Student members of the College of the Marshall Islands Nuclear Club were featured on Power 103.5FM’s “prime time” interview last week, promoting a large exhibition they prepared that is on display at the CMI library.
The display features advocate for nuclear victims and community health pioneer the late Darlene Keju-Johnson. The CMI student group was led by CMI Nuclear Institute Director Mary Silk, who talked about her recollections of Darlene growing up in Marshall Islands. In addition to Silk, CMI library staff Akiko Aine, who coordinated development of the exhibition, was on hand. Aine, like the students, pointed out that she had no idea who Darlene was before she was handed the project to work on and came away learning so much about her nuclear advocacy and other work.
Power 103.5 DJ Yastamon congratulated the CMI team for keeping an important part of Marshall Islands history alive through the display at the CMI library. The exhibition includes dozens of photos and narratives about Keju-Johnson’s work as a nuclear advocate and as a community health pioneer. It is open to the public to view and will be on display through the end of January, according to Silk.
Nuclear Club President Tekabae Gideon said that, when first given the assignment of researching Darlene’s story for the exhibit, she thought it was “just another assignment” that a student receives from a teacher. That turned out not to be the case at all, she said.
Gideon said she and the other students all started by reading the biography of Keju-Johnson called “Don’t Ever Whisper,” which she recommended to Power 103.5 listeners.
She and the other students who were there, including Nuclear Club officers Carlty Jabuwe and Lyenn Momo Stephen, and Nuclear Institute intern Kalora Lekka, each talked about parts of the book or Keju-Johnson’s life that resonated with them. Among other points, the students highlighted the video on YouTube that shows Keju-Johnson delivering a powerful speech before the World Council of Churches Assembly in Vancouver in 1983.
Don’t Ever Whisper author Giff Johnson also added a few stories about his late wife during the interview.