The Bikinians' circumstances are paradoxical. They long for Bikini and the life they once knew. Talk of compensation payments, bank loans, per diems for travel, the next shipment of USDA food, dominate conversation. Emso Leviticus says that in the old days, before the Americans came, 'we took care of each other. What she is describing is a way of life that still exists for a third of the 60,000 Marshall Islanders who live on these small islands.
Sharing here goes to extremes that foreigners have a hard time comprehending.
Food of every variety gets shared, even when there isn't enough for you to eat yourself. But life on the remote outer atolls of the Marshalls is rugged. Spending three months on Jang, an island in Maloelap Atoll, tuned me in to what life here is like. Jang is small enough to walk from end to end in under 15 minutes. Men and teenage boys went fishing every day, usually in small groups.