Thatching

Rain bands with rain driven wind gusts slammed Pohnpei all day today. In town wind took down at least one shack. Out on the road to Sekere a banana blocked the Kolonia bound lane. Himawari satellite shots showed that the heaviest precipitation was moving west to east, but on the ground the rain was moving from east to west. I never did sort this discrepancy out.

The Vitz proved more capable of handling long loads than the Demio. 

The rau always extends to the front seat, but in the Demio the hatchback has had to left open on occasion as the rau are moved from maintenance to the gym on campus. 

The oahs and rau arrived just before two, and I was on the leeward side of the gym by 14:20. I went to collect an Ixora casei stem, still thinking the class might yet engage in thatching. 

By 14:55 I was four or five fronds into doakoahs en Ruk. I set that aside and went to work on doakoahs en Pohnpei.

I was well along (further than at 15:08 above) with the doakoahs en Pohnpei by 15:30. While the rain had stopped, the parking lot was soaking wet and puddled. There was no functional way to proceed with having everyone try their hand at thatching. I finished the doakoahs en Pohnpei and turned my attention to the doakoahs en Ruk.

Crystal Mae and Tommylee with doakoahs en Pohnpei.

Students trickled in one by one over the opening twenty minutes of class with most spread out along the sidewalk at the base of the building.  There wasn't an easy way to run a demonstration, so I said nothing and worked until I had finished the doakoahs en Ruk. 

Doakoahs en Ruk, Maryam seated on the left

Only with both styles complete did I start to ask questions. Did anyone notice that two thatches were different? Only two students, Maryam and Tommylee saw the difference. Does anyone know the Pohnpeian names for the two thatching styles? None of the Pohnpeian students did. Maryam is Ulithian, so she was excused. Noting that Maryam and Tommylee arrived on foot, and everyone else arrived by car, I suggested that perhaps I had a class full of mehnwai. I also noted that if the students felt anger towards me, that was valid. A person from Chicago shouldn't be the one to teach these things to Pohnpeians on Pohnpei. 

I noted there were renewed efforts to develop indigenous knowledge, local languages, customs  and culture into education. I said that I fully support these efforts, and I do. Courses such as ethnobotany are focused on indigenous knowledge. But I also said that I was not optimistic. I fear that it's already too late. A generation raised on cell phones is growing up L1 in English.

I can hope ethnobotany can play some small part in these efforts. Ethnobotany also demonstrated the complexity of the task ahead. This is not a monolingual or monocultural nation. I have to make a best effort to provide learning in Pohnpeian, Kosraean, Chuukese, Yapese, Woleaian, Ulithian, Kapingan, Pingalapese, Mwokillese, Mortlockese... The reality is I fall far short. 

While nations such as Palau and Marshall Islands are essentially monolingual and monocultural, Micronesia is not - and here I am using Micronesia intentionally and in the spirit that first president Tosiwo Nakayama used the term. There is only one nation that retained that appellation. Designing curriculum to support the diversity that is present in Micronesia is daunting at best. Efforts have been made in the past, none were sustained and perhaps none were sustainable.