Pacific Climate Justice TREK

Naomi Kaczor (June 21st, 2026)

Today was our last full day in Tuvalu, which felt bittersweet, but the day was packed with fun activities. We woke up to a rainy and windy day. A couple of the banana trees outside our hotel room had fallen in half due to the winds during the night, and the streets remained partially flooded as we drove around the island in the morning. The rain and wind, however, did help to cool the temperature, which felt refreshing and was a much-needed relief for some of us.

We started the morning with church services. Throughout the week, our group has been spending time with the EKT youth group, and we have been assigned in groups of two or three (from our group) to one of the five different village communities of the EKT youth on the island. For church service, we went with our groups to our assigned village churches where we met up with some of the youth, our new friends! Basil and I went to the Lofengai village church service. The church building had a lovely view of the lagoon right outside the window. We were welcomed by the church members and tried to follow along with the service that was entirely in Tuvaluan. The layered harmony singing has been a consistent theme throughout the trip, and this service was no exception. 

In the afternoon, we had our farewell lunch and farewell ceremony with the EKT youth group that have been our kind, generous, and welcoming hosts this entire week (we cannot thank them enough). We rested on the traditional pandana mats while everyone arrived and enjoyed looking at the beautiful traditional handmade decorations hanging on the walls (seashell necklaces, colorful garlands on the ceilings, colorful woven art pieces). 

The program began with speeches from both groups (Wooster visitors and EKT youth). We were blown away (once again) by the bounty of delicious food they had prepared for lunch and served us. The ceremony consisted of speeches from both groups and a powerful hymn-sing battle between the village groupings, which we also participated in. The village group I was in (Lofengai and Fakaifou) had been practicing our hymns each night, so we were excited to share what we had been practicing with the others. We sat together facing the other group at the opposite end of the hall. Each group took turns singing a hymn with a new person acting as “conductor” for each hymn. They even had us go up to “conduct” by the end! The crescendoing harmonies sang to our souls. It felt like a very full circle moment from our initial welcoming ceremony to be integrated as part of the ceremony and have a designated part to sing with the group. I will forever treasure the gift of hearing all of the youth sing together, and it was amazing to get to be a part of it. The farewell ceremony closed with a few more speeches from each group, including many thank-yous, and how our time in Tuvalu with the youth had been so impactful for everyone, and it went by far too fast. 

Following the farewell ceremony, a group of us went with a group of the youth to the port to go swimming. We swam and laughed together, and the youth shared their traditional swim snacks of fresh fish, coconut, and breadfruit. 

After dinner, a couple of our youth groups had evening events. Our group spent a while driving around the island singing karaoke, One Direction, gospel songs, and even Country Roads (suggested by the Tuvaluans). We enjoyed the company and time together, trying to soak it all up one last time. Despite only being here for six days, we’ve been so welcomed and integrated into the community in such a short time that it really felt like just hanging out with all of our new friends, and it was a very fun way to spend our last night in Tuvalu.