“Skinny Girl”
November 28, 1966 – month/day not known, 2000 Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia I will always remember your beautiful smile, your charming humor, your sharp intelligence, your golden heart and, above all, your honest, selfless love. –someone who loved you very much |
I met Werihna in early September, 1992, outside the Little Micronesia Bar on
Pohnpei. From that moment until I had to leave Pohnpei in early November we were never apart. In late November I was able to send for her and she made the 30-hour trip to Houston alone, the farthest she had ever traveled and the first time she had visited “the mainland.” Her trip was all the more significant because Werihna could neither read nor write. She did, though, speak and understand seven languages to varying degrees. She was sharp as a tack.
She returned to Pohnpei in March, 1993, to retrieve her adopted
daughter, Cecille, then two years old. She could not return immediately
to Houston for lack of funds. It was not until May that I was able to send for
her again, but when she arrived with Cecille she brought news that changed things for us and made it seem infeasible to continue. With a heavy heart I sent her home to Pohnpei once more, that time for good, on May 29.
I lost touch with her. Eventually, after Pohnpei got Internet, I made contact with a former co-worker on Pohnpei, Frank Hadley, and asked him several times through the latter half of the 1990s to check up on Werihna but he was never able to locate her.
Dates were peculiarly significant in events in my life with Werihna.
I first left Houston for Pohnpei on my birthday in 1992. When I sent to
bring Werihna to Houston, the only seat available for several months was
on a flight leaving on her birthday. There may have been other
significant dates but the last one occurred in 2001:
On September 6, 2001, nine years to the day after I met Werihna, I
received an email from Frank. His news was that Werihna had passed away in the
Pohnpei cholera outbreak of 2000 that claimed 19 lives. The only other
information he had been able to discover was that her grave is next to her
mother’s house, 20 feet from the side of the road to Palikir and Kitti.
I was devastated. After several days of tearful mourning it came to me to honor her memory with this Web page. It seems important to me, now that it is too late to tell Werihna that I still love her, to tell someone, perhaps her far-flung family, perhaps her daughter Cecille if she survives. To them I say this: Werihna was an exceptional, special person. I loved her deeply and will always regret having sent her back to Pohnpei. There are no words to express the anguish and sorrow I feel. I have missed her greatly since 1993 and I will miss her until the day I die.
This page is a small effort to make sure that Werihna’s life and
passing do not go unnoticed, that her time on this Earth is not without
record, without comment. Written and photographic records do not survive
well in the tropics. Memories fade. A woman in a tiny country in one of the most remote locations on Earth will leave little mark except among those who knew her. In her 33 years, though, she brought joy and happiness into other lives, gave other people reason to live and to appreciate life, and made an indelible place for herself in my soul.
Friends & relatives of Werihna:
- Lihda (sister) (now reportedly living in Guam)
- Cecille (adopted daughter) (now reportedly with Lihda)
- Rose (friend) (now living in the U.S.)
- Candy (promise sister)
- Kati (promise sister)
- Dave Nelson (friend) (now reportedly living in the U.S.)
Originally written: September 8, 2001
 Rose (left), Werihna (right) |
 Werihna |