The Habele Outer Island Education Fund has mailed a small box of school supplies and donated goods to Asor, Ulithi this week. This is the fifth such shipment made to the Outer Islands in 2006 by the Fund. Supplies are being gathered for a mailing to Eauripik early in 2007. To learn how you can help by donating goods - or money to cover the cost of postage - visit habele.org.

Just a quick update: The Fund is working on revisions to our website, which can be found at www.habele.org. Please click on the "email" button to send us your feedback.

We are also compiling one last box for 2006 with both Fund-purchased and donated books as well as classroom supplies for the Asor Community Elementary School (ACES) on the Atoll of Ulithi.

Finally, thanks to Joshua Willter, creator of the outstanding Olekoi Palau website for supporting Habele.

Christmas air-drop of supplies and gifts to Outer Islands. A kick-off ceremony will take place tomorrow on Guam, and will include Petty Officer 2nd Class John Taibermal of Eauripik atoll, part of Yap State in the Federated States of Micronesia. Taibemal grew up receiving holiday gifts dropped from the sky by U.S. Air Force transports based on Guam.” Article from Pacific Magazine.

Major Pacific shipper to raise rates. Matson Navigation yesterday announced it will raise its rates for the company's Hawaii service by $100 per westbound container and $50 per eastbound container starting Jan. 1. Matson estimated that the increase will raise rates by an average of 3.3 percent. The increase will be filed with the Surface Transportation Board, according to a Matson news release. Article from the Pacific Daily News.

Webpage chronicles a Marine Unit’s time on Ulithi. The VMD-354 detachment to Ulithi was responsible for maintaining the aerial surveillance of these Japanese held islands and to seek out any signs of change through Aerial Photographic Reconnaissance. Check out USMarineCorpsVMD-354.com.

Japanese Overseas Volunteer travels to Satawal and Federai, Ulithi. Great photos.

A hard and thoughtful look at economic self-sufficiency in the Pacific. We who believed that a national sense of purpose could overcome any natural adversity have been forced to modify our position after watching the FSM and the RMI struggle to find an industrial base for their economy over the years … Perhaps we all believed a little too ardently in the conventional wisdom of the day: that economic self-reliance was attainable if only island nations would try just a bit harder to maintain equilibrium between exports and imports. We may have been wrong-those island political ideologues of the 1960s, the U.S. government, the banks, and myself. But the mistake can always be corrected. “Is That the Best You Can Do? A Tale of Two Micronesian Economies,” by Francis X. Hezel, SJ. From the Micronesian Seminar.

Habele is a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation. We are dedicated to the advancement of educational opportunities in the remote islands and atolls of Micronesia, an impoverished former American colony in the Central Pacific. Visit www.habele.org.

Volunteers and board members working on Habele’s annual report released a preliminary glimpse at the Fund’s spending breakdown today, covering the eleven months from January through November 2006.


The percentage breakdown is: scholarships 81%, incorporation 9%, administration 4%, international postage 3%, school supplies 2%, and domestic postage 1%.

In these eleven months, Habele was able to deliver 85 percent of all expenditures directly to the scholars and students of the Outer Islands. The bulk of the support (or administrative) costs were one-time fees associated with the process of incorporation. “With these set-up costs out of the way we look forward to maintaining an even leaner and more efficient organization in 2007” explained Fund Treasurer, Tom Lutte. In fact, excluding these set up costs, Habele was able to send 93 ½ cents to the islands (in scholarships, materials, and postage) for every dollar that was spent by the Fund.

Major outputs for the year included two full scholarships for Ulithian students attending Bethania High School in Palau, as well as four mailings of purchased and donated supplies for Outer Island public schools on Ulithi and Eauripik Atolls.

More details in the forthcoming annual report. Please consider donating today!

About the Fund: Habele is a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation run by unpaid volunteers. We are dedicated to the advancement of educational opportunities in the remote islands and atolls of Micronesia, an impoverished former American colony in the Central Pacific. Our primary goal is to provide scholarships and tuition-assistance grants to children living in the “low” or “outer” islands, so they can attend independent schools located in the larger district centers. We also provide support to public schools through book donations, material assistance, and performance-based teacher awards.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - December 7, 2006
The South Carolina Democratic Party today donated t-shirts and tote bags to the Habele Outer Island Education Fund, a non-profit organization that serves students and teachers in Micronesia.

Habele will send the supplies to public schools on the Island of Yap and the remote Atoll of Ulithi, both located in a portion of the Central Pacific Ocean formerly administered by the United States.

“The Federated States of Micronesia is one of the most isolated and underdeveloped nations in the world, and this kind donation is headed to the most impoverished portion of it,” said Neil Mellen, president of the Fund. “We were just glad we could help,” said Shameka Grayson, operations manager for the State Democratic Party.

In addition to channeling donations to the islands, Habele also awards scholarships and grants to students from Micronesia. The fund promotes educational opportunity and accomplishment by working with community leaders, local teachers, clergy, Peace Corps Volunteers, and parents in the islands. Independent school scholarships are awarded to capable and deserving students. The intent is to promote students’ personal development, as well as to expand the range of educational choices in the region.

The Fund, a non-partisan organization, has also received donations and contributions from prominent South Carolinian Republicans. Former state legislator and candidate for Treasurer, Rick Quinn donated several boxes of shirts last summer.

“We’re a-political,” said Mellen, a former Peace Corps volunteer himself. “Our role is to promote opportunities for educational empowerment in a former US territory and that is something we can all support.”

For more information about the Habele Outer Island Education Fund visit www.habele.org

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