The Vaka Taumako Project is a team of volunteer sailors, navigators, canoe-builders, students, teachers, scholars, doctors, documentarians, cooks and gardeners; men, women, children and elders from the Solomon Islands and the United States, working to perpetuate the practice of ancient Polynesian voyaging knowledge. Officially, the Vaka Taumako Project operates under the aegis of the Pacific Traditions Society, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization since 1988
What they do
They learn how to build and sail voyaging canoes from the last Polynesian people who are experienced in doing that using fully ancient methods, materials and tools. They document the technology and meanings of voyaging for the crews and communities involved. They create cultural and educational collaborations and international awareness of ancient arts as they as being practiced and learned and shared by Taumako artisans and wayfinders.
Where they work
They have worked in Temotu Province, Solomon Islands, since the Vaka Taumako Project officially started in 1996. Until now the international administrative office of the VTP has been located in Hawaii. As local capacities and resources are developed among the Taumako leadership, they are in the process of handing over control to the them. Local leadership is currently establishing a new charitable organization called the Vaka Taumako Project of the Solomon Islands (VTPSI). While they currently operate as a 501c3 non-profit organization registered in the United States, in the coming years, VTPSI will assume full administrative control of all of their programs and initiatives. Click the link to read or download VTPSI's Memorandum of Understanding.
Mission
The Vaka Taumako Project aims to perpetuate ancient Polynesian seafaring knowledge and practice by training a new generation of Taumako youth to build, sail, and navigate using the ancient methods, materials, and tools used by their ancestors, and by research, documentation, and dissemination of this knowledge.
Goals
