KIRIBATI

The Republic of Kiribati Message Forum

Aerial photograph of Kiribati Parliament House, Tarawa, Republic of Kiribati
Courtesy Tawaia Buibui of Kiribati

MAURI !

This Web site has been developed by an I-Kiribati (Kiribati person) for the people of Kiribati, friends of Kiribati and as an aid to visitors who are always most welcome. It is also for those friends wishing to find out a little more about the Republic of Kiribati (formerly the Gilbert Islands - including Banaba - as well as the Line Islands and Phoenix Group).

Scattered over a vast expanse of the Central Pacific Ocean, the Republic of Kiribati in Micronesia lies astride the Equator and comprises thirty-three islands each of which with its own unique culture, customs, rituals, history, myths and legends and lifestyle.

The name "Kiribati" is the local language equivalent of the word "Gilberts" and is pronounced "Ki-ri-bas."

The Republic of Kiribati, covering the total area of about 5 million square kilometres, is made up of three groups of islands:

1. Gilbert Group (Kiribati) - 16 islands or atolls, as well as Banaba (Ocean Island), about 400 kilometres south-west of  Tarawa, capital of the Republic of Kiribati;

2. Line Islands, (The Northern Equatorial Islands) - eight islands, 2400 kilometres east of Kiribati and include the unique and beautiful Kiritimati (Christmas Island, the world's largest atoll in land area), Fanning Island (Tabuaeran) and Millennium Island (formerly Caroline Island) so named as it was the first to greet the dawn of the new millennium; and

3. Phoenix Group - eight islands, 1120 kilometres E.S.E.of Kiribati and include Canton Island (Kanton) and Hull Island (Orona).

Please come with me on a journey to the beautiful and enchanting islands of the Republic of Kiribati. This can easily be undertaken by clicking on any of the Links on the Menu to the left. For new visitors it will be the trip of a lifetime, and for old friends it will be a journey to remember and treasure once more.

Also included is information on accommodation and travel to/from and within the Republic of Kiribati.

A Chat Room and The Republic of Kiribati Web Forum have been made available for the use of all welcome visitors. Should you require further information about the Republic of Kiribati and for comments about the content of this Web site, feel free to contact me at jane@janeresture.com or use either our Message Board (below) or The Republic of Kiribati Web Forum - ara maneaba ni maroro!

Kam bati n rabwa ao Ti a boo moa! - Thank you very much and Goodbye for now!

   

Thank you so much for visiting the above four Domains. I am very pleased to be able to share with you that further limited advertising on the Republic of Kiribati Home Page and other Kiribati pages, along with other Web Pages within the above four Domains, are now available. Potential advertisers are cordially invited to choose from several thousand Web sites available for placement of your important advertisements.  For further information, please contact me at:

jane@janeresture.com and/or jane@pacificislandsradio.com

Other books by Peter McQuarrie :

Conflict in Kiribati - A History of the Second World War

This book tells the story of those Pacific Islands which now form the Republic of Kiribati, part of the huge archipelago of tiny gem-like islands and atolls known as Micronesia, covering approximately half of the Central Pacific Ocean between the Philippines and Hawaii. During WWII Kiribati was part of the British colony of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands.

Setting the history within its larger political, social and military context, this publication documents the many dimensions of the war as it affected Kiribati. From the arrival of people of German descent who were fleeing from a harsh Japanese rule in Micronesia between the wars, it moves to the early days of the war, of coast-watching and German raiders, in addition to dealing with the periods of Japanese and American occupations. It is a history of a time and place and of the people involved; the indigenous I-Kiribati, Tuvaluans, German/Marshallese, New Zealanders, British, Chinese, American and Japanese. The book ends by discussing the after effects of the war and how they affected subsequent post war developments.

