Letters from the Sleeping Lady - The Kindling of Two Teachers and Kosrae Island

What began with the simple idea of sharing some old letters with our granddaughters became a unique look into a little known bit of South Pacific history.
The letters were written during our two years on one of the most remote islands in the South Pacific. In 1964 we had accepted elementary teaching positions in a local village school on an island named Kosrae. It is an island in Micronesia then known as the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. Little was known about Micronesia and even less about Kosrae. It was several years before we had any real understanding of the history of these islands. Kosrae (then spelled Kusaie), an island of 49 sq miles, 300 miles from its nearest neighbor, 1200 miles from the nearest grocery store or hospital, and 5,000 miles from the nearest city. Our contact with the rest of the world was extremely limited - no newspapers, no telephones, no radios, no television - only a ship that came every 4 to 8 weeks. The fundamental facilities of the island were also extremely limited - no electricity or running water, no hardware stores, no clothing stores, no drug stores, no gas stations, no grocery stores, no restaurants, or simply, no stores period. The only places called “stores” were the house or two in each village that sold some basics - seldom more than rice, flour, sugar, kerosene, and mosquito coils. We knew most of this before leaving our home in the northwest United States, but missed by a mile what living there would be like. For example, it never occurred to us what we would eat or how we would get it.
Never had we thought that we would be the center of attention. In addition to being a village novelty we were at times the village idiots. Neither of us had ever ridden a motorbike, let alone paddled a canoe. Teaching we expected, but not flying fish fishing, mangrove crab hunting, tramping through tropical jungles and finding a pirates ship. A whole lexicon of words were added to our vocabulary. Swimming over a coral reef was in Malcolm’s dreams, but never in Tarry’s. Above all else, there was the discovery that the two of us were a good team.
We learned to teach with nothing - no books, no paper, no pencils and mostly no curriculum. We developed strategies and styles of instruction to solve problems most teachers are never faced with. This culminated in a summer of full time teacher training. We had to help the Micronesians teachers answer the question “How does a teacher without resources, who has not graduated from high school, teaching in a language they are not familiar with, be effective in the classroom?”
We watched the beginning of the dynamic change the Kusaiens were undertaking. They had been almost totally isolated from the rest of the world. In the 1920's the Japanese closed Micronesia to the rest of the world. After World War II the United States kept the door closed until 1963. In the years after the war the Micronesians had received very little help or support for their schools. The Kosraians governed their island and schools without much outside interference. This all changed dramatically during those two years.