There is a law older than paper, older than ink, held in the stories and lore of a landscape and the people who still live in relation with it. Knowledge was never meant to be locked away. It was meant to move, to flow, to be carried in relation. The stories of our ancestors were not written in books but etched into the land, sung into existence, and woven into the very fabric of how we live. Knowledge was something you walked with, something you practiced, something you were entrusted with – not something hoarded, sold, or owned.

Somewhere along the way, knowledge was boxed in. Extracted. Dissected. Taken from those who carried it and placed into institutions that now hold the keys to who can access it. You need the right credentials, the right funding, the right university affiliation to even glimpse at what should have always belonged to the people.

That’s not how it works here.

The VA Network stands as an act of return. A movement that breaks the fences built around knowledge and brings it back to the fire, where it belongs. Where it can be spoken, questioned, held, and passed forward in the way it was always meant to be. This is knowledge in Wangu – in collective sense-making – where learning is not an individual pursuit but a shared responsibility.

This is why we do the work and put it out there. Freely. Openly. Without restriction. No paywalls, no tuition fees, no institutional approval. If you seek knowledge, it should be accessible to you. Not parceled out to the privileged few, but held within the fire for all to sit with.