Happenings on this Voyage

This intervention was made during a UNDP Multi Country Programme Document Mid-Term Review at the UNDP Office in Suva, Fiji on May 14, 2025 while Shelley Remengesau and I accompanied Ms. Villaney Remengesau.  I share this a week after her successful election to the Committee on Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The fight never ends, but we can take a moment to acknowledge this win. Kudos to you.  The Scene: The review started half an hour late and when we walked in while Lany was being pushed in, the Palau flag was missing and they were wheeling Lany behind conference room chairs through a very narrow space to the end of the room with no easy access to exit. As the most senior official among us, I had to say something. So this is what I said..... "I was sitting here debating whether we should stay at this meeting or not. We are the only delegation with a person with a different ability who was pushed through a narrow hall to the end of the room, scanning all the beautiful ta...

Thank you.  Every year on our birthdays, my bestie Ribka and I reflect on the past year of our lives and envision what we would like to see in our lives in the next year.  In reflecting, I remembered in particular, a day that I parked in front of my house after a long day at work and continued to sit in the car with tears rolling down my face uncontrollably. I was scheduled to travel that night and I had not packed and it was an early flight. But it felt on that day that I was just failing at everything and I felt completely helpless.  Something caught my eye, and when I turned around, Ribka had just parked next to my car and got out and walked to the driver side of my car and I did not even realize it. It’s like I saw an angel. Actually, I did see an angel. She was my hope that God sent right at that moment.  This year, we had been ecstatic that our offices are only a hallway down from one another, and yet, we do not see each other as often as we could. This being m...

I had only known Ambassador Otto as Dr. Otto who was my mom's colleague at the hospital, choir conductor at our local church, and his kids went to the same school as me. When I moved to New York, I had an opportunity to get to know him better. He lived his faith and truly portrayed God's humility. And sometimes, this got him in trouble with Judy.  So one weekend, Ambassador had an accident. I cannot remember the details of what exactly happened to him, but whatever it was caused him to need a walking aid. Remember the part where I said he was humble, yeah, he understood the need of a walking aid to be just that -- something that can aid him in his walking. To most people, this would be a cane. To most people who are Permanent Representatives at the UN (the highest ranking official other than Head of State that walks the halls of the United Nations Headquarters), this would mean a cane, likely dark brown in tone and varnished with a rubber cap at the bottom to ensure good tracti...

A teacher is a parent, a friend, a confidante, and a stable constant in a student’s life. I first met Teacher Ola as a student of Maris Stella School. She was a cool, hip, and young female teacher who had a contagious laughter that caught even the students’ attention. Teacher Ola, as even us grown up former students of hers still call her, taught by example. Her passion is evident in the way she teaches and approaches her students. I recall vividly teacher Ola’s fairness to all students whilst recognizing our differences. She is attentive to the needs of her students and more importantly, is responsive knowing that in order to be successful and get through to the students, a one-size-fits-all approach cannot be the way. Discipline is a value of hers but she is cognizant of the different personalities and capabilities and takes time to understand students so she can better and more effectively teach and nurture the academic development of the students. I would be remiss though not t...

No two sunsets are the same. Even with each passing minute, a sunset changes. We as individuals are unique, down to our genetic make up. Our time on this Earth is numbered and one day, our time will end. As the sun sets on one's life, may we who continue to live, be reminded of all the beautiful souls that made their mark on this earth through the sunsets, as beautiful and as unique as each one is.  Let us be reminded that how we feel about life is not the same everyday. Some days are cloudy and the sunset isn't always as promising. Some days are sunny, and the sunset is expected to be epic. And on some days, the clouds just part enough to let you see the yellow-red-orange rays of the sun peeking through one last time before the day turns into night. And so on days when it feels like your breath has been sucked out of you and all is gone, look at that small ray of sunshine peeking through the clouds and hold on to it. That is hope. That is a promise that beyond the st...

On the eve of the seventh anniversary of my father’s passing, I cannot help but reflect on the life he lived, the father he was to me, and the years that have passed that I have been without him. My father was, is, and will always be my greatest inspiration, my greatest motivation and my most humble foundation, my Bapa Udi. Anyone who knew my father, can attest to his consistency, his discipline, his dependability, and soft-hearted nature. My father was… Welcoming My earliest memory of my father was in a full home, our home with 5 doors that all opened at sunrise and closed only when the house turned in for the night. In this home we all lived, my parents, all my siblings, several cousins, and my maternal grandparents, all of whom stayed with us – and regular visits and sleepovers by my paternal grandparents. I remember that when my father was around, which he always was, he made sure there was food and coffee and that everyone was well-fed and taken care of. The fi...

I was raised in a home where I learned very early on the value of keeping your word. As a child, this meant that I could trust that whatever either of my parents said, no matter how small or how big, was going to be done as they had said. Back then I did not know this is what equates commitment when you become an adult. Becoming a teenager and then a young adult, I learned that value of commitment, which started out as commitment to what you say. This would eventually be the beginning of me valuing dependability, reliability, and accountability and they have become a great part of my life.  I attach great importance to the latter three words in addition to commitment. It saddens and disappoints me when people do not commit to what they say and therefore render themselves as unreliable people. These words are not just mere words. These words in school mean something. In school it determines whether the division of labor in a group project will be fair. At the workpla...

So August 25 comes around, I'm tired from the 2 weeks of CBI but a bit excited and anxious to actually start my program.  Mind you, I have no clue as to what the program entails. Remember that thing I said about ambiguity, yes, it's still lurking around on the first day of the program.  By now, I had already met most of the people in my program, but still a bit nervous.  This is the day of the actual program, we have gone over the self-introductions, we are beginning to figure out who we can joke around with in a certain manner, who is still kind of serious.  But all that aside, we walk in to our very first lecture, in the Pacific Room, which is organized very much like the UN General Assembly Hall, half circle shapes and each person with a microphone. Pretty cool huh. Then the lecture starts..... The Pacific Plan... I immediately panic. I skimmed through the plan and went through all the websites that were listed on the pre-arrival assignment and even took down s...

