How can indigenous craftspeople share their talents with the world? By building and sailing a really big boat. The Pajaro Jai (Enchanted Bird) is 92-foot yacht built in the Darien jungle of Panama. It just completed its maiden voyage - 2000 miles from Panama to DC. The yacht, made almost entirely of hardwoods harvested from the local jungle, took a team of indigenous craftsmen over twelve years!
The mission of the Pajaro Jai Foundation [PJF] is to encourage the self-sufficiency of indigenous societies by finding ways to eliminate the dependencies that are often a consequence of efforts to aid these societies… For example, the PJF will invite USAID, The Peace Corps, and local telecommunications companies aboard the Pajaro Jai to support their existing initiatives, yet also ask them to participate in a project to help remote villages obtain the necessary satellite communication equipment and the knowledge to utilize the Worldwide Web. The goal: to sell crafts and services directly from their villages without the intervention of the layers of middlemen that currently reap the lion’s share in such transactions.
The DC-area public can view the boat and speak with the craftspeople through Friday at the Capital Yacht club. Next stops on the worldwide tour: Connecticut, Maine and then back to DC around September. Has anyone seen the boat?
Join the Conversation