Have you ever heard of Kiribati? Or Fanning Island?
This atoll is out in the Pacific Ocean. It doesn’t receive many cargo ships — which it relies on for supplies, food, and fresh water, and only a handful of cruise ships try to stop at Fanning Island each year.
Atoll: a coral island consisting of a reef surrounding a lagoon
There is a narrow opening smaller boats, called tenders, take passengers from the cruise ship to land through— when the weather and seas cooperate.
We were not so fortunate. The swell (waves) was such that controlling a tender safely to shore was decided to be too difficult a task.
We approached Fanning Island near Sunrise, and you can see how close to sea level the majority of the island is – I’ve heard the highest point of land is just 10 feet above sea level.
The island has no power grid, or indoor plumbing- in some ways it is like the entire population lives the way we do when we hike in to the woods and camp.
Can you imagine going to a school that had no electricity and no electronics? How would you do things differently in class?
Many people who visit Fanning Island take with them donations for the community and school, to thank the locals for sharing their island and their time. If you could donate something to the school, something you think they could use without needing electricity or power, what would you give them and why?
Tomorrow is a BIG day for Flat Hal and Flat Stanley in their travels, can you look at the map and figure out what they will do next?
