UPDATE: On October 3, the Hoʻomālamalama Foundation announced that Appisode 1 of the Mālama Honua app is now free. Download it now in the App Store.
On Sunday, June 5, Hōkūleʻa will arrive in New York City, reaching yet another historical milestone in this Worldwide Voyage. Dozens of students and staff from Kamehameha Schools will accompany the vessel for this moment as the voyaging canoe participates in World Oceans’ Day at the United Nations on June 8, in addition to a number of other outreach opportunities over the coming weeks.
Back here at home in Hawaiʻi, a non-profit collaboration between the Hoʻomālamalama Foundation, the Polynesian Voyaging Society (PVS) and the Mālama Honua Public Charter School (MHPCS) has created a new iPad app to help educate and inspire keiki using the lessons of the voyage.
Future “junior navigators” build a traditional Polynesian voyaging canoe, learning lessons in environmental sustainability and Hawaiian culture along the way, in the new app that has been approved for release in the Apple App Store.
Mālama Honua My Voyage is scheduled for release in mid-June at a short-term introductory price of 99 cents per download. Those interested in being notified of the release date can sign up at www.malamahonua.com.
The launch punctuates an 18-month collaboration between the Hoʻomālamalama, PVS and MHPCS. The three non-profit entities will use the sale proceeds to further their respective educational missions.
“We created this appisode to raise awareness of the Worldwide Voyage and its message of sustainability with very young children – whose future depends on a healthy and abundant planet Earth. At the same time, we want to establish an ongoing funding mechanism for the voyage and for the charter school that is associated with it,” said Ann Botticelli, founder and president of the Hoʻomālamalama Foundation.
The inaugural “appisode” introduces children ages 5-8 to the tradition of voyaging practiced by the ancient Polynesians and in use today aboard the sailing canoe Hōkūleʻa, using a compelling combination of video storytelling and interactive activities.
App users join excursions from the ocean to the mountains, learning how to gather and prepare materials for their own canoe. Cultural experts Sam Gon and Umi Kai show the children how Hawaiians selected koa and ʻōhiʻa trees for the canoe hulls and masts and how they lashed canoe parts together with rope made from olonā plants. Mele Apana explains how Hawaiians used lauhala to make sails.
Encouraged by Manu, their animated guide, users take the steps toward becoming a “junior navigator.” Approximately 35 minutes long, the appisode contains engaging interactive elements requiring varying levels of dexterity. Lessons include environmental sustainability, arithmetic, geography, and logic.
The extremely curious will be charmed by hidden surprises – splashing fish, twirling palm trees – and find reason to revisit the appisode again and again. The daylong adventure culminates with a lively musical recap aboard a traditional sailing canoe.
“This appisode connects children and their parents to the past and also to the future,” said pwo (master) navigator Nainoa Thompson, president of the Polynesian Voyaging Society. “Children learn about how the greatest navigators in history constructed double-hulled canoes out of natural materials, and they learn that protecting those natural resources is imperative for a healthy future for all of us.”
The appisode was developed in collaboration with MHPCS, which seeks to perpetuate the Hawaiian cultural values and contemporary 21st century skills embodied by the Worldwide Voyage. Its central storyline, highlighting connection to place and culture, was informed by the schools’ curriculum. Teacher and parent guides supplied by the school will be available on www.malamahonua.com and the school’s keiki are featured in the inaugural appisode.
“Our students are excited to be able to be a part of this voyage, and to work with others in finding solutions for our environment and communities. Learning different ways to take care of Island Earth and each other is what our Mālama Honua approach is all about,” said MHPCS Principal Denise Espania.
If successful, the Foundation plans to create additional appisodes chronicling the lessons in sustainability encountered throughout the 4-year, 47,000 nautical mile voyage.
View the appisode trailer here. For more information on the app, visit www.malamahonua.com.
Kamehameha Schools is proud to be the Education Sponsor of the Hōkūleʻa Worldwide Voyage. For more information about the Polynesian Voyaging Society and the Worldwide Voyage, visit hokulea.com or find the society on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Google+.
The Hoʻomālamalama Foundation, the Polynesian Voyaging Society (PVS) and the Mālama Honua Public Charter School (MHPCS) has created a new iPad app to help educate and inspire keiki using the lessons of the voyage.
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Kaipuolono Article, Newsroom, Community Education, Department News, Ho‘okahua, Mālama Honua
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