18 to resettle on Northern Islands

Tomasia Santos bids her family on Saipan goodbye as she goes on board the M/V Super Emerald that will take her to Alamagan Island so she can fulfill a dream of living in her home island once again. The boat left the Port of Saipan at noon yesterday and is scheduled to arrive on Alamagan early today. (Bea Cabrera)

Several families are going back to the Northern Islands to resettle and enjoy a new dawn on their home islands once again. A total of 18 Northern Islands residents boarded the M/V Super Emerald yesterday at the Port of Saipan in Puerto Rico to resettle on Agrihan and Alamagan.

Northern Islands Mayor Vicente Cruz Santos said that people are starting to go back to the Northern Islands to stay for good.

“This trip is for resettlement. Any trip that we make for the people of the Northern Islands is coordinated through the mayor’s office for the people of the Northern Islands. The islands are ready for them to resettle… our office will help people who want to go back to the Northern Islands because it is ready for its people again.”

According to Santos, the hard work that they have put into the past several months is seeing the rewards—people starting to show interest to go back and see a future in their home islands.

“Our office has been working to sustain clean water on Agrigan, Pagan, and Alamagan because that is the basic need of the people and so it’s a necessity. We are also working to try to reset the radio to have good communication within the Northern Islands and Saipan,” he added.

Eighteen-year-old Carlos Topulei is going to Agrihan with his brother and uncle. “I was not born and raised on Agrihan but I went up there last year and their is nothing like it. I can see myself building a life there that’s why this time, I am going and staying their for good.”

“I don’t think I will crave for Wi-Fi or miss technology when I am there. Everything is special on Agrihan—the soil, water… I like it because it feels like home. My goal once we get there is to build a house, plant, farm, and fish.”

Topulie’s uncle, Vic Romolor, said that as the patriarch of the family, he is leading the way to get his whole family back in Agrihan. “It is my father’s island that’s why I want my family to know, to see, and experience where they come from.”

“The women in the family will have to wait as the boys and I will establish everything first—build a house before we bring them here. I was there as a child in the 1980s then moved to Saipan but I started coming back 6-7 years ago and I see a whole lot of difference now as the village is there once again like it has been before… Argihan is coming back to life now,” he added.

Thirty-three-year-old Jenny M. Santos is going back to Alamagan with her mother and son.

“I was born and raised on Saipan but my family is from Alamagan. We are going to live their for a long time. I am bringing my son for the summer and he goes back to Saipan in August for school. I bring him to Alamagan every summer so he knows his roots and will not forget,” she said.

Northern Island Mayor’s Office project manager Kelly Tenorio said that these are exciting times for the people of the Northern Islands.

“These are truly exciting times because this is the day we live for. We cleaned those islands out and we made it ready for these families to come today so it’s truly a special day… in fact I’m sending a birthday cake for them to have a birthday while they are there. It’s nobody’s birthday but just to celebrate because now we have the opportunity to be on our islands again.”

“…We have a 3-year-old on board and one child who was born on Alamgan during Typhoon Soudelor and he’s returning for the first time so it’s exciting and a blessing…This is our next generation, these are the people that I’ve been saying so important to teach because they are the future of the island,” she added.

Tenorio said that the next trip to the Northern Islands will be in August. “Every boat that goes up to the Northern Islands in the future will be bringing more families hopefully… we are now in full force to go ahead. We are not stopping or slowing down as we are making up for lost time,” she said.

“The families on board the ship traveling now knows they are going to be sick along the way, they know they will have a miserable feeling, but yet they still do it because their heart is there,” she added.