Jamore Melson

Yokwe Bartowe is the story of a beautiful young island girl named Lijiamao who is kidnapped by an evil demon bird. The ancient legend of the 'kwolej' bird dictates that its main mission in life is to create sorrow and misfortune in the world. Bartowe is Lijiamao's 20-year-old brother and he was supposed to be watching his sister on the day she mysteriously vanished while swimming in the lagoon. He is blamed for her disappearance by his mother. Even though most people believe that Lijiamao has drowned, the fact that no one ever found her body in extremely shallow water has everyone puzzled. Only Lijiamao's best friend Tili refuses to believe she is dead, much to the dismay of her principal, her teacher and her classmates.

A young Marshallese boy, Labro, wakes up one morning anxious for his grandmother to fulfill her promise of buying him ice cream. She agrees, but demands that he do some work first, commanding him -- with a sweep of her arm -- to "clean up all the garbage everywhere." As Labro goes out the door of his rustic shack, he realizes that one of his zoris is missing. His grandmother, angry because he has yet again lost one of his flip flops, gives him an ultimatum: "Do not come back to the house until you have zoris on both of your feet." So Labro begins his quest under the hot island sun to clean up 'everywhere' and to find his other zori...