It's gettin' hot in here

But we can’t take off all our clothes. So it’s no surprise that the Marshallese have bought into the idea of air conditioning in a very serious way. Practically every car I’ve ridden in and nearly every office has air-con. Fine.

But!

A lot of people don’t have a clear conception of how much juice these things drink. So it’s not uncommon for people to leave a door to the outside wide open while the air conditioning units in 10 offices are running. This is particularly the case where I work, at the Ministry of Education. About half the people shut the door and the other half just can’t be bothered. In the first two weeks I would get pretty upset. People ask: If the Marshall Islands invests the greatest amount of money into education in the entire Pacific island region, why do students perform so poorly? Well, maybe a lot of that money is going to Marshalls Electric Company.

I know it’s not people’s aim to waste the education system’s money. The head of such and such department doesn’t say to herself, “Those children have too many books!” and then plots to boost the electricity bill in order to cut the textbook budget.

The Marshallese are very considerate and polite with other people in general. Moreover, children are really at the center of the society. It’s become such a common sight for me to see older kids with the youngest ones. Tiny children are always being held. And I don’t know why, but Marshallese children don’t seem to cry.

I was told that if I have a problem with the air conditioning cooling the entire Pacific rim, I should relate the problem to people. That’s what gets the attention of Marshallese people; makes sense. When you get caught up in the budgetary and bureaucratic abyss of a government ministry, it’s no wonder that nobody really thinks about the electricity bill. I’m willing to bet there isn’t a single person at the Ministry that knows how much electricity costs month to month. Or, maybe the information isn’t disaggregated by building. So the Ministry simply has an electric bill that includes all the schools too.

I’m going to try an experiment. I’m gonna see if a sign that says something like: “Please keep the door closed so that more MOE $ goes to our children”, makes any difference. Habit is also really hard to break, so it may take a while.