PROGRAM PRIORITIES of PTS

April 2021 - August 2022

1. In January 2021 the Honiara-based Executive Director and Treasurer went to Taumako and held a meeting at which 90%+ of Taumako community decided to register a new charitable organization. In June, 2021 it was registered and is named Holau Vaka Taumako Association. Luke Vaikawi, Pacific Traditions Society, and Mimi George resigned from VVA in 2021..

(N.B.: In September, 2021 meetings of the general membership and the Directors of VTPSI/VVA occurred at Taumako. That organisationʻs Annual General Meetings and all-community meetings at Taumako had been delayed until June, 2021 because of a tsunami, a volcanic eruption, 2 class 5 cyclones, and lack of communications between Honiara-based Taumakoans and Taumako residents. Also, proper receipts for expenditures by some of the VVA project leaders were not forthcoming starting in 2017, and what those people received funding for they did not do in 2017-2019).

The priority programs of HVTA are listed below.

2. Construction of an all-season support, transport, and emergency vessel began in Hawai`i

An escort vessel is legally required for student voyages of the TePuke. PTS aimed to build a 38ʻ vessel under construction is an ocean-going proa design in modern materials with a 14hp diesel auxiliary engine. PTS engaged and paid a builder in Hawaii to build it. The builder ran twice the costs and still did not complete a seaworthy vessel. More changes and sea trials were needed, but funding ran out. PTS and HVTA still seek to build or acquire the vessel needed.

3. Fundraise for student sea-training and voyages to extend the inter-island range for training voyages and accommodate more student crew members. Costs include rations for workers and school fees for workers’ children, while the community builds the vessel.

4. Complete build the TeAlo Lili now (2025) under construction by HVTAʻs Taumako Traditional Voyaging Culture School

5. Fundraise to build interior and loft accomodations for the permanently-roofed canoe house (Halevaka) at Taumako. This structure and a leaf-roofed halevaka shelter and maintain canoes and accommodates students and visitors of Lata Cultural Voyaging School. Interior work and equipment is needed to safely archive voyaging library books, video equipment & editing lab, cultural resource materials, solar and WIFI communications equipment, office equipment, tools and supplies.

6. Deliver and iInstall laptops into the computer lab that has been built on site of the school Halevaka. A solar power system and Starlink has been installed on the roof of the computer lab. Support for annual data plans and for training for maintenance crew for internet communications, laptops, video equipment, and solar lighting at the Halevaka. Communications are essential for the Taumako-based charitable organization to maintain their charitable organisation status and to welcome and accommodate voyaging students and visitors interested in ancient voyaging knowledge. The MacBook Air laptops donated years ago by Fred Ross (with matching grants by Microsoft and PTS) are now not functioning. With proper protection in the HVTA halevaka new laptops can be expected to last much longer.

7. Complete part 3 of We, the Voyagers: Lata’s Children documentary film series. The first film, We, the Voyagers: Our Vaka, and the second film We, the Voyagers: Our Moana are both freely available on vaka.org and Vimeo. We seek donor support for costs of making the third film, We, the Voyagers: Our Family. This film is to focus on women and children in voyaging and on re-establishing inter-island partnerships and networks, including with new partners internationally. Three aspiring Taumako filmmakers have been recording interviews with women experts. Soon they will document ancient methods of food preservation under a grant from the Endangered Material Knowledge Programme of the British Museum. This grant does not cover most of the Pacific Traditions Society and HVTA administrative and communication costs, which are urgently needed by both organisations.

8. Make a voyage from Taumako, Solomon Islands to Vanuatu. In recent years the seasonal winds are fluky. But this voyage will be made when the time is right.

8B. Make a voyage from Taumako to the voyaging school of Pasana Group, the HVTA partner voyaging school at Basilaki Island, PNG.

9. Complete and publish Sailing with Lata, a book by Mimi George and Taumako colleagues telling the story of the Vaka Taumako Project and explaining a wealth of never before reported voyaging knowledge taught by Kaveia, and other women and men masters of Polynesian voyaging arts. We are fundraising for production of diagrams and supplementary video sequences to be included with the book and dvd, and for writeup time for the authors to work together, and for expert work in web publishing and distribution.

10. Fundraise for salaries, office space, and equipment for HVTA and PTS administrators. They both need to pay communications data, laptops, video software and training, and modest salaries while they write grant applications, and enact programs and create collaborations with international offices and students.

11. Complete digitization and acquire protective storage boxes for all the video footage, photos, books, and voyaging valuables to be safely archived at the HVTA Halevaka at Taumako.

12. Complete design and registration of a WIX website for HVTA. In 2021 the Taumako charitable organization can take control and begin load their own content. Fundraising for $25.USD/month cost to be paid by the Taumako charitable organization.

*PTS aims to meet these goals between February 2025 and February 2026. PTS believes these steps will make the Taumako Traditional Voyaging and Culture School of Holau Vaka Taumako Association, and HVTA and PTS themselves, completely self-supporting.

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