Kasma E. Aldis This is Me

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1. 1. Sports - guampdn - www.guampdn.com

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   Published on: 10/13/2005   Last Visited: 10/13/2005

   League organizer Kasma Aldis said one of his goals was to create leagues in which immigrants from the FSM who have the talent to play organized sports have an opportunity to compete. Too often in other local leagues, he said people from the FSM don't participate -- whether it's because of shyness or prejudice against them.
   
   Aldis, 40, moved to Guam from Pohnpei in 1989 to give his wife and two children a better life; he's employed as a tour coordinator by Holiday Tours Micronesia. Aldis recalls how a landlord turned him down when he tried to lease a house in 1995 because the landlord had a bad experience with a Chuukese family that previously rented the house.
   
   He also recalls how three years ago, the FSM had to hold its local elections at a pavilion at Ypao beach park because the vice mayor of a village whom he did not want to name refused to grant the use of the community center. He said the reason was that "the last time Micronesians used the center, they left a huge mess."
   
   Instead of being bitter, Aldis, who also is president of the Pohnpeian Family Organization, said he is working with others to try to educate people about people from the FSM to dispel stereotypes, and a big part of that is the sports leagues.
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   Aldis said his phone has been ringing off the hook from people trying to find out when the next league starts. Aldis said he's hoping for the volleyball league to get underway sometime next month at the Astumbo gym in Dededo.

2. 2. Program to break barriers - guampdn.com

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   Published on: 3/24/2004   Last Visited: 3/24/2004

   Making a difference: Kasma Aldis is a tour coordinator for Holiday Tours Micronesia in Tamuning. He also is president of the Pohnpeian Family Organization. He said a new program that the group has started is meant to help families from the Federated States of Micronesia adjust to living on Guam. He also hopes that their work will help break stereotypes about Micronesian people.
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   If you would like to help, please contact Kasma Aldis at 727-1012 or aldis 0807@yahoo.com.
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   When Kasma E. Aldis came to Guam from Pohnpei in 1989, looking for a better paying job and a place where he and his wife could settle down and raise their two children, the island and its residents welcomed him with open arms.
   
   "It was so easy. I got a good job, made good friends, ... even bought a new car a few months after I got here," Aldis said.
   
   But the friendly environment that first welcomed him and other residents of the Federated States of Micronesia has changed, he said.
   
   "The relationship we had between the Micronesians and the local people of Guam, that friendliness, has deteriorated," Aldis said. "I've got a sense of shame. ... Nowadays, it seems to me that every time you hear about a Micronesian, -- never mind if he's Pohnpeian or Chuukese, Kosraean or Yapese, because we're all the same -- it's because one of us is being arrested for being drunk in public areas or being violent."
   
   Aldis, 39, who is president of the Pohnpeian Family Organization, is trying to change that. The Pohnpeian organization created the Micronesian Community Outreach Program, which is meeting at 7 p.m. tomorrow at the Astumbo Community Center in Dededo.
   
   The goal of the program, Aldis said, is to provide educational workshops about local laws and community issues to families from the Federated States of Micronesia, to help them adjust to life on Guam.
   
   "Another goal of the program is to let local people know that the stereotype is not true; not all Micronesians chew betel nut, drink beer and are on food stamps," Aldis said. "Many of us have health insurance that pays for our hospital bills and we work and pay taxes."
   
   Adjusting
   
   Aldis said negative experiences that the local people have had with Micronesians are largely due to ignorance of the local laws, which is compounded when they can't speak, read or write English.
   
   "Adjusting to a new place is hard, but if you can't speak the language, how do you learn that you need a driver's license to drive on the road? Or that the kids have to go to school?" Aldis said.
   
   Aldis said another thing he would like to see come out of the program is the reclaiming of cultural values that immigrants seem to lose in an attempt to "be Americanized."
   
   "Some of the troubles we see Micronesians getting into here on Guam doesn't happen, or maybe doesn't happen as much, back home because of the traditional values, like respect for elders, family and people in authority," Aldis said.
   
   "But they want to be American and they want to be free -- but they don't know how to do it the right way. So instead you have guys drinking beer and getting drunk in the bar."
   
   Shock
   
   Aldis said about six years after he first moved to Guam, he made calls because he wanted to rent a house.
   
   "The guy who was renting out the house asked me about my nationality, which I didn't experience before," Aldis said. "I told him I was from Pohnpei and asked him why he wanted to know."
   
   Aldis said the landlord did not want to lease the house to a Chuukese family because of a previous experience.
   
   "It hurt my heart to hear that, because the Chuukese are people and Pohnpeians are people -- we're the same. Some of us are good and some are bad, there's no nationality that is all good or all bad," Aldis said.
   
   Aldis also said that two years ago, the Federated States of Micronesia held local elections at Ypao because they were not allowed to use a community center in one of the villages. Aldis did not want to say which village.
   
   "The vice mayor told me they don't want to let Micronesians use the center anymore because the last time, they made a huge mess and did not clean up afterward," Aldis said. "It was a shock to me that the resentment was so bad that we could not use a public facility for an important function."
   
   Aldis said he would like to see Micronesians come out to tomorrow's meeting. He said people of other ethnicities are welcome to come if they would like to help with a workshop.
   
   "We're different people with different cultures, but we're also one community of the Pacific islands," he said.
   
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3. 3. Program offers solutions - guampdn.com

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   Published on: 3/27/2004   Last Visited: 3/27/2004

   For information on how to help, contact Kasma Aldis at 727-1012 or aldis 0807@yahoo.com or call Guam Police Department's Sgt.
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   Kasma E. Aldis, president of the Pohnpeian Family Organization, said it was a blessing for them to have the help and guidance from the Guam Police Department.
   
   "I believe that's the only way we can find the solution through the education that these groups are offering us," Aldis said.