tension/stress syndromes, confusion and ambivalence (self-identity crises, role
dysfunction and identification crises for adolescents and adults); and fear of
the unknown and of the future.
Current Service Programs Established to Meet Changing Needs and Social Problems
In an attempt to meet the needs of the Marshallese people, a number of
service agencies and programs are sponsored by the Governemnts of the Marshal]
Islands
and
the
United
States,
church
groups
and
church
leaders,
outside
professionals and consultants, and local volunteers in special projects.
The Department of Social Services has five divisions of services that are
available, to one degree or another, to all of the Marshall
divisions
include:
1)
Food Services Division
which
provides
Islands.
USDA hot
These
lunch
programs for 88 schools throughout the Islands; and the Needy Family Distribution
Program which hires clerical persons, cooks, and a nutritionist for services to
families with low (or, no) income.
2) Housing Services provide funds for low
cost housing and assistance with house construction.
This service also maintains
Grant-in-Aid financial assistance programs for the outer islands and a Community
Development
Disaster fund.
3)
People Division which
serves
Senior Citizens
through Community Center activities (exercise classes, employment counseling,
socialization groups,
health classes, and group meetings to help the Elders
preserve traditional customs such as local navigation, building canoes, fishing,
story telling, local foods and folk medicines, and handicrafts).
This program
has offered nutrition programs (feeding of the Elders) in the past.
4) Adult
Service Division sponsors 117 women's educational groups throughout the Islands.
Flying Workshops and Ship Workshops, in an outreach project for all isladns, use
volunteer and women's groups to present educational group sessions on parenting,
budgeting, nutrition (for balanced meals), First Aid, leadership skills, family
life, and family planning, etc.
5) Youth Services Division sponsors programs for
recreation and sports with the assistance of several
Peace Corp volunteers,
handicradft classes, music groups, Youth Conservation Corp, Boy Scouts and Girl
Scouts organizations, and dances for the teenagers and young adults.
The Department of Social Services also sponsors a local radio program for
information and educational purposes.
Church leaders and congregations have developed volunteer-oriented service
projects for a limited number of Marshallese of all age groups.
projects
(they feed people;
recreational
activities;
these
are not
programs
that
Nutrition
specifically “how to"
sessions),
resemble
Anonoymous
Alcoholics
(Kwajalein) and a men's group called F.A.I.M. (Fighting Alcohol In the Marshalls)
on Majuro, and Alanon (Ebeye), socialization and educational groups, handicrafts
12