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Micronesian Voyaging Society donates to Palau college
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Posted on Mar 24 2015
From left, Alan Seid, Ibedul Yutaka Gibbons, Palau Community College president Dr. Patrick U. Tellei, Micronesian Voyaging Society president Shallum Etpison, Tina Rechucher, and Ephraim Ngirachitei. (Contributed Photo)
The Micronesian Voyaging Society donated $7,000 to Palau Community College on March 4, 2015. Members of the society that presented the donation were Ibedul Yutaka Gibbons, MVS president Shallum Etpison, Alan Seid, Tina Rechucher, and Ephraim Ngirachitei. PCC president Dr. Patrick U. Tellei received the donation on behalf of the college.
The Micronesian Voyaging Society is a group that promotes and supports non-instrumental navigation methods historically present in the Pacific island cultures. It continues to fundraise in order to maintain Alingano Maisu, a seafaring vessel used in the Non-Instrument Navigation Course offered at Palau Community College under the tutelage of Master Navigator Sesario Sewralur. Master Navigator Sewralur has made numerous voyages to the neighboring Micronesian islands, including the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands.
The society was created under the influence of Sewralur’s father, Pius Mau Pialug, a master navigator from the Island of Satawal in Yap State. He sailed across the Pacific Ocean using the navigation skills and art that he learned from his grandfather. During his voyages, he would visit with the islanders and try to form a “bridge” between the islands. It was Pialug’s wish that the Micronesian Voyaging Society perpetuate his name so that they will serve as a lasting bridge between cultures making his dream of a “United Pacific Family” a reality.
It is the intent of the Micronesian Voyaging Society to preserve and to perpetuate the cultural legacy of our people. The Micronesian Voyaging Society will dedicate itself to the perpetuation of traditional Pacific Islander methods of navigation, seafaring, way-finding, and predict weather conditions. (PCC)
