Welcome to the social enterprise canoe of Flying Geese Pro. Founded by Faumuina Felolini Maria Tafunai, this canoe uses wayfinding to create bespoke strategies for organisational and business resilence. It also uses its profits to support youth resilence programmes in schools. With a focus on Māori and Pasifika communities, Flying Geese Pro aims to create a more equitable social and economic ecosystem.
My Grandfather is a Canoe
Well I finally did it. Published my poems. I did it for me, for my loved ones passed who held onto my dreams. I did it for Oliver to know and understand his mother. I did it for all those people of the Pacific who only came to know poetry through tedious English lessons and could not see their reflections. I did it so others may see the publishing journey as possible, as inevitable.
Faumuina Felolini Maria Tafuna’i’s captivating debut poetry collection is a waka to enter; sit and take in the vista of her world and the world of the greatest moana on the planet. Here is a waka to shelter in, to feel the roll and swell of aroha and grief, joy and the many people – from both land and sky – who inhabit this vessel. My Grandfather is a Canoe pulses with rhythms of the Pacific: story and song, laughter and tears, drumbeat and heartbeat — TUSIATA AVIA
$20.00
Our Wayfinding Programmes
Wayfinding comes from a genealogy of knowledge passed down through Pacific star navigators and ocean voyagers. From many guiding conversations with navigator Hoturoa Barclay-Kerr from Aotearoa (New Zealand) and by voyaging on the ocean aboard Haunui waka, Faumuina created a dynamic wayfinding model that has become lens for all our design work. In Samoa, there is a saying: “You cannot change the way the wind is blowing, but you can change the way your canoe is facing.”
Our Slipstream
Faumuina Felolini Maria Tafuna'i
Faumuina is the daughter of Mau'u Lopeti and Nivaga Mau'u from Samoa. She is the mother of Oliver, wife to the late and humble Patrick Tafuna'i. Her background is in media, long-form journalism, and development communications. She oversees all Flying Geese projects. She specializes in the empowerment of indigenous peoples, and has won international awards in agricultural journalism. She is also the first Pacific Island person to become an Edmund Hillary Fellowship Fellow.
Navigator and Leadership Guru Hoturoa Barclay-Kerr ONZM
Management Coach and Capability Development Maestro Janyne (Dottie) Morrison
Website Ninja and Digital General Chris Parnell
Graphic Designer and Aesthetic Master Greg Dodds
Video Storyteller and Intern Grasshopper Oliver Tafuna'i
Our Name
Flashback to 2003 when Faumuina went to a church service and heard how geese fly in V-formation with the strongest bird leading, which falls back when it tires and the next strongest takes its place. Their close proximity creates a slipstream and so can travel longer distances using less energy. Side note: Geese have long memories, and they use familiar landmarks and the stars to navigate during their annual journeys.
Our Clients
We have had the honour of working for dedicated organisations that are trying to develop and apply social, economic and environmental solutions to this planet we call home. Contact us to talk about your next project.