Iva Nancy Vunikura, plying her trade in the high seas.
14TH TRIENNIAL PACIFIC WOMEN’S CONFERENCE
Women in Ocean Governance: Promises and Challenges
Side Event organized by Office of the Pacific Ocean Commissioner
Friday 23rd April 2021
Remarks by Iva Nancy Vunikura
International sailor from Fiji
Bula Vinaka my name is Iva Nancy Vunikura and I am a proud daughter of Vione, Gau, a group of islands in eastern Fiji.
It is an honour for me to share my talanoa as an Oceans Defender, a Seastar, with you today. When I was asked to speak at this event, I was hesitant because I always shy away from these opportunities and didn’t think that I have the right to speak about my experiences in sailing the world on a traditional vaka.
But then I thought, that’s just it, that’s how we have been groomed as women and as people of the Pacific to think of ourselves, as not worthy enough, not knowledgeable enough, not brave enough to stand up and have our voices heard.
I’d like to change that narrative today because I have something to say and I have sailed vast oceans on a traditional vaka, one of the few women in the world that can make this claim. My name is Iva Nancy Vunikura and this is my story.
I started sailing with the Uto Ni Yalo in 2011, a decision that has changed my life completely.
My first voyage with the Te Mana o te Moana in 2011, was one of the proudest moments of my life. We sailed from the South Pacific to the United States, making history and reclaiming our oceans.
That journey was an eye opener for me. We defied all odds when we sailed half-way around the world on a traditional vaka, navigating by the stars and rebirthing our lost traditional art of ocean navigation. We proved that sustainable sea transportation via vakas works, my speaking to you today, is testimony that it is safe, and most importantly that women are an integral part of our reclaiming our oceans and our lost art of traditional voyaging.
The voyage was exciting and challenging at the same time. I sailed with fearless women and men that have helped shape me into who I am today. My early challenges in 2011 was having to keep up with the pace of the men on the vaka. The men crew were strong, swift and fast and I had to learn to navigate those small spaces quickly, trust my sea legs and the crew and just get the job done. Managing our menstrual health was another challenge but we soon learnt to cope and it just became all second nature. My friend Talei, was always sending me care packages of sanitary pads from Fiji to help me cope better.
That journey set me on a path of wanting to continue to sail our oceans preaching sustainable sea transportation, to help people that are in need, to teach our young people, knowledge which has been lost to our people for generations and to share my experiences of what I have seen, our oceans changing, our islands sinking, increasing rubbish floating in our oceans, our moana – dying.
This journey led me to work for the Okeanos Foundation, that advocates for sustainable sea transportation and where we work with crews to reinvigorate the art of traditional sailing around the Pacific. I have sailed and helped teach sailing to crews in Vanuatu, Majuro, in the Marshall islands and my last stint was in Yap, in the Federated States of Micronesia, a place, where it is tabu for women to sail with men. Upon arrival as the core training crew of the Okeanos, our Cook Islands Captain Peia had to seek the permission of the elders and chiefs for me to be allowed to sail and teach the crew onboard the vaka. We were granted permission, but it was hard to work with the new crew because they aren’t used to women on a vaka or a boat. But, this didn’t deter me, I’m not deterred by young men who don’t listen, lol, so I did what I was there to do, and can gladly say that I contributed to the crews learning and creating new ocean defenders.
I have seen first-hand the effects of climate change on our islands as I have been blessed to sail to many shores. Our reality of rising sea levels is very, very scary, of unpredictable weather patterns, erupting volcanoes that have laid dormant for centuries affecting thousands of people across the Pacific, the notion that we can one day lose our homes makes me very sad.
I have dedicated my life to sailing our oceans teaching our people the ways of our ancestors that were the master navigators of our seas. The moana and the spirit of our lands and our peoples take us on our journeys on every single sail. There is mana in the work that we do because we are caring for our moana and our mother earth. The ocean has mana and our Pacific women, our real life Moanas are at the fore of this work.
I was fortunate to attend COP 23 in Germany, on behalf of the Okeanos Foundation, representing the brave women and men who dedicate their lives work to teaching peoples of the Pacific and the world how to sail on traditional vaka as methods of sustainable sea transportation. We are re-teaching sailing skills to our peoples whose main form of transportation used to be by sailing canoes. This knowledge only needs to be unlocked as it has laid dormant for too long. It brings me such joy when we sail our vaka to their shores and we teach them how to sail and we talk to the youth about how their ancestors navigated our oceans. To see the wonder and hope in their eyes, especially in the eyes of girls and women, that they too can sail the ocean as I have, is worth every nautical mile I have sailed.
This is what I do for a living. I belong to a proud family of traditional sailors of the Pacific who advocate for cleaner oceans, cleaner air, no plastics, less pollution and less use of fossil fuels on our oceans, and also very importantly, advocating that women have a place at the helm of our vakas, and if I can do it and I am joined by a proud sisterhood of female voyagers, then girls and women can do even more!
My name is Iva Nancy Vunikura, I am an Ocean Defender and this is my story.
ENDS….
