FUNdraising for Church

Today I went to a community fundraising event for my church. There are small-scale fundraising events every single week in my village, but this one was a much bigger deal. It often seems the main purpose of the church in Chuuk is to raise money from the people and then give them an excuse to have a feast. The belief in god is present, but I cant help escape the thought that the main reason people are part of the church is for social reasons. Abstaining from sin and seeking eternal salvation aren’t readily apparent in island life, but lots of food and sharing of money are noticeable everywhere.

This fundraising event was called Tiwichap and tried to raise funds for our upcoming centennial celebration. It is the 100^th year anniversary of the Catholic Church in Chuuk. Our parish wants to renovate our main church building and throw a kick ass party in May. They hope to raise $100,000 to do this.

Yes, the poor villagers of my island who cannot buy food or shoes for their children are attempting to donate $100,000 for a single party. It’s kind of an ironic situation, but the people are excited and I am happy for them. The event today was organized around the divisions of our clan system. The clan system is the ancient maternal structure of family units that determine land ownership and chiefdoms. In modern times it has lost most of its significance, but it still functions as a way to split the community members into smaller groups. I am part of the Soufia clan.

A fundraiser in Chuuk is a little different than in America. They don’t sell lemonade on a street corner or have a silent auction at a charity ball. This fundraising event started with groups of women marching into the meeting hall. They were each led by an excitable dancing lady with a whistle who yelled and screamed as she pranced her way through the crowd. Rows upon rows of 200-pound mumu clad mothers bounced into our meeting hall and competed with each to make the most noise possible. There were a few ladies who were extra spirited and had dance-offs in the center of the room. At random points throughout the meeting, they would hop up and burst into a frenzied outcry of wiggles and shakes. I loved it! It was great to see these normally quiet and reserved women let loose and go crazy for an afternoon. I had no idea they had this kind of unhindered energy inside them.

Sharing is very common in all aspects of Chuukese life, but they don’t try to keep it secret. Donations are always given publicly, so that everyone can see how much everyone is contributing. Its kind of awkward, but it also motivates everyone to get involved because no one wants to be out shown. We took turns walking up towards the main table and emphatically smacking down our dollars on the table in the front of the room. As the clan name was called, the dancing women would leap into the air and let out spirited chants to encourage donations. The contagious energy of these boosters tempted many people out of their seats and up to the donation table. Each clan had its turn, but the wealthier people donated to every clan. After a couple hours of public dollar throwing, we totaled up our money and came up with over $7000. The people were ecstatic.

As I mentioned in the beginning of this post, I have mixed feelings about all this donation stuff. Its great to see everyone uniting together to donate money and have a great time doing it, but it still irks me a bit. The sacrifice of essential food and clothing money to add an extra room on one of our church buildings is a little hard for me to swallow. Many of these people donated the few meager dollars that they had towards this cause. They saved themselves from public disgrace, but they might eat nothing but bananas for the next two weeks.