Avatea School visits Vaka

If Angelie Robinson thought space was a bit tight with only crewmembers aboard the Marumaru Atua during its recent Pacific voyage,that was nothing compared to having 40 school children swarming over the vaka on Thursday morning.
“It’s awesome,” said Robinson after conducting a tour for students from Avatea School’s Grades 4 and 5 science classes. “They need to know what the vaka is all about and what sailing and celestial navigation is all about to continue on what their ancestors did and get in touch with their culture.”
The students sang and danced for Robinson and Cook Islands Voyaging Society president Ian Karika before gingerly, albeit eagerly, clambering aboard the vaka. The smiles were huge and frequent as the students inspected the below-deck sleeping quarters, peered into the kitchen area and puzzled over how to flush the toilet in the lone bathroom. In all the excitement, one girl lost a jandal overboard into Avatiu harbour, only to have it rescued from a watery grave before the bus left.
Grade 5 teacher Maara Scheel said the purpose of the trip was to educate the students about traditional voyaging.
“I strongly believe that our children should know how our forefathers managed to sail from one island to another using traditional knowledge,” she said.
Robinson said having schools tour the vaka is a way to continue its voyage.
“You’ve got to keep it alive, even though it’s tied up,” she said. “I enjoy taking the kids aboard and seeing them light up.”
She said the one question she is asked most is how she found the voyage.
“An experience like that is so hard to sum up,” she said. “It was amazing. It ended up becoming, not just a voyage, but a journey to find myself. It was spiritually moving, emotionally moving. It became more about trying to find out about my culture and realizing I don’t know a whole lot.”

By John Ireland

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