Habele has just received letters of thanks and photographs from the isolated Atoll of Eauripik in Yap State, Micronesia.

Habele has been sending regular shipments of donated books and school supplies to Eauripik in order to provide the students and community members with a library.

Special thanks to dedicated donors C.C. Guy and Lillian Woo who spearheaded the project.





Habele is also partnering with the Northern California Peace Corps Association to provide the growing library with solar-powered indoor lighting for after-school and evening reading.

Learn more about the Habele Outer Island Education Fund at habele.org, where you can read about the tuition scholarships and book donations that help to expand educational access and opportunities in the remote Outer Island of Micronesia.

Habele is donating solar-powered lighting units to the public library on Eauripik Atoll.

The lights were purchased with generous support from the Northern California Peace Corps Association and will enable students and community members to read books in the late afternoon and evening.

Habele's commitment to the library on Eauripik began in 2006 with several shipments of textbooks and school supplies. In 2007 Habele organized a large library book drive in coordination with educators on Eauripik and the State Capital of Yap.

The lights will allow for classroom instruction and library reading inside the school building during the over-cast rainy season and during daily community reading hours in the evening.

One of the major factors limiting after-school reading among both students and community members is the lack of electricity on the island. The situation of the school inside a solid block concrete building with small pane glass windows results in very little light entering the rooms in the afternoon hours of the overcast rainy season.

Habele, the Outer Island Education Fