Restoration Efforts after Fire Destroyed WAM Canoehouse and Office

Early Sunday morning, February 27 2021, around 2AM, Waan Aelōn̄ Majeļ burned down. No casualties or injuries. No damage to PSS nearby except for a loss of power to surrounding buildings. The workshop, most of the tools including logging equipment, the entire office with all documents, old artifacts and the WAM truck were lost to the fire.

Waan Aelon in Majel (WAM) is an non-profit organization in the Marshall Islands dedicated to traditional canoe building and sailing. Pictures from the fire show co-founder and executive director Alson Kelen on site. Kelen is an accomplished canoe builder and has been led the way in the revitalization of traditional canoeing culture in the Marshall Islands. In the past 30 years, WAM has trained hundreds of young people in traditional arts and life-skills and also documented wave navigation and outrigger sailing. Among other things, Kelen compiled English-language and Marshallese-language manuals and workbooks used in the program. At the forefront of climate adaptation, WAM has been a champion of indigenous models of education as well as climate solutions through the combination of traditional and modern science, education and training. The WAM campus had recently been renovated to host more workshops for canoe building.

Donations can be made directly to WAM or through two official GoFundMe fundraisers.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/reconstruction-of-wam-after-fire (in Euros)

https://gofund.me/1cebc054 (in Dollars)