Thank goodness for fast internet connection so I can actually update my blog.  So..... I arrived on Honolulu on August 12, two days before my 28th birthday supposedly to start the Pacific Islands Leadership Program. I know it sounds very ambiguous, and believe me it still is ambiguous to me, a month later. But that's for another conversation, or it may very well pop up sometime in this post. Haha. Anyway, little did I know that I was arriving 2 weeks prior to the actual start of the program.  The first 2 weeks was spent participating in the Community Building Institute (CBI), this 2-week long thing where all the participants of any East-West Center program are to attend to get to know more about Hawaii, their programs, the center, and to mingle and network with each other.  So that was alright for the first week, and then the second week came along and it became more apparent that CBI had overstayed its welcome.  Assignments that could have been completed withi...

Hello Everyone!!! So I haven't blogged in a while but here are some updates of what's happened in the weeks past. I think the pictures should suffice for a while at least until I catch up with my school work so I can blog again. To be continued.... on the next post!  Da Wan Beach  Figuring out if the water is too cold to go in on this overcast day Beach Volleyball  Vino - Our Party Planner  Manny Goose - best cousin ever!!!  Party Bus Fabi and Felix  I turned around and thought this would be a good picture  Beach Party - It was too windy for a bonfire  Bartender from Brass Monkey giving me a free shot  Success!!! I learned how to ride a scooter!  After a Foam Party- just chilling at the Rendezvous Bar  Hotel grounds - heading out to the beach Early morning on the beach

As mentioned in the previous posts, I said I would take more photos around Taiwan. I could take the touristy photos of manicured and perfect landscapes, but that would only be one side of Taiwan. So instead, I've taken just random photos of the places I've visited over the weekend.     This is my roomie Kaiyo! We went on a little adventure at a place in Taipei we call Manila Town.  You can find all sorts of goodies from the Philippines and some things we don't find normally anywhere else in Taiwan such as Gatorade. Haha. Yes, they don't sell Gatorade in most stores in Taiwan.  So we got lost and walked in an alley and found a chain of markets. I thought I'd take a picture of this for you all to see. So that's a nice animal print dress on a mannequin that you see to your left. It's a small shop that sells dresses, scarves, and some dressy shoes. Right next to it is live chicken in the cage.  Cuck-a-doodle-doo! This is an upclose p...

           I've been thinking a lot lately about my family, especially the last couple of days. I've reconnected with an uncle of mine who's in Afghanistan, reconnected with my family in Chuuk, and had a few conversations and emails with my bestie Ribka also about family.            Recently, I heard news of a friend's grandpa whom I know and saw briefly the last time I was home cause he was sick and didn't spend as much time on the front patio of his house that I've been accustomed to seeing every time I go over for a visit. I'll admit, I don't know him personally but I do know him as Grandpa. All the stories I've heard about him are nothing short of that of a man who has showed deep and unconditional love for his family. I was no stranger to this treatment myself. Even when I visited while my friend was not there, I would greet him as Grandpa, that's who he was. And he would be there sitting on his chair, with his cigarette...

 This is what a rainy day looks like on my campus.  That's in front of my building looking into the track.  This is our little cafe on the first floor of my college.  College of Social Science. I was gonna take a picture of this spaghetti they sell in a hot dog bun. LoL.  This is one of my favorite places in Taipei. Alleycat's.  They serve great pizzas, draft beer, and calzones. Pictured below is beer and pizza from there.   This is my French friend Jerome who went to the movies with me where we watched The Lady. He's not high I promise, he just reacted to the flash of my camera.  We had a farewell dinner for one of our Palauan friends.  This is what a meal looks like when ordered in most places in Taiwan. Rice, some sort of meat dish, pickled vegetable, stir fried vegetable, tofu, fruit, and soup.  Kevin and Danica  We were roomies last year. Melanch, Danica, and I. Don't...

It's become kind of like a tradition that after every weekend I try to compile some pictures that I've taken over the past week and weekend and try to sum up what the last week was like for me.  Hmm, it's only Monday today and last week seems like forever ago. (side note: I wish everything else in life that don't seem like things I'm very fond of can all be memories of the distant past that are only seldom revisited.)  Last week, this island of Taiwan received a lot of rain and I spent many a nights last week either with the legs of my pants drenched and toes freezing or getting soaked on one side while I stand waiting for my bus to go home from class at 10:30pm.  Other than that, school wise, I was pretty productive. I did a presentation on the limits of the definition of the state (Haha... it's so boring) and wrote an abstract on how communication developments in the People's Republic of China might have some correlation with its market growth. (also, hig...

So something happened last Friday night also that I've been thinking about blogging as it is a first-time experience for me and Melanch. And luckily we had Kaiyo and Mumai there with us to coach us and get us through. So this is what we did. It's quite hilarious. We made a record. Yes, we made a record. We actually recorded a song. It was a Palauan song, I'll try my best to write a translation for it below. I.  A deliongel er kid el di ua berrous, ng berrusek ng berrusek, bertelem kau me ngak     Diak a chad el medengelii, Dimlak kulchesuar el kmo deleuill a mo uai tiang e ochedengei, kulemdasu el     kmo ng kodall, a keleng mo ulebengelel     Our relationship that was just like a dream, my dream, our special secret that no one else       understands, I didn't realize that it could end this way, I thought it was til death do we part Chorus:  Meng ngera di mo cheldechulel re ngak, deleuill el uoi dimlak a telm...