When the young women of Yap’s remote outer islands leave home to seek a college education, better work opportunities or medical care on the U.S. mainland, the risk of leaving their cultural traditions behind is very real.
In 1945, 722 U.S. Navy ships were anchored in the atoll of Ulithi, 100 miles east of the main island of Yap. This number is even larger than at Pearl Harbor.
The long, low sound of the conch shell announces the beginning of Yap Day, an annual holiday set aside to celebrate the unique culture of this remote island, one of the best-preserved in the entire Pacific region.
Yap? Where’s that? In Micronesia. Oh, you’re moving to Indonesia. No, Micro….Micronesia…in the far western Pacific Ocean just above the equator. Blank stare.
