly resolve themselves into the knife and the people were (and he suggests they would still be) cannibals. From Christmas, the opposite is heard: they would be the most peaceful people in the Pacific, with whom we could both learn about kindness in society. 08
Marriage, Family, and Kinship Marriage. Although historically polygamy was practiced, the marriage system is now monogamous. Arranged marriages remain common, especially in rural areas. "Love matches" and elopements have become more common and are tolerated by most families. Virginity tests of the bride remain valued despite criticism by churches. Marriage is almost universal, and divorce is unpopular and uncommon. Domestic Unit. The household is commonly based on a single nuclear family and may include aging parents and adoptive kin. Patrilocal residence remains common in rural areas, with married women moving to live on the husband's kainga . Kin Groups. The main kinship units are mwenga ("household"), utu ("related family"), and kainga. Membership in mwenga is determined by residence, in utu by kin relations, and in kainga by common property holding and descent from a common ancestor. Inheritance of property and kinship are traced through both the mother's and the father's families. Adoption is widely practiced, especially between close kin.
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Child Rearing and Education: a good child is obedient, helpful, and respectful. By age, eight or nine, children are expected to start helping around the house. Kiribati has one of the highest infant death rates in the world as a result of diarrheal disease and respiratory infection. Schooling is compulsory for children from age six. Approximately 20 percent of primary students go on to receive secondary education. Education is highly valued by parents as a means of increasing their children's wage-earning abilities. 10
Traditional Cousine MANEABA
Tradicional Cousine MANEABA The maneaba or mwaneaba is in the centre of the village. Next to the war canoe, it is the masterpiece of Gilbertese culture. Like the houses, it is built in a rectangular shape with the two ends differing somewhat. The maneaba architect is usually an old man who has learnt his trade through experience and from traditions in his family. Of course, he is also something of a sorcerer, because an undertaking like building a maneaba requires invocations to the Anti (spirit), the observing of certain rites and following of rules which it would be foolish to forget.
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Villages and district both have their maneaba. They are divided into two groups with different names for those in the south and the north. Some names, such as Maungatabu - sacred mountain - clearly indicate Samoan origins. Just like a war canoe or a village, each maneaba has a name, traditions and a personality. The stone pillar in the centre of the north side is the first one to be set up. This is the place for the Anti of the maneaba. Here, Tanentoa the chief of Beru, sat and still his descendants take that place. All the way round, the maneaba is divided into places and each family has its own place at official gatherings. A stranger who is a guest in another maneaba enters it under the same beam as he would in his home maneaba. Anyone who belongs to several families chooses the least cluttered place to sit. As far as official feasts are concerned, there is a strict code of etiquette to observe. One clan supplies heralds who announce what the shares of food will be; another family is responsible for distributing the food. The portion of honour belongs to such and such a family and in sharing out the food, a fixed order of precedence is strictly followed. The least mistake or the slightest forgetfulness is taken as an insult. 12
THE DANCE: MWAIE Gilbertese dance (mwaie) is often difficult to define. It contains elements of dance, ballet, lyric drama, a chorus and a touch of sorcery. There are no musical instruments as a box or tin plate which someone hits is sufficient to beat out the rhythm. This produces a wild mournful sort of music and every human animal is moved by the poses and gestures of the dancers, the furious rhythm, loud moaning noises and the disturbing atmosphere offered by a half-naked crowd of dancers smelling of oil and various scents. The dancers are standing in a semicircle. The young men with well built frames at the front and behind them stand the women. Slowly, on low notes, the singing begins...then the pitch goes up and the pace speeds up as well.
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Gradually the dancers warm up. At first they simply move their feet on the spot, waving their arms to follow the rhythm. These controlled movements of their arms, legs and their heads reflect the movements of the frigate bird as it flies across the great ocean looking for its prey! For the time being the women don't imitate them but they are the ones who sing with most abandon and who speed up the rhythm. Dancing on the spot and clapping their hands they urge the dancers to a great paroxysm of movement. Nerves are tense, faces contorted and the voices become wild while eyes grow haggard.
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Interesting Facts!
• The locals of Kiribati are called I-Kiribati. They pronounce ‘ti’ as ‘s’. Therefore, they pronounce ‘Kiribati’ as ‘Kiribas’. • Kiribati’s capital city, Tarawa, itself is an island. The capital lies halfway between Hawaii and Australia. • Kiribati is made up of 33 coral islands divided among three groups of islands: the Line Islands, the Phoenix Islands, and the Gilbert Islands. Most of these islands are coral atolls. • Of the 33 islands of Kiribati, 21 are inhabited. • Kiribati is susceptible to experience a rise in sea level due to global warming and such a rise in the water level of the sea will cause contamination of fresh water with salt water making it unsuitable for drinking. Moreover, the island will become uninhabitable. • The majority of the population of Kiribati is Christian. Freedom of religion is a fundamental right and this right is well respected in the country.
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Interesting Facts!
• Kiribati is the only nation in the world that lies in all four hemispheres (North, South, east and West) of the world.
• The New Year arrives first in Kiribati and then in any other country in the world. This is because Kiribati is furthest ahead of Greenwich meantime at GMT+14. • The nation is under threat of being engulfed by the sea in the coming 50 years or more.
• “Gilbertese”, which is an oceanic language, is popular and widely used by the people of the island nation. English is also an official language but it is mostly used in the capital city of Tarawa. • Kiribati was once a nuclear weapon test site.
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The Climate Threat
For years, scientists have been predicting that much of Kiribati may become uninhabitable within decades because of an onslaught of environmental problems linked to climate change. And for just as long, many here have paid little heed. But while scientists are reluctant to attribute any specific weather or tidal event to rising sea levels, the tidal surge last winter, known as a king tide, was a chilling wake-up call. Much of Kiribati, about twice the size of Alaska, lies no higher than six feet above sea level. The latest climate models predict that the world’s oceans could rise five to six feet by 2100. The prospects of rising seas and intensifying storms “threaten the very existence and livelihoods of large segments of the population,� the government told the United Nations in a report last year. Half of the 6,500-person village of Bikenibeu, for instance, could be inundated by 2050 by sea-level rises and storm surges, according to a World Bank study.
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The Climate Threat The study lays out Kiribati’s future in apocalyptic detail. Causeways would be washed away, crippling the economy; degraded coral reefs, damaged by warming water, would allow stronger waves to slam the coast, increasing erosion, and would disrupt the food supply, which depends heavily on fish supported by the reefs. Higher temperatures and rainfall changes would increase the prevalence of diseases like dengue fever and ciguatera poisoning.
Even before that, scientists and development experts say, rising sea levels are likely to worsen erosion, create groundwater shortages and increase the intrusion of salt water into freshwater supplies. In response, Kiribati has essentially been drawing up plans for its demise. The government has promoted “migration with dignity,” urging residents to consider moving abroad with employable skills. It bought nearly 6,000 acres in Fiji, an island nation more than 1,000 miles away, as a potential refuge. Fiji’s higher elevation and more stable shoreline make it less vulnerable.
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Gallery – Fall in love with this Paradise in Earth!
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