A LEAP INTO THE UNKNOWN: Togamae’s Journey from Isabel to Portland

By Dr. Tarcisius Kabutaulaka

Dr. Ishmael Togamae in Hawai'i

From a humble beginning in a village in the mountains of Santa Isabel, Dr. Ishmael Togamae has walked paths no other Solomon Islander had previously trekked.

And it has taken him a long way. He and his family now live in Portland, Oregon, in the west coast of the U.S. where he works as a medical doctor. But the journey to Portland has been long and arduous.

            Ishmael remembers, as a child having to walk for miles five-days-a-week, from Gurena, his childhood village in the highlands of Maringe to attend school at Nareabu on the coast.

“I recall walking down slippery slopes of rugged bush tracks. I was the youngest kid from Gurena going to school at that time, and so I was often left behind.  

“I cried many times because I was scared; and worse because the track traversed through a cattle farm. I was scared of the cattle,” he says meditatively, as though captured in his childhood memories.

Gurena, Dr. Ishmael Togamae's childhood village

Now, Ishmael is no longer scared.  In 2013, I met him at a café in Honolulu, Hawai’i and asked him to tell me his story – his journey. Then, he had just completed his residency and was now certified to practice medicine in the U.S., becoming the first Solomon Islander to have achieved this milestone.

We chatted about his life’s story – in fact, we shared our stories; both of us having come from remote villages in Solomon Islands and now working and living in the U.S.

On June 21, 2013, Ishmael, or “Isi”, as he is keenly known amongst friends, graduated after passing numerous exams, completing a Masters in Public Health and Tropical Medicine, plus three years of residency training.

The event was marked at a ceremony held at Schofield U.S. military barracks on the island of O`ahu in Hawai`i. It was a simple but dignified ceremony, fitting for those who had worked hard, and were now entrusted to practice this noble profession.

But my eyes were fixed on the Solomon Islander in the group. I had goose bumps when his name was called. I was proud of my countryman’s achievements.  

During the ceremony, he also received the Resident Research Award for his research on Aloha Care Insurance in Hawai`i.    

But, this Isabel man’s journey was not easy. It is a testament of independence, determination, risk-taking and, as he puts it, “God was always there and the source of my strength.”

He first came to the U.S. in 2007, from the Republic of Palau, where he worked as a medical doctor since 2001. He had gone to Palau after more than four years in Solomon Islands, serving as a doctor at the Central Hospital in Honiara, Kilu’ufi on Malaita, and Lata in Temotu. It was the civil unrests in Solomon Islands that prompted Ishmael to take his family and move to Palau.

In 2005, his wife, Hae Togamae, who is from Rotuma, Fiji, won a U.S. Green Card lottery, which earned her family Green Card (or permanent residency) status in the U.S. Hae and their then six-month-old baby migrated to the U.S. in 2006. Ishmael joined them in Portland, Oregon, in 2007.

“It was the most daring decision I ever made in my life,” Ishmael recalls.

“I was leaping into the unknown. I did not know anybody in the U.S., or the geography, the lifestyle, and I was in total culture shock,” he says.

When he arrived in the U.S. he found that he couldn’t practice as a medical doctor, because his degree from the Fiji School of Medicine (FSM) was not recognized.  

“I was dumbfounded. My degree was basically meaningless and useless. My self esteem was at its lowest. I was devastated and my pride severely burned,” Ishmael says, reflecting on his first days in the U.S.

To make matters worse, Hae became severely ill, and Ishmael was stranded in the U.S. with no job, but had to somehow look after his family.

But he was determined not to let this hold him down. With money he saved from working in Palau, he paid for, sat and successfully completed the three exams required for certification by the Education Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG).

At the same time, he took out a student loan – which he is eligible for as a Green Card holder – and enrolled for a Masters in Public Health and Tropical Medicine at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. He completed this in 2009, and although it left him with about US$70,000 in debt, it ensured he was closer to achieving his aspiration to practice medicine in the U.S.

As a bonus, Ishmael graduated the top of his Masters class, scooping the Charles C. Bass Award.

But in order to become a Board Certified Doctor in the U.S., he still had to do the Residency Training. In 2010 he moved to Hawai`i after being accepted to do the Family Medicine Residency Program.

“The training is not easy, especially when one is educated in a developing country, and suddenly having to manage patients in world class hospitals in the most advanced nation on earth.” He pauses and then adds reflectively to himself: “This was an achievement for which I give credit to God,” he says.     

Throughout all these, Ishmael never forgot his roots in the mountains of Maringe. His father, Cecil Togamae, is a retired primary school teacher and respected village elder, while his mother, Marion Ohidi, has always been the bedrock of the household.

During his early years of schooling, his father left for teacher training in Australia.

“I missed my Dad a lot, and used to run up hills to look out for ships, wishing my Dad would return in one of those ships, or in one of the planes that flew past our village. I wondered how it felt viewing the world from up there, like birds,” he recalls.

He remembers life in the village as basic and focused on “cultivating, finding and preparing food, and of course church activities.”

“There was no luxury of any sort. We lived in thatched roofed houses, no water supply, no electricity, pit latrines for toilets. We used mud shells as spoons, bamboo to carry and store water, and sometimes coconut shells as plates, because there were not enough plates for everyone.”

After his father returned from Australia, he was posted to a number of primary schools on Isabel, including Jejevo and Goveo Primary Schools, and eventually tasked to start Tigubako Primary School in the highlands of Maringe.

By then Ishmael was in Class 5, so he stayed with relatives at Jejevo and completed his primary education, because the new school at Tigubako didn’t offer higher grades.

“In my early school days, I enjoyed the outside more than being stuck in the classroom. I was forced to learn this strange language: English. I remember having to go to the front of the class to ask the teacher, in English, if I could go to the toilet. I worked out the words in my head and it sounded something like, ‘esus me sir to toilet’,” Ishmael recalls with a chuckle.

In 1983, he passed the Class 6 exams and was selected to go to King George VI. His parents were happy, but he was nervous and ambivalent. The thought of going to a strange place far from his parents and relatives was scary.

But, he had to leave. And so, armed with a traditional Isabel pandanus mat, two short trousers, and two shirts, he left Isabel for the first time, bound for Honiara.

“In town for the first time, I was amazed to see cars, lights, buildings, etc. It felt strange to be in a moving vehicle. Honiara was a totally different world,” he recalls.

In 1990, after completing Form 6, he was offered a scholarship to do Foundation Science at the University of the South Pacific in Suva, Fiji. He was excited by the opportunity to fly in a big plane and go to a foreign country.  

After successfully completing the Foundation Science program, he was admitted to the Fiji School of Medicine to train to become a doctor.

He says, “Life in medical school was exciting and also tiring. I was the only Solomon Islander in my year. It was not easy, but I managed to get through it and graduate with a MBBS degree in 1996,” and returned to Solomon Islands.  

Dr. Ishmael Togamae in Portland, Oregon

Ishmael now practices medicine at the Mid-County Health Center in Multnomah County in Portland, Oregon.  

But, throughout our conversation, Ishmael keeps coming back to his desire to one day return to Solomon Islands. But, he has to first look after his family and pay off his student loan in the U.S.

That young boy who left Santa Isabel over a decade ago has come a long way, quietly leaving behind footprints so one day he could retrace his journey back to where it all started: Gurena Village in the mountains of Maringe.

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