In April and May 2017, the team carried out the first phase of fieldwork, undertaking creative writing, photography and mural-making workshops with Marshallese schoolchildren at Ejit Elementary School, Majuro Co-operative School (in the Marshall Islands) and Central Middle School in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. The team also undertook focus-group discussions and card-sorting activities exploring Marshallese young people’s attitudes towards the nuclear legacy; its impact on communities; and current values and aspirations. Project film-maker Sara Penrhyn Jones filmed aspects of the workshops and interviewed students, staff, project artists/ researchers, and members of the wider Marshallese community in Honolulu and Majuro.
In Honolulu, the team attended the inaugural Micronesian Youth Summit (held at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa) and interviewed community leaders and educational NGOs (such as Pacific Resources for Education and Learning) supporting the Marshallese community in Honolulu. Michelle Keowna and Shari Sabeti ran a CPD for teachers at Central Middle School in Honolulu on visual literary, using comics for teaching, and the nuclear history of the Marshall Islands.
Michelle Keown, Shari Sabeti and Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner ran a workshop on arts education and creative writing with Marshallese practising and trainee schoolteachers, hosted by the University of the South Pacific campus at Long Island, Majuro. Project artist Christine Germano gave a presentation on the photography workshops she undertook with Marshallese schoolchildren participating in the project.