Comments on: Ebeye Island: “The Slum of the Pacific”

By: Daniëlle

Daniëlle — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 05:21:13 +0000

I lived on Ebeye 97-99 as a missionary.
Michael was one of my students, he was a happy boy full of laughter. I’d love to see how my students from back then are doing now. They likely forgot me since they were in Kindergarten.

The people are lovely. For recreation we would go to the beach park. It’s also nice to go down the causeway and visit shell island or Gugeegue.
Bigej is also very nice.
We also went across the lagoon to Carlos. There isn’t much there to be but when you like nature and peace you are in the right place. It amazed me there’s an WWII army ship sunk right in front of that harbour. They just go around it to reach the harbour. We camped in the open air and could use the navy bathroom during the day.

Everything on Ebeye was really expensive. I remember paying €10 for a box of cereal. There’s hardly any veggies available, so no wonder people aren’t as healthy as they could be.
But going to the hospital wasn’t expensive at all. I needed a tooth pulled and it only cost a little and the dentist was very capable. But I must admit I was scared for getting infections there.
When taking the boat to Kwaj with my four gallons for drinking water I sometimes also went to get some fruit salad at the dock. That was nice. Then we were back in line to get the ferry back. It felt weird not to be allowed to go on Kwajalein except for when you were sponsored. And when you were there you were not allowed to buy anything except if you had a pass for that, which off course I did not have. I was told it was to protect the shop owners livelihood on Ebeye, but it didn’t feel right. They had the fresh produce for a reasonable price and just a little further away there was such a lack thereof.

I loved walking the island. Especially early in the morning when its still quiet and not too warm.
It’s also great to see the sun go down in the sea.
And there are some places where it’s nice to go snorkeling. We used to wear bathing clothes and dress or shirt and skirt over top. That’s also a good sunscreen.

Best of all are the people who are so hospitable eventhough they don’t have much.

By: JJ

JJ — Fri, 01 May 2026 17:51:41 +0000

These comments are very eye opening. Thank you to everyone sharing your passionate responses.

By: John J Rucinski

John J Rucinski — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 16:15:51 +0000

It’s easy to blame the USA for the conditions on Ebeye because we are wealthy and some feel that we have an obligation to care for the people living there. We don’t!!!!
Our obligation is to pay the amount of the lease for the land we use. We don’t lease, own or use Ebeye. Restrictions to entering any portion of the land we lease are related
to security. Free access would result in wholesale theft of everything not nailed down and some things that are. We hire as many locals as we need and pay them a fair wage for the geographic area. Ebeye is over populated with no means of sustaining itself except for the lease payments and locals working on the base.

By: Richard Hensel

Richard Hensel — Thu, 01 May 2025 06:56:25 +0000

In reply to Anonymous. There is a hospital on Ebeye for a number of years. It is fairly well run with a number of bed and 24 hour emergency area, although minimal. Easy to find the correct info by doing your homework.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 20:34:06 +0000

I am Marshallese and have spent more than 12 years living on Ebeye in the early 90’s into the 2000’s. America should be damn ashamed of themselves taking full advantage of my people the way they did and doing nothing to clean up the mess they made. My mother is native and is related to the royal Family. I will be making my way back after school to help all my people in every way I can. America is a piece of crap dictator country and its only going downhill as we speak. No accountability. ASSHOLES!

By: Hue Miller

Hue Miller — Sat, 05 Oct 2024 05:12:53 +0000

You can blame the US government all you want, and i am sure blame is due. The basic fact though, is that the traditional Marshallese lifestyle is done, is untenable. The only viable resource these small islands have is tourism, and they are not, and never will be, and cannot be developed enough to have a workable income from tourism. Population growth doesn’t help their fix, either. If the islands continue to be livable, for the population that remains there, the only options are the minimal tourism and reversion to the Mashall Islands traditional way of life. That means no pickup trucks, no outboard motors, no junk foods, no developed world TV and its ads, and no island slum. I’m sorry, but that’s the sad truth.

By: Pamela

Pamela — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 00:54:20 +0000

In reply to Worldwide Wilbur.

It’s not really if you compare it to any place which has a US Military presence right next to a giant “slum” which is full of the locals who happen to be “black,” like in Africa or other South Pacific islands. It happens everywhere in the world where there’s a US military base surrounded by “black” native populations.

By: Pamela

Pamela — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 00:50:57 +0000

In reply to Mark. I suppose that's a reason so many of them migrated to the Mainland and found that places like Arkansas were an IMPROVEMENT to their standard of living! And New Mexico.

By: Pamela

Pamela — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 00:48:06 +0000

In reply to Anonymous. So there's no hospital there for anyone born there to have been born IN, then. I suppose all Marshallese are born at home or out in the fields or whatever that "third world country" "19th century" way of having babies, was. Even into the 1970's and 1980's

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 12:34:22 +0000

In reply to Shengwei. Hi Shengwei, I think it would be safe to walk around after dark. However there is absolutely nothing to walk to to see or do.