Today, I had the honour to attending a work rangahau (indigenous research) series with guest speaker, John Misky, who is a tufuga (master practioner) of va'a or traditional canoe builder. He came as a guest to speak to a group of around 20 educators who were interested to listen to his story.
He spoke about growing up in Tokelau as a young boy, with his grandparents and then moving with them to live in New Zealand. During the time with his grandparents, he made a promise to his grandmother that he would build a canoe.
The sad thing is that, many years ago, it was a common practice that was passed down in the islands but nowadays very few people are able to build them through the traditional process. Therefore the languaging used would have been one of the measina that has been lost to time.
I was able to ask a question to him after thanking him for his inspirational story and especially that there is a resurgence for such knowledge to be learned again. The question was related to how it is not common knowledge and if he was interested in sharing this knowledge in Samoa. In reminding him that Samoa was once known as the 'Navigator Islands' back in the 1800s by first European explorers.
He did say that he had already had discussions with the Samoan voyaging society and hoped to be able to do something together with them in the not too distant future. This is quite special in being able to speak to someone who is learning knowledge about a measina that was almost lost.
John Misky was able to draw from his experience in joining a 2 year voyage around the Pacific including sailing in a traditional double hulled va'a to Samoa, Fiji, Tahiti, Cook Islands, Marquesas, Hawaii, west coast USA, Mexico, Galapagos Island, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands (not in that order).
His story is truly inspirational in never giving up and being able to finally launch in last year after starting his 3rd or 4th attempt to make it in keeping a promise to his grandmother. He's definitely someone to be inspired by and hope that many get to listen to his story...
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