The Diver Who Fell from the Sky (Color)

<p> <span style=color: black;>Maverick innovator entrepreneur environmentalist and sheer force of nature Francis Toribiong would have been a unique and significant individual no matter where in the world he was born. As it turned out he was born in the island nation of Palau in the Western Pacific at just the right time to apply his special set of skills and attributes to the task of helping his country find its place in the world.</span></p><p> <span style=color: black;>In the 1980s and 1990s he arguably did more than anyone to build Palau's economy and help it develop into an independent forward-looking nation.</span></p><p> <span style=color: black;>And improbably he achieved this via the sport of scuba diving.</span></p><p> <span style=color: black;>Francis Toribiong is a Pacific Islander like no other. He is the father of Palau tourism a scuba diving pioneer and an effective tireless ambassador for both his country and its abundant marine and land resources.</span></p><p> <span style=color: black;>He was born poor and had no academic leanings. Yet he was driven to succeed by a combination of duty faith a deep-seated determination to do the right thing and an absolute refusal ever to compromise his values.</span></p><p> <span style=color: black;>For his whole life he has been a devoted friend to strangers and an implacable opponent to anybody who through malevolence or negligence threatens Palau's considerable natural treasures. He has also been the perfect host to generations of scuba divers from all over the world who have visited Palau to see those treasures for themselves. </span></p><p> <span style=color: black;>And as well as all that he was Palau's first ever parachutist - known by his fellow islanders as the Palauan who fell from the sky.</span></p><p> <span style=color: black;>They were speaking both literally and figuratively. He was so completely different from all of his contemporaries in terms of his demeanor his ambitions and his vision that it was as if he had come from outer space. Palau had never seen anybody quite like him and there was no historical precedent for what Francis Toribiong did. He had no operations manual to consult and no examples to follow. He wrote his own life. </span></p><p> <span style=color: black;>Francis Toribiong was the first Palauan ever to seek and seize the international narrative. No Palauan in any context or field had previously thought to go out into the world and say: - </span></p><p><br></p><p class=ql-align-center><strong style=color: black;><em>This is Palau - what we have is wonderful. Come and see!</em></strong></p><p><span style=color: black;>This is his astonishing story.</span></p>