Support needed for this year’s Dung Verei Cultural Festival

“Language is our identity. Language is our culture. Down deep in the ocean to the top of the mountains, language is our roots and connection. We have to understand our native language because that’s where our foundation is.”

Sandy Sur, Leweton Cultural Village

Dung Verei Vanuatu: GoFundMe 2021

There is an opportunity to support the ongoing cultural revival across the islands of Vanuatu by funding the Leweton Cultural Community’s work organizing the Dung Verei Festival (sound of the island), a local festival in Santo held the first weekend of October 2021.

The festival brings together communities of the Torba Province and the Banks Islands in the North of Vanuatu. Vanuatu consists of many different island communities each with a unique wealth of kastom: stories, music, dance, food preparation and cultural practices such as carving, weaving and also the creation of local currencies. The festival is a real opportunity for creative demonstrations of cultural practices and for people to engage in dialogue and learning with other communities in a celebration of the many languages of the island.

The Go Fund Me is for folk who want to invest in community-rooted, transformative cultural work. A small investment of cash can be a massive contribution to this vital work with cultural heritage.

Community Leader Sandy Sur is Manager of Leweton Cultural Experience and Women’s Water Music, based on the island of Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu. Sandy has been working on the organization of the Dung Verei Festival for the last three years.

Sandy Sur (Leweton Cultural Experience) and Shelley Darling (Loving Waters, World Unity Week) will be speaking on June 24th about the event at Dung-Verei ~ Pacific Island Water Dreaming

Project leader: Sandy Sur
sandy at lewetonculturalcommunity dot com