About Us

Houk Rhipwraan! Rhipwraan is the ancestral name of this land that is simply known as Houk (formerly Pulusuk). There are over 400 of us who call this paradise in the Pacific as our home island. You can't find us on any map as we are but one of the little tiny dots on world map in what is known as the Federated States of Micronesia. Our island is the farthest island from the main center of the State of Government of Chuuk.

Our ancestors have lived and thrived on this island for centuries. We have many legends and history of how our ancestors reached this land. We know that they have lived on Houk long before colonialistic Europeans reached our shores with their strange clothes, skin color, weapons, food, canoes, and diseases. Those same elements of intrusion onto our peaceful island culture became the start of our demise. They have also become the start of our liberation to send our sons and daughters off to other shores our ancestors couldn't dream of reaching...Europe, Asia, Americas, etc.

Now we live amidst this vast ocean of changing cultural tides.. Our children have grown up yearning to leave our peaceful ways to "greener" shores. And we send them off with our blessing hoping that they would return full of energy and knowledge to help us make sense of all these new ways of thinking. Alas many have stayed on fueled by the same green power of foreign currency leaving the green palms of our coconut and breadfruit trees.

Although we hold on dearly to many of our ancestral traditions, we know life is changing around us. We are a changing people. Now we seek help to thrive in this modern globalized society. We know that this is our island; these are our people; these are our responsibilities. We invite you to share in our journey...