We Must Bid You Adieu

Write about someone who’s lived on a tropical island their whole life and is leaving it for the very first time.

We Must Bid You Adieu

Maria had never heard of Greta Thunberg, the Swedish climate change activist nor has she ever heard of the shrinking ice caps and the loss of habitat for polar bears. She has not seen the poignant images of polar bears on ice floes searching for food. But she knows something is seriously wrong with the climate. In her village of Tebontebike, in Abaiang she is photographed standing beside an uprooted coconut tree. This tree used to be 100 metres from the shore, but now the sea level has risen and this is creating havoc for the islanders. 

Maria’s fate is similar to that of the polar bears-because of global warming the ice caps are melting. The polar bears are hungry and desperate. Because of global warming, the sea levels are rising and the islands are being submerged under water. We associate coconut trees with idyllic tropical islands but when these trees are uprooted, the dream turns into a nightmare.   

“Why is this happening?” her grandson Tiaon asked. 

“It’s because of global warming” his grandmother replied. 

“How does that affect the sea level?” 

“It’s to do with the melting ice sheets. Our beautiful island is very vulnerable.”

She went on to explain about the rise in sea levels which was approximately 3.2 metres annually since the early nineties. She told her grandson that Abanuea and Tebua Tarawa had already disappeared. And if something wasn’t done, their whole island would be submerged.  

Tiaon looked concerned. Usually his grandmother would be telling him about the different names for coconut which indicated their stage of ripeness. Every culture has a unique vocabulary which evolves in response to the circumstances of their daily lives. In the Inuit language there are many different names for snow, including ‘qinu’ which was slush, ‘aputi’ which was snow on the ground, and ‘qanik’ which was falling snow. Maria would tell stories about the men going out in their sarongs to collect shellfish and that when he was a man, he would join them. 

“And why have we moved the babai pits?” her grandson asked. 

“Because of the rising sea level” she replied. And then she said, “the sea brings us the fish, and we are dependent on it. But when the levels rise to this extent, it takes our land and our livelihood is threatened”. 

A root crop known as taro is planted in the babai pits and because it is a carbohydrate, it is widely cultivated in coral atolls. 

A meteorologist, Edward Lorenz introduced the concept of the ‘chaos theory’ where he postulated that if a butterfly flaps its wings in the Amazonian jungle, a storm would destroy the half of Europe. So when the polar bears float on ice floes it means that the ice caps are melting and as a result the melted water causes the sea level to rise and as a result Maria’s coconut tree lies on the sand like a fallen hero in a Greek battle and she is forced to move to her babai pits. And then when the sea levels rise again, more and more of her island will be swallowed up and she wonders where it will end. Where will her children and grandchildren move to and how will they survive?  So Maria’s fate and that of the polar bear were inextricably linked. The bear is ravenous and it is searching for food. Maria is not at the edge just yet but as she stands beside the fallen coconut tree, she knows that this is an ill omen. If there were no coconuts how could she make toddy, her family’s favourite drink which was made from its sap? And how could she make kamwaimwai, which was made from the coconut sap? And how would they survive without the fish and the shellfish and the taro?  

Maria’s faith was a great source of inspiration. Her mother used to tell her about how Catholicism was brought to Kiribati. Two labourers, Betero Terawati and Rataro Tiroi had been converted while working on a coconut plantation and they asked the Pope to send some priests to Kiribati. So Maria prayed earnestly that the sea levels would subside and they would lose no more land. 

The islanders had gathered coral rocks and built walls in order to protect their land against the rising sea levels but these measures did not address the underlying issues of global warming. 

Maria loved Abaiang. To her it was a tropical paradise. Although she had lived a simple life and needed to work hard, she had always been happy and never wished for any other life. When Tiaon’s mother died, she looked after him and she tried to do her best for him. But how would he survive if they had to leave their beautiful island and their simple way of life? Tiaon would lose his inheritance as he was an only child and he presumed he would fish and gather seaweed and that he would never want for anything. He would never be able to grow sweet potatoes or papaya. He would never be able to rear pigs and chickens and cattle. He did not enjoy academic study and as soon as he came home from school he would immediately go out and help his father in the fields or he would help him gather shell fish and sea weed. 

The islanders had meetings in the local community centre to discuss the way forward. Their leader relayed to them the policy set out by their president Te Beretitenti Taneti Maamau. Maria listened to his vision statement on tackling climate change. The speaker talked about 1992 UNFCCC on Climate Change and the 2015 Paris Agreement and after a while she started daydreaming as she felt it was too vague and all she could think of was the uprooted coconut tree and the ever encroaching sea and she felt that these accords would not stop the rising sea levels. It was a bit like King Canute trying to order the tides to desist. 

In her poem ‘Our People on the Reef’ the poet Jane Resture wrote:

For what is happening to the beautiful isles we know?

Tuvalu, Kiribati and Tokelau

the Marshall Isles

that place of smiles

The rising sea will reclaim our ground

nothing but water will abound

our people forced to leave for higher ground.

While far away they pour their fumes into the clear blue sky

not knowing and never caring why 

the world is beginning to die.

So land of our forebears despite how much we cared for you

the time will soon be when we must bid you adieu.