Cook Island Language Week

Today we were visited by members from the Auckland Museum. They were Cook Islanders who were here to talk about “Vakas”, Wakas or boats. They had brought a tool, that was used to drill holes in wood which was very interesting. It didn’t look like a complicated object, though no one knew how to use it, until Lauren demonstrated. The string they used to connect wood that was made from coconuts, was named “Niu.” I learned how they used the sun, the stars and other things in the sky as a guide/compass, and how they knew they were near land. As I am a Cook Islander, I found this session really interesting as it is the history of how my ancestors travelled from Africa to Cook Island.