'Uncivilized' Islands Can Be Inviting

Ann Arborite Visits Micronesia

'Uncivilized' Islands Can Be Inviting

By Jan Stucker

Much of Micronesia - a 3,000-mile chain of tropical islands situated east of the Philippines - is virtually untouched by civilization.

The inhabitants of some of these island groups, which consist of the Marianas, Carolines, Marshals, Gilberts and Nauru islands, live nearly as their ancestors did thousands of years ago.

Just ask Mrs. Will Connelly of 411 Orchard Hill Drive, Ann Arbor.

Mrs. Connelly, who wears the various "hats" of a public health nurse, amateur photographer and airplane pilot, recently returned from a three-week, 16,000-mile trek to Yuman Island, in the Truk District of the Eastern Caroline islands.

She journeyed to this primitive island for two reasons: to visit her son and daughter-in-law who have been living on Yuman for several months, and to take films of how blind children adapt to life in primitive cultures. Mrs. Connelly's son is doing his field research on Yuman for his doctorate degree in cultural anthropology. The movies were taken for a child development project being conducted by Ann Arbor's Children's Psychiatric Hospital. Mrs. Selma Fraiberg of Ann Arbor is in charge of the hospital.

Yuman Island is not exactly being mobbed with tourists: it is too far off the beaten path for that. It is rare that Americans go there unless they happen to be anthropologists, Peace Corps people of U.S. Trust Territories officials.

But it is a quiet, inviting kind of paradise nevertheless.

But Air Micronesia in a bid to woo tourists has promised to build hotels on the main island in each group.

Mrs. Connelly did a bit of island hopping with Air Micronesia on the way back, stopping briefly at Kwajalein, Majuro and Johnson Island. The first two are used largely as military bases, and Mrs. Connelly couldn't see much, but she found Majuro an interesting atoll.

For Mrs. Connelly, the trip was an unqualified success. "I enjoyed it immensely," she said. "The people are lovely and hospitable if you try to understand them and their ways."

Yuman, a volcanic isle dotted with jungles, surrounded by coral reefs and people with 2,000 natives, is truly a primitive place. It has no roads, no wheeled vehicles (one either walks or takes a boat), no electricity, no telephones, no running water and, of course, no airport, Mrs. Connelly reports.

The brown-skinned natives who closely resemble their Polynesian neighbors, are thought to have originally come from Eastern Asia and Indonesia. They are mainly Catholics, typically have large families (10 or 11 children are common, Mrs. Connelly relates), and are tough and self-reliant.

They must be to survive.

A day in the Micronesians' life is typically spent in work. The women sweep out their thatched huts daily, scrub the floors, wash the family's clothing in a cold-water stream, cook and take care of the children.

The men spend the day spear-fishing and gathering bread fruit by climbing the tall bread fruit trees.

Since there is no refrigeration on the island, and no food keeps in the broiling sun (the temperature usually hovers between 80 and 90 degrees, with high humidity), fresh food must be caught of picked and cooked daily. Fish, breadfruit and taro are the mainstays of the Yuman islanders' diet, supplemented by pineapples, bananas, coconuts, and occasionally, chickens and pigs.

The food is cooked over a small fire in a  "cook house," separate from the family quarters. All food is eaten with the hands, Mrs. Connelly reports. There are no eating utensils.

Mrs. Connelly found the natives live in thatched huts built on raised platforms. The people own no furniture of any kind - they sleep, eat and sit on the floor.

And what do Micronesians do for entertainment? Mrs. Connelly says there are occasional feasts and also graceful forms of native dancing. Bingo - presumably introduced by the Catholic Missionaries - is also a favorite of the natives. The children have no sophisticated toys; they "entertain themselves with whatever is at hand," Mrs. Connelly comments.

The children have two favorite sports. The boys have a form of wrestling.

And the girls race against each other with quart bottles or with tin cans filled with sand on their heads. The fun has a purpose: to help the girls learn to carry burdens on their heads.

The Micronesians believe "very thoroughly" in ghosts, magic, witches and incantations, too. Professional medical care is "extremely limited" she says, and witch doctors still practice their craft.

The Yuman children attend an elementary school on the island, taught in the native dialect by a native teacher. Virtually no one on the island speaks English. For high school, the youngsters must travel to the neighboring island of Moen. But according to Mrs. Connelly, very few Yuman children go beyond the eighth grade.

The people interested in world events, however, she says, listen intently to the news on Moen's island one radio station. One copy of a small mimeographed weekly newspaper published on Moen is also sent to Yuman each week.

Mrs. Connelly was favorably impressed with the Yuman people, who are "charming and gracious," she says, "if you take the trouble to understand them." They have a "sense of pride because they exist through their own efforts," she adds, and are "extremely hospitable," though "occasionally hot-tempered."

One example of the hospitality was a feast given expressly for Mrs. Connelly by the village chief and the people. Chickens were killed for the occasion, and formal speeches after dining honoring her were made.

Mrs. Connelly commented the people are "modest, in their own way." She illustrates by explaining the women think nothing of "going topless" while they are working in the sun, but are "horrified" at miniskirts. Simple cotton dresses, worn two to three inches below the knee, are the rule for women. Men usually wear slacks, while the young generally wear no clothing.

Mrs. Connelly hopes to return to Micronesia some day, though she has no definite plans. "It was a wonderful experience," she declared.

Island Souvenirs

Mrs. Will Connelly shows some of her souvenirs from her visit to Micronesia. The has is of pandas leaves, a material used in making floor mats and other woven items. The rack on the table is a "truces telephone." A boy on the island of True who wants a date with a girl will use one of the carved sticks in the rack to poke through the thatched wall of hut and into a girls' hair.

Below, a new "town hall" for village meetings and family get-togethers has just been completed.