 

Chapter Titles

  1. Arrival of the German-Marshallese
  2. Airfield surveys Line & Phoenix Is.
  3. Fanning Island Garrison.
  4. Coast-watching in the Gilbert Group
  5. German Raiders.
  6. After Pearl Harbor Banaba & Tarawa
  7. Butaritari (Makin) captured
  8. Launch Escape from Tarawa
  9. Carlson’s raid & bombing of Keuea (Makin)
  10. Occupation of Banaba & Abemama
  11. Occupation of Tarawa
  12. Bombing
  13. Operation Galvanic
  14. US occupation (Tarawa)
  15. Surrender on Banaba
  16. Conclusion

2001, Paperback, Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. ISBN 1-877175-21-8, 237 pages, 36 photographs, 10 maps, index, notes and bibliography.

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 Image on Pacific Islands Monthly (PIM) Cover, 1969 - 1st from left - Louisa Murdoch:
2nd Nei Tarawa: 3rd Louisa Foua: 4th Rosa Muller: 5th Tetangi Pine: 6th Aonga Tili:
7th Taoati Tooki: 8th Taberauea Yeeting: 9th Lucy Muller: 10th Nei Nterei
Courtesy: Rust In Peace by Bruce Adams
A KIRIBATI POEM
By Jane Resture

KIRIBATI, ABARA KIRIBATI

Like a shimmering string of pearls on a clear blue sea         
So strong and yet so delicate you mean so much to me         
I miss those coral atolls where gentle breezes flow         
A land of remarkable people where friendships seem to grow.         
 
Kiribati, Abara Kiribati I always think of you         
Wherever I may travel across the sea so blue         
And deep inside me I know that it will be         
Kiribati, Abara Kiribati you always think of me.         
 
Your sons and daughters travel away to distant lands         
They leave their homes and families so that they will understand         
To study truth and knowledge in sadness and in pain and then         
Kiribati, Abara Kiribati you welcome them home again.         
 
Kiribati, Abara Kiribati may God’s blessings be on you         
To give you strength and courage to see the future through         
And may our blessed people hold their heads up high         
Kiribati, Abara Kiribati I will love you till I die.         
On the 8th and 9th February 2005, king tides struck Kiribati with waves of up to 2.8 meters high reaching sea walls and damaging homes. A report from the environmental group, Greenpeace, has indicated that a number of villages suffered major damage with drinking water and farms contaminated by salt water. The report also indicated that Betio hospital has been flooded.
A Kiribati family living next to the sea re-enforce their property with a sea
wall made of sand bags to stop the 'king tides' from eroding their land
Click on the above image for more images courtesy of Greenpeace
 
Extract from ASTRIDE THE EQUATOR
Oceania and Global Warming - Causes and Effects
Oceania and Global Warming (1) - Unnatural Disasters
Aspects of Global Warming (Oceania)
Oceania and Global Warming (Oceania)
  Our People on the Reef
       (towards lower part of page)
Christmas Island (Kiribati) Nuclear Tests
          Christmas Island Bombers (Kiribati)
          Christmas Island Bomber (Kiribati)
Vickers Valiant at Hendon
Living at Canton Island
 (Phoenix Group, Republic of Kiribati)
      Kiribati Cultural Traditions
    Kiribati - A Short History
Christmas Island (Kiribati) - Photographs 1 - Parts 1,2,3 (2005)
 
Click on the above Christmas Island (Kiritimati)
'Welcome' sign for a much larger image!
Politics in Kiribati
Extract from ASTRIDE THE EQUATOR
An Account of the Gilbert Islands
Banaba (Kiribati) - Aspects of History
 
Kiribati Protestant Church (KPC) Report
Bully Hayes - South Sea Pirate - Line Islands, Kiribati
 
Kiribati dancers, South Tarawa, Kiribati
 
Bathing lagoon, Christmas (Kiritimati) Island, Kiribati
 
Christmas Island, Line Islands, Kiribati - Operation Grapple 1957 (UK)
 
Kiribati & Tuvalu Association (KTA)
at the Great Dunmow Carnival 2004, Essex, UK
 
A 1957 image taken on the airfield at Christmas Island (Kiritimati),
Line Islands, Republic of Kiribati, during Operation Grapple {UK}
Photo: Courtesy of Ian Green
Kiribati and Tuvalu Association (KTA) - Annual Reunion 2004
Kiribati dancers, Christmas Island (airport)
Line Islands, Republic of Kiribati
 
