‘Where Saipan meets Saint Lucia’

By Claudia DLG Fajardo Kaercher
Special to the Saipan Tribune

It began in the summer of 1999, when 10-year-old Esther Genevieve Fitial Omar from Saipan, the daughter of Joaquin Omar and Gregoria Fitial Omar, who was then living in Alexandria, Virginia, was invited to join the Fajardo family reunion in Phoenix, Arizona, where she first met Devyn Jocelyn Fajardo Williams, also 10, the daughter of Chester Boswell Williams and Antonia DLG Fajardo Williams, who was living in Castries, Saint Lucia, the Caribbean. Past forward to this past 2006 Thanksgiving holiday and the two met again, this time as 18-year-old teens, with seven years of catching up to do about each other’s lives.

Dev now lives in Tempe, Arizona, and is attending Arizona State University where she is majoring in chemical engineering. Gen is living in San Diego, California, and is attending Grossmont College for general courses and will be majoring in corporate law at the University of San Diego.

The Fajardo-Omar family thought it would be a wonderful idea to have the two of them meet again over the 2006 Thanksgiving holiday since they both live in neighboring states, so they did.

“I thought that it would be awkward seeing Gen again, but it wasn’t like that at all. We just picked up from where we left eight years ago,” said Dev. “There is just more to talk about now,” said Gen.

“Beef jerky was one thing we had not forgotten about from the 1999 reunion,” said Gen. “Dev’s mom had bought a lot of beef jerky that was prepared in different flavors ranging from teriyaki to peppered ones, which became the mainstay throughout the reunion, and if you were hungry, you were given beef jerky, not chips or cookies, just more beef jerky,” said Gen.

They had a reprieve this time around, with no beef jerky at all. It was replaced with their favorite junk food like specialty chocolates, chips and dip, ice cream, and sodas. The only natural healthy food they had was from a tangerine tree in the back yard.

Gen and Dev told stories that had everyone around them laughing so hard it brought tears to the eyes. They both had a good time. Everybody ate dinner at a Chamorro restaurant one evening and Gen helped translate the menu. “Dev and I love eating island food and going shopping,” said Gen. We all agreed.

Both Gen and Dev are also camera fanatics, snapping pictures here, there, and everywhere. Perhaps, this would be one of the highlights of their reunion, the camera capturing “where Saipan met Saint Lucia.”