December 1, 2009

2009 Disabilities Awareness Week Ceremony - Remarks
 Ambassador Martha L. CampbeLl

     President Jurelang Zedkaia, Members of the Cabinet, traditional leaders, Senators, members of the diplomatic corps, Rev. Enja Enos, other distinguished guests and friends. I am honored to be asked to speak at this important ceremony. 
We are celebrating today because we want to recognize and honor all disabled people that have contributed their talents and skills in many ways to the RMI communities around the Marshall Islands. There are many people worth mentioning such as the teachers, the doctors, the students, the parents and others who are part of the life of the disabled.

Students singing and signing the RMI National Anthem

    

     Today we are celebrating Disabilities Awareness Week in the RMI. In the United States the celebration of International Education Week will take place in a few weeks and will be commemorating all students.  This emphasis on awareness is an opportunity to focus on how important it is to identify any disability as early as possible.  Early detection and intervention by educators, doctors and other skilled technicians opens the door to provide instruction in the way that the disabled can best learn.  Special education is special.  It focuses on the needs of the individual.   With the appropriate education people with disabilities can better become assets in their community and more fully contribute to society.
     The United States and the RMI share a common goal to support the RMI Special Education sector. Education is the door through which we pass to explore things that are beyond our imagination. An educated nation brings wealth and prosperity to its citizens. The United States and the RMI are working together to raise the RMI education level through the Compact Education Sector Grant funds and the Supplemental Education Grant funds for all Marshallese and other Federal Grant funds which include dedicated Special Education funds to support disabled students in the Marshall Islands. These funds are the mechanism to provide the right resources and the technical assistances to support the improvement of education including the Special Education Program and the Disabilities Program in the RMI.
We will continue to work with GMRI and the Ministry of Education in years ahead. However, this task of improving education in the RMI involves more than just government officials working together. It must also include participation of teachers, parents, students, and the community as a whole. Only through the joint efforts of all participants can success be attained.
     We can build new classrooms, make funds available to educate the disabled students and empower them with a bright future, and we can provide textbooks and other instructional materials but without the support and involvement of the entire community we will not be able to make all of the improvements necessary to raise the quality of education to the desired level in the Marshall Islands.
     I encourage everyone to work together to achieve the educational grants that have been established by the Ministry of Education and the GRMI. These goals definitely include the students we are here to commemorate today.

Kom emol tata, im jeramman!