Each year since 2005, the Vanuatu men have traveled across the ocean to attend the annual Sandroing (sand drawing) Festival.

It is a time for gathering, for communicating, for expressing themselves through art.

Each year the Festival occurs at a different location, in the northern tropical islands of Vanuatu.

This can prove to be a deep disappointment for some artists as it hinders their involvement. The northern islanders of Torba Province can’t make the journey in their large canoe, across the wide expanses of ocean, when the Festival is held to the south.

The sailing canoe, part of the Festival, recognizes the close historical link between sand drawings and inter-island canoe voyaging.
An extensive network of relationships developed between different language groups. Songs, stories and rituals were dispersed and modified. With difficulty in communication, because of the different languages, sand drawing became a form of communication.

Sand drawings are precise, geometric patterns, produced directly in the sand with a finger. They convey a wealth of knowledge about local history, rituals and cosmologies, kinship systems, natural phenomena and farming techniques.

In 2003, Vanuatu Sand Drawing was proclaimed a "Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity" by UNESCO. In 2004, UNESCO/Japan Funds-In-Trust For the Preservation and Promotion of Intangible Cultural Heritage, began to fund a program to safeguard sand drawing in Vanuatu.

A skilled artist must have a steady hand, a strong understanding of the graphic patterns and motifs, and a deep understanding of their significance. Sand drawers must be able to interpret the drawings for spectators.

The Sandroing Festival includes other traditions such as dances, games, magic shows, story-telling, string figures and weaving demonstrations.

The acknowledgment by UNESCO of the sand drawing tradition strengthens the Vanuatu peoples’ resolve to maintain their traditions, whilst going forward into the 21st century.

Vanuatu, a Lesser Developed Country of the South Pacific, recognizes the need to educate the next generation, if Vanuatu is to move forward into the 21st century.

Many of the villagers live on isolated islands in a no-cash economy. The government admitted in late 2007, that it does not have the finances to provide free education.

The dire consequences of this are:
• only 55.8% of Vanuatu kids will get to grade 6;
• of those only 18.2% will go to high school ;
• 26% will never go to school at all.

YouMe Support Foundation, a Child Trust Fund, is dedicated to giving these children a high school education.

You can help, donate and make a difference in the lives of these people and you might win the boutique resort. Visit winaresort.com for your Blue Moon Opportunity.