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Dear Educators
Aloha! We are happy to provide you with this educational
packet to be used in conjunction with Hokule'a's current voyage "Closing
the Triangle: A Quest for Rapa Nui."
Our voyages have value only when we are able to share with
others what we learn along the way; so again, we have worked in
partnership with others in the community to design educational materials
and programs which allow all of us
to sail together. The activities outlined in this packet are intended to
bring you and your students along with us on this journey.
Our current endeavor is the most ambitious to date for
the Polynesian Voyaging Society. With this journey to Rapa Nui we are attempting
to retrace the only major Polynesian migratory route not yet sailed by Hokule'a.
The reason that we have not yet made the voyage to Rapa
Nui is not that we didn't want to, but we didn't know how. We have to go 1400 miles directly into the prevailing
winds, a journey that could have taken our ancestors to the very limit
of their ability to remain healthy or survive on a voyaging canoe. Add the
fact that Rapa Nui is very difficult to find--a small and isolated island, surrounded by a virtually empty sea. How in
the world could our ancestors have found and settled this island? We are
sailing in the wake of people who were the greatest ocean explorers of
their time and the first to leave the safety of coastal sailing and
venture into the open ocean. We go to Rapa Nui to honor those who had the
courage, fortitude and vision to settle our vast Pacific
nation of Polynesia.
This voyage will allow us to continue in our quest to explore,
accept new challenges, and discover new things, and to work together to
achieve a collective vision. By pursuing new and difficult challenges, we
build on and expand our knowledge, skills, and abilities and strengthen
and extend our traditions.
As we pay tribute to and learn more about the
achievements of those in the past, our
sights are set upon the future and finding a way to live well on small
islands, in harmony with our natural world and with one another. These
are the great challenges of the next century, and we hope that this voyage
will draw attention to them and lead to discussions about solutions. Our
inspiration comes from the ancient people who found a way to balance human
needs with the resources of their natural world.
This then, is our next destination - Malama
Hawai'i, to
take good care of Hawai'i; we sail with this vision for the future:
Hawai'i, our special island home, is a place where
the land and sea are cared for, and the people and their communities are
healthy and safe.
The themes which we share in this packet--"History and
Heritage," "Vision and Exploration," and "Our Sacred Earth"--represent the
focus of Malama Hawai'i. We invite you to join with us as we
journey together with a common mission: to make a
meaningful and on-going contribution to the wellness, health, and spirit
of Hawai'i and the planet Earth through education and
community-building.
Me ke aloha
pumehana,
Nainoa Thompson, Navigator
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