By B.B.
For Horizon

I recently visited a popular local coffee shop where I met some elderly gentlemen from villages outside of Koror, who were in town to attend some customary functions that weekend. They talked about new gadgets and practices that are beginning to have negative impacts on the society.
They said Toluk, the Palauan women turtle shell monies, are on sale for as much as $160.00 apiece and fake Palauan monies are so common it is difficult to distinguish the genuine articles from the phony ones. Activities such as house parties and fund raising practices at funerals have taken on the appearances of "Palauan customs", replacing Ocheraol and Cheldecheduch, which, by traditional custom, involved only the members of closely related clans.
"Now, everybody in town is invited to donate money for the purchase of someone’s home or to help pay for the funeral expenses of a departed relative. The theory is that when the donor, in turn, has a house to purchase or passes away; his earlier favors would be reciprocated. But most donors never get to pay for a house, so their donations would not be returned. Furthermore, many people living in the villages do not have sufficient incomes to take care of these matters", one senior citizen said.
The group agreed with the silver-haired gentleman. They said things wouldn’t be so bad if the people living in the villages outside of Koror have sufficient, regular incomes to pay for these types of expenses, but they don’t and that’s where the problem lies. There are very few paying jobs in the villages. The few big sources of income that once sustained village economies have all dried up, they said.
"The Copra Industry died years ago. The harvesting of trochus is highly irregular and no one can depend on it for his livelihood. The fishing coops, which once provided steady income for many village fishermen, have all faded away. The idle and rusting "ice-making machineries", donated by the Government of Japan, are the only reminders that the docks of Babeldaob were once busy with fishing activities. Even the Division of Marine Resources, the arm of the National Government charged with the responsibility of overseeing and guiding fishing activities in Palau seem to have disappeared. And the Division of Agriculture is difficult to locate", another senior citizen said.
The elderly gentlemen said the solution to the financial predicaments of people living outside of Koror, and everyone else in the country, is for the public leaders to stop fighting each other and to begin thinking seriously about establishing programs and projects that could provide regular paying jobs for the people. "The people in the villages need paying jobs now, not in ten years from today", they said.
Safety Colors for roads
For safety purposes, those sections of the roads that pose dangers to the driving public must be clearly marked with distinguishable colors. One such section is the entrance at the turn of the road leading to Long Island. Coming from Malakal, the unpainted sloping concrete fence separating the highway from the pedestrian walkway is visibly merged with the background, and a careless or unobservant driver is liable to drive right onto that concrete fence. That concrete fence must be painted bright yellow to remind drivers to stay on the road so that they would not hit the fence or wonder into the nearby water.