In 2020, the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, University of Melbourne in partnership with Many Hands International and the Valentim family, with support from UCLA Library’s Modern Endangered Archive Program, began a project to preserve the endangered Vaihoho sung-stories of the Fataluku people in Timor-Leste.

Vaihoho is Fataluku’s most cherished oral tradition, yet both the poems and music are critically endangered, with about 30% already lost. Due to war, colonisation, and a lack of written documentation, younger generations have not been learning these traditions.

Cultural knowledge holder Justino Valentim spent years collecting Vaihoho songs from across Fataluku country. However, his sudden passing in 2014 left the collection vulnerable. To honor Justino’s work, his family and Many Hands International digitised the materials to protect them from risks like humidity and poor storage while making them accessible to future generations.

Justino’s son, Danny, worked with Many Hands International to carry out the 12-month project. The collection, dating from 1999-2014, includes handwritten and typed notes. The original material has now been returned to the Valentim family with improved storage and the digital collection is housed at UCLA Library.

You can view the collection here: https://meap.library.ucla.edu/projects/justino-valentim-collection/

An article about this collection was facilitated by Amy Stevenson from Many Hands International and Melbourne writer Marian Reid and published in Garland Magazine: https://garlandmag.com/article/rekindling-the-vaihoho-song-poems-of-timor-leste/