Can You Create A Masterpiece With One Finger

Each year since 2005, the Vanuatu men have travelled across the ocean to attend the annual Sandroing (sand drawing) Festival. Art is used as the medium for gathering together and communicating, their ancient culture and traditions, in a land where there are over 150 distinct cultures and languages. In the northern, tropical islands of Vanuatu, each year the Festival occurs at a different location. For the northern island artists of Torba Province this can prove to be a deep disappointment as it hinders their involvement. Their canoes cant make the journey across the wide expanses of wild ocean, when the Festival is held to the south. Historically the link between inter-island canoe voyaging and sand drawing is strong. The Festival opens with the arrival of canoes. The different language groups have communicated through sand drawing. This has allowed an extensive network of relationships to develop. Rituals, stories and songs have played their part. In creating a sand drawing the finger must work in a precise way on the fresh sand to create the geometric patterns. Each drawing conveys extensive knowledge about local history, rituals and cosmologies, kinship systems, natural phenomena and farming matters. Vanuatu Sand Drawing was proclaimed a "Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity" by UNESCO in 2003. The UNESCO/Japan Funds-In-Trust For the Preservation and Promotion of Intangible Cultural Heritage began to fund the program to safeguard sand drawing in Vanuatu in 2004. A skilled artist must have a steady hand, a strong understanding of the graphic patterns and motifs, and a deep understanding of their significance. Sand drawers must be able to interpret the drawings for spectators. Other ancient traditions are showcased as part of the Sandroing Festival. These include dances, games, magic shows, story-telling, string figures and weaving demonstrations. The Vanuatu peoples resolve to maintain their old customs and traditions, whilst going forward in the 21st century, has received a boost with UNESCOs acknowledgment of the sand drawing tradition. As a Lesser Developed Country of the South Pacific, Vanuatu recognizes the urgent need for the education of the next generation if the country is to progress However, the government admitted in late 2007 that it does not have the finances to provide free education. The villagers of the isolated islands living in a no-cash economy have no money to pay school fees. The devastating results of this are revealed in statistics that have changed little since 199: only 55.8% of Vanuatu kids will get to grade 6; of those only 18.2% will go to high school ; 26% will never go to school at all. YouMe Support Foundation, a Child Trust Fund, is one of the few groups dedicated to giving these children a high school education. YouMe Support Foundation is raffling a resort on the Internet in a unique, world first, Blue Moon Opportunity.


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About the Author:
Dr Wendy Stenberg-Tendys and her husband are CEOs of YouMe Support Foundation("http:youmesupport.org"), providing non-repayable high school education grants for children who will never have the opportunity to have an education without outside assistance. This is once in a life time Blue Moon Opportunity for someone to own their own private holiday home, plus 6 luxury holiday units, while assisting these children to gain an education. Check it out at Win a Resort