Interesting tale of Climate Change in Oceania, against a backdrop of
traditional skills passing with the elderly:
Lucky Star was one of three canoes sailed to Guam from Lamotrek by the wayfinder Raigetal and his crew of apprentices. What made this particular canoe so special was the fact that its sail was traditional, meaning it was woven from pandanus leaves by the women of Lamotrek.
There, in the weeks leading up to the voyage, it was discovered that the knowledge of how to weave such a sail was very nearly lost. Literally one woman still knew how to do it.
Her name was Maria Labushoilam, a 90-year-old master weaver, and she was dying.
Maria would spend the last two weeks of her life teaching 15 women how to make that sail.
From her deathbed, she taught them how to harvest, dry, and split the leaves, and then how to weave them. After she died, the women completed the sail without her. The community raised it together.
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