Marshall Island resident Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner and Liberian business-owner Patrice Juah are fighting Ebola with the power of poetry. The Pacific Islands and Africa are grappling with the particularly grave effects of climate change: menacing droughts, flooding, and rising sea levels are displacing communities. Jetnil-Kijiner and Juah’s verses express both difficulty and resistance to the crises at hand. Addressing her baby daughter, Jetnil-Kijner’s writes “they say you, your daughter and your granddaughter, too will wander rootless with only a passport to call home…dear matefele peinam, don’t cry…because baby we are going to fight.” Photo credit: Larisa Epatko/PBS NewsHour
