It's the culture

The young girl stood in the doorway of the tin-roofed shop by the side of the road laughing and chatting with an array of friends, siblings, cousins, aunts and her mother. The shop sold soft drinks and bottled water, cigarettes and snacks to tourists and locals, hikers and swimmers going up and down the adjacent rocky path to a popular waterfall in the steamy rainforest of Pohnpei. The girl’s black hair was streaked unnaturally with auburn and piled on top of her head. Her dress was too short for the traditional custom of thigh-covering skirts. Women’s thighs are sacred here and must be covered to the knee but the young girls flaunt tradition more and more nowadays.

A large branch of green nut-like berries was tied above the window where the girl’s mother sat taking change from customers. The locals broke off a handful of the berries, took a can of soda from the cooler, and pushed their money toward the mother. Along with change, she handed them a small pile of leaves. The berries and leaves are the makings of the betel nut that the locals chew like tobacco from adolescence on. A light stimulant, it is addictive and the cause of dental problems including cancer of the mouth and tooth decay. But still they chew. In church. In business meetings. At their desks. Behind the teller’s cage. While driving and after eating. From the time they wake up in the morning until they turn out the light at night.

A red stain covers the user’s teeth, created when the betel nut is split in half with a crack between molars, sprinkled with lime juice, wrapped in betel leaves, and stuffed in the side of the mouth where the wad remains for hours. As the mixture slowly softens, saliva combines with the concoction and the user periodically spits out the juice. Most carry an empty soda can or water bottle for just that purpose.  The government is attempting to corral spitting with warning signs and threats of fines on buildings and schools. Public health messages are written on billboards and placed beside the roads to spread information about the harmful effects. But betel nut has been used by Micronesians for centuries and is as much a part of the culture as the covering of a woman’s thighs.

The girl in the doorway formed a V with the fore- and middle fingers of her left hand. Pressing them to her lips to make a small opening as if about to whistle, she exhaled sharply, sending a long, arching stream of red spittle into the air. It splashed to the ground several feet away. She leaned into the door frame once again, the wet clump of betel nut making a mound in her cheek as she continued chewing and sucking on it. Smiling and responding to something one of her cousins said, her teeth are red, matching the auburn streaks in her hair.