Commentary - Observations - Yap

I found Yap to be very different from most of the Micronesia Islands I have visited. The community structure is very spread out. Villages seem to be more a sense of geographical area rather than a community of people (at least in modern Yap). Only in the area south of Colonia along the shoreline did I find a village in the traditional sense, where houses were close enough to share village life. In the rest of village house were so far apart that I do not see how village life could exist. This distance between housing was also reflected in individual houses, those that were close to the roads were usually behind some vegetation that blocked their visibility from the road. Traditionally in the Micronesia I have experienced people walking up the road would often visit with neighbors in their yards or on picnic tables outside their houses - I saw almost none of this and do not see the environment supporting it.

The remnants of ancient village "paths" were still present and looked as if they may still be maintained. On these path (I travel only two and not far) a few house were near and open to a traveler's communication. Most of these leads to the village Men's house, which seem to be the unit of village (like a Catholic Church is in the Marianas). However several the Men's houses look like they are not being used on a regular bases any more. I was also told these path provide passage between near by villages. In the two hours I spent on these path I never encounter a fellow traveler, which may suggest the car traffic is replacing their use. They were certainly picturesque and intriguing.

I noted that beatification along the roads seemed to be a high priority and that if not fully developed, I always saw fresh planting suggesting that it was being developed. Vegetation on Yap also appeared more abundant and natural than on Guam .

Yap appears to have very little population density for the amount of land present, and most of the center of the Island seems undeveloped. I did note the presence of two garment factories. I was told that they employed about 45 local workers and over 200 Chinese workers. I visited one and asked I could take pictures of their operation (I was not allowed) and was told that they were preparing for a visit from Nike on a possible contract.

Most families a still heavily dependent on local taro patches and other local crops for foodstuffs. There were only two major stores on island selling processed food and they were not well stocked - of course there was the usual number of local Mom-and-Pop store - at least one per village, but they did not carry a large diversity of products. There was a local farmers market with two or three sellers always operating and they seemed to regular customers. Manufactured products were limited and expensive.

Yap currently has two TV channels broadcast about 11 hours per day, one is educational and other is a major mix of NBC,CBS and ABC (state run). John Hasmai, an outer islander I met on Ulithi, produces a bi-weekly half-hour TV and radio news program for the local stations. There is both a AM and FM radio stations which are state run. I was told the that the FM station, which play mostly current pop music is the preferred station, but carries very little news and can only be heard within the immediate area of Colonia. However, plans to establish a cable operation which will operate 24 hours per day are underway and should be operational by Fall 2003 (a state - private partnership).

Yap has the most advanced education computer operation of all the island groups, most due to Jim Stevenson and American who has been there for the last 7 years (unfortunately he was leaving at the end of Feb. 2003 - and many were worried that the established system would begin to fall apart). He has established both an Island wide computer network and operation via satellite on the outer islands of Yap. They have a high developed multi-media distance learning lab. A fifteen strong group of trained computer/network specialist to maintained and develop the operations (unfortunately Jim said all were paid by special grants and he feared that if not moved to the regular education department funding would find themselves un-supported in the future).

I was told that the education department was having significant problems with leadership and had gone downhill in the past two years. Part of the problems was that all leadership personnel was either Outer Islanders or Americans - with no local Yapesse in upper positions which would lead to funding and support problems. I visited the local high school and stayed with a American teacher who had taught there for the last three years. He said academics were low ( and getting worse) and that student behavior was growing horrific at a rapid rate, which he blamed on the lack of local leadership. (He had a knife pulled on him only a week previously and the student was only reprimanded.)

Only about 10% population ware traditional clothing, but I saw more topless women on Yap than on Falalop-Ulithi.

Wages are low a local nurse with an LPN license was only making $0.90 per hour and another who worked at a store made $0.80 per hour, however suppliment her income by sewing cloths - which almost doubled her weekly income. I met with a local artist 'Tom' who had been part of the Yap Artist Workshop (a grant) - he said that he made enough income as an artist (with his wife working) to survive - and better than he had working in construction. The Yap Artist Workshop had been established under a US grant to train young artist to commercialize their work - originally 8 had participated in the program, only after funding end only two remained.

Tourism on Yap seem be at a relatively low level - I note four hotel that were operational, but a long way from fully occupied - and I did not note more than a couple of dozen visitors while I was there. Of course Yap is gateway to Many of the outer islands of FSM - Fais, Ulithi, Satawal, and Woleia.