Jaki-ed Revival Program
Weavers in the weaving house at the back of USP’s campus. Photo: Karen Earnshaw
By KAREN EARNSHAW
Expert weaver Ashken Binat ‘wears’ one of her jaki-ed. Photo: Karen Earnshaw
Happy Hands: This name of one of Majuro’s successful handicraft stores describes beautifully the weavers of the Marshalls Islands. To be a skilled weaver is to use your busy hands to be creative as you sit with a happy circle of friends and at the same time earn a living, greatly improving your standard of life.
Beginning in October (2011), nine young people began an apprenticeship in the centuries-old art of weaving jaki-ed (clothing mats) in an intensive six-month course being run by the University of the South Pacific’s (USP) Majuro campus and funded by the RMI National Training Council.
“We looked for committed young people who really wanted to get some skills from our three experts weavers,” said Tamara Greenstone, USP’s Continuing and Community Education Coordinator.
The program was split into two, with the mornings being taught at USP’s ‘Jined Kibed,’ which is the name of the Australian-funded weavers’ house, and the afternoons learning about the business of marketing and selling handicrafts.
“In the morning they learned to make jaki-ed from the program’s instructors Susan Jieta, Ashken Binat and Patsy Herman. In the afternoons, the novice weavers worked at one of the handicraft stores that we’ve partnered with for the project,” Tamara said. “While at the stores, as well as seeing the financial benefits of weaving and learning about marketing, the students worked with the stores’ weavers to learn how to make other types of ‘amimono’ (handicrafts).”
Director of USP’s Majuro Campus, Dr. Irene Taafaki said that this was the second weavers’ apprenticeship program. “We held a year-long weaving course at NVTI (National Vocational Training Institute) in 2008 and we spotted some serious talent amongst the young women who otherwise would not have had a chance to learn weaving.”
“The second program was a double education, because it not only taught them weaving, but also they will listen to their elders and hear all the things that women talk about in the context of a weaving circle, which is culturally important.”
