Explorers Club members, Edmundo Edwards FI’90 of Chile/Easter Island and Lynn Danaher MN’05 have created the Pacific Islands Research Institute, a 501c3 non-profit to fund their research & upcoming expedition. PIRI is dedicated to the study, understanding & preservation of the unique cultural heritage & fragile environment of the remote islands of the Pacific Ocean. Along with Dr. Nancy Sullivan FI’06, they plan to return to Papua New Guinea, Upper Karawari Region in May 2009. In 2008 Edmundo and Nancy established the camps & contacts with the local people of the region to better access the remote tribe they plan to study. They also completed a study of the cave paintings in the area. In 2009 they plan to return to a more remote valley to study and make “first contact” with the Meakambut tribe of hunter-gathers. They plan to record & film their rituals, cave paintings & the every day life of this pristine culture.
Their long term plan for PIRI is to impart knowledge of the special environments, history, and varied cultures of the Pacific islands. They plan to accomplish this through series of Island Explorer Expeditions, educational programs including slideshow lectures, and documentary films and photo exhibits. Current efforts are focused on the some of the most remote islands of the Pacific, Raivavae, Rapa Nui (Easter Island) and Papua New Guinea. To date, a documentary film about Raivavae and Papua New Guinea is in post-production and they are compiling a collection of over 8,000 photographs into an ethnographic record of Raivavae and the cave paintings of PNG. They also plan to translate Edmundos 35 years of research on Rapa-Nui from Spanish into English. In the future the plan is to offer, lectures, presentations and film documentation to the general public and school groups. They believe it is impetrative to educate in order to understand the importance of preservation and continued research in these remote isolated environments
For more information or to contribute:
Pacific Islands Research Institute
PO Box 2627
Friday Harbor, WA 98250 USA
Email islandlynx@aol.com
Call 360-472-1050
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