June 22:
From our preparatory zoom calls with Martin, we knew that a delegation would welcome us at Tarawa airport. And so it was: Already while waiting for our luggage, we were met by Terieta, who is also MP in the Kiribati parliament, who had been on the same flight with us. We also met Eriati, who works at the police and is also a board member of KIFF (Kiribati islands Football Federation). Once we stepped out of the airport, Martin was there with Pine, Barry, and even the Kiribati TV was there to film our arrival. Introducing the symbolic meaning of The Ball, we revealed The Ball for the first time in Kiribati.
Straight from the airport we went to Eita village, where official and important guests of Kiribati are received by the village elders. We were told we were going to drink Island water’. Thinking of the Kava ceremonies in Fiji we were wondering what that could be. (Hint: it was not Kava). Eita is also the village where the highest mountain in Kiribati is situated: a point of 3 meters above sea level.
In the wooden and thatched hut, we were given our first flower crown and were invited to drink island water, meaning fresh coconut water straight from the coconut. We were then officially accepted as guests in Kiribati and free to carry out activities. We presented The Ball and its journey, and all elders were invited to head and sign The Ball.
Our next stop was at Teinanano Urban Council (TUC), where we presented The Ball to the mayor and TUC staff. Since we always present one of the goals of The Ball journey being about gender equality, we soon realized that a popular pledge in Kiribati would be to end violence against women.
The last appointment of the day was at the Ministry of Women Youth Sport and Social Affairs, where we met the minister, Hon. Martin Moreti, and his secretary, Maryanne Namakin.
Martin said:
We support stopping the violence against women and also we hope that my government and my ministry support The Ball in our country.
Maryanne pledged to continue to advocate ending violence against women and children in Kiribati.
