Two islander Heirs who attended our SEAL 2018 — Jollia Peter from Majuro, Marshall Islands, and Jerrett “JT” Tachedesel from Melekeok, Palau – participated in Our Ocean Youth Summit in Bali! Jollia shares about her experience:
“During October 29-30, 2018, I attended the SOA Ocean Conference in Bali, Indonesia. The trip was exciting yet made me very nervous because I was considered underage. The Ocean Conference age limit was 18-35. I’m 17 years old though. On the first day, I interacted with some of the participants. Socializing with people from other countries was one of my favorite things during the trip. They were amazed because I’m only 17 years old yet was accepted into the program. This gave me the opportunity to speak for what I believe, which was that 11-17 year old youth can also participate in this type of program because we are capable of understanding the problems of our oceans. While at the conference I learned how climate change has affected people around the world. For example, one of the participants from Egypt told us about how it’s snowing in Egypt, a desert region, due to climate change. We split into groups and helped some of the participants start their plans/ideas on how to prevent climate change within their countries. It was an amazing experience. Although I was considered underage, I still learned new things so that I can develop ideas and help my country, the Marshall Islands, manage climate change.”