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Global Education Village, Papeʻete

By ʻOiwi TV
The Tai Nui Friends of Hōkūleʻa arranged activities in support of the Mālama Honua and education mission of the Worldwide voyage. The Minister of Education, Michel Lecoucher, has designated a Tahitian official to lead Mālama Hōnua Worldwide Voyage activities in every school in French Polynesia. The Global Education village featured dockside lessons that the crew members packed in coolers in a cooperative project with Bishop Museum and the University of Hawaiʻi’s Aʻo program. Hundreds of school children and teachers participated in the Global Education village.

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20140622 Arrival Papeete

Hōkūlea in Tahiti

Aloha! For the first time in 14 years, Hōkūleʻa returned to Papeʻete, the landfall for her maiden voyage from Hawaiʻi in 1976 where 17,000 Tahitians welcomed her.

Hōkūle‘a and Hikianalia were greeted in Tahiti with celebrations commemorating the special relationship between Hōkūleʻa and Tahiti that began with her maiden voyage to French Polynesia 39 years ago. President of French Polynesia, Gaston Flosse, and other dignitaries welcomed in the Polynesian Voyaging Society captains and crew.

The canoes made landfall at 4:00 p.m. Sarah Vaki, sister of Hikianalia crew member Herve Maraetaata, travelled from her home in the Marquesas to Tahiti to continue a tradition of singing an arrival song for the canoes once they are within sight of land. Heremoana Maatuaaihutapu gave the Tahitian greeting for Hōkūleʻa that his father, Maco, gave in 1976.

In a gathering after the crew made landfall, a special declaration of “Mālama Honua” and pledge to care for the oceans was presented to President Gaston Flosse and master navigator Nainoa Thompson. Tahiti’s Mālama Honua declaration brought together a diverse group of organizations in a pledge of support. Thompson will take this declaration to the United Nations conference in Apia, Samoa, as well as all future ports during the Mālama Honua Worldwide Voyage sponsored by Hawaiian Airlines. “I was here in 1976, and the people of Tahiti gave us a great gift—they told us that we are family and to be proud of who we are as Pacific people,” said Thompson, amid applause. “Tahiti changed Hawaii forever, and 38 years later, you hand me this Mālama Honua declaration to protect the ocean, and give us hope again.”

If you are in Papeʻete, there are many planned events and opportunities to visit the canoes and meet the crew.

Tuesday, June 24, through Thursday, June 26 8:00am to 11:00am

Global Education Village with booths and displays about navigation and Mālama Honua efforts.

Tuesday, June 24, 2014, 6:00pm

Nainoa Thompson lectures on navigation techniques and the Mālama Honua Worldwide Voyage at University.

Sunday, June 29, 2014, 2:00pm

Ceremonial renaming of Paofai beach to Hōkūle‘a Beach by Gaston Flosse, President of French Polynesia.

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Working in unison is key on board the waʻa.

Connecting Relationships

By ʻOiwi TV

“I really feel that there is mana in this voyage. Undoubtedly, every single time I come around, METC [Marine Education Training Center], or the Polynesian Voyaging Society, or crewmembers, I feel it, it’s so much more than one person. It’s so much more than one organization. It’s so much more than one canoe or two canoes. It’s about touching the minds and the hearts of the people, and having our minds and our hearts touched as well. With the ports that we go to, and in that same reciprocal relationship, we’re going to try to listen as much as we possibly can to them, because we have so much to learn too,” said Hōkūleʻa education specialist Linda Furuto.

By listening and engaging in Mālama Honua at these ports, crewmembers are sharing and gaining knowledge for educational opportunities back home, and around the world!

“The reason I voyage is to keep those classrooms there to be a bridge for whatever I can take from the canoe and give to my community and to give to those kids so that they can come down and do it. If a child from Asia knows a child from Africa, same age, they are able to be connected over similar interests in something as Hōkūleʻa. That’s a really cool thought. That’s a really cool vision,” said apprentice navigator Austin Kino.

“We’ve been, for the last six years, trying to define what does success look like? What does it feel like locally, at home and around the world? I think the biggest reason why we’re sailing around the world is because this earth is not on the right sail plan, and we’ve got to shift course. I think Hōkūle’a can really be that catalyst, globally. I truly think it’s going to come from the individual people that tag into the voyage along the way and actually respond with feedback that because we visited this community and told this story. So I see it as this like web of a movement that just starts springing up from the ground up,” said apprentice navigator Jenna Ishii.

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