Kiribati singers and two of their guests at airport, Christmas Island
 
Kiribati singers and dancers welcome visitors
to Fanning Island, 25th February 2004

Images of Kiribati New Parliament House
 
Jane Resture's Oceania Page
Jane's Oceania Travel Page
 
Speech By
Teburoro Tito, Former President, Kiribati, At
UN Special Session On Children
MICRONESIA HOME PAGE

MICRONESIA MUSIC RADIO 33K (24kbps)

Pacific Islands Radio Stations
 
KIRIBATI NEWSTAR
Kiribati News and Links

'TE BUU'
Issue No. 7, November 2001

Jane's Chat Room

STATEMENT OF THE FORMER PRESIDENT OF KIRIBATI,TEBURORO TITO TO THE UNITED NATIONS MILLENNIUM SUMMIT
NEW YORK, 8 September 2000

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My Being I-Kiribati/Oceania

As the sun rises over the vast expanse of Kiribati/Oceania, the daily lives of many of the people of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia (including the Polynesian nation of Hawai'i) go on as they have for thousands of years. The fishermen are already at sea; the toddy cutters are already at work and the men and women are working in their gardens. The singing of traditional and contemporary songs can be heard all around from the early morning, until the evenings come alive right through until late at night. It is this love of traditional singing passed from generation to generation that binds many islanders together and forms the basis of much of island cultural heritage and in particular dancing. Both the songs and the dance are unique and their performance tells the stories of life and love in a manner that consumes both the dancers and the audience. The traditional life of the people of Oceania is basically uncomplicated. They are normally happy, highly intelligent, kind, generous and loving people who have inherited a culture that is ancient, complex, diverse, very functional and beautiful.

   

KIRIBATI
By Jane Resture
 
Like a blue silk ribbon floating
In a vast expanse of sea
Fringed by white sand beaches
With a covering of trees.
 
They say the sea will one day claim
Our beautiful Island chain
Where palm trees grow and children play
Nothing will remain?
 
Will our culture all be lost?
And nothing be left there
Of the land we love out in the sea
And our beautiful mwaie.
 
But if it is the good Lord’s will
That we should float away
The spirit of our people
Will live on another day.
 
Our culture lives within us
The sea, the earth and the sky
Within the hearts and minds of our people
Kiribati will never die.
 

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The following poem was inspired in this case by the frigate bird, as shown on our Republic of Kiribati national flag, flying over the ocean to the backdrop of a tropical sunrise. The frigate bird carries messages from place to place and symbolises freedom and power. Looking at the Republic of Kiribati flag, the seventeen rays of the sun represent the seventeen islands of the Gilbert Group including Banaba. The three waves in the lower half of the flag stand for the Gilberts, Phoenix and Line Island Groups. The vast ocean over which the bird is flying is a reminder that Kiribati is a sea territory with far more water than land.
 
In making a wish upon the frigate bird and the flying fish, it is hoped that they will carry a message of peace from place to place both over and under the vast Pacific Ocean. It is also hoped that this message is one which will allow the people of the Republic of Kiribati, including Banaba, as well as the rest of the world, to live in peace, prosperity and harmony.
 
My Wish
by Jane Resture
The frigate bird
The flying fish
It is time for us
To make a wish
 
And I wish for the sunrise
To be beautiful each time
With days that are perfect
And nights so sublime
 
And I wish for the sunset
To be like a long red sail
Each and every day
And you and I will always stay
Whatever we wish
Will surely come true
And I wish for happiness
For me and you
 
And I wish for the world
To live in peace
To live and love as one
To a simple beat
 
And I wish for us all
To have our lives full of love
Full of joy and happiness
And eternal love
 
 
 
 
(E-mail: jane@janeresture.com -- Rev. 7th September 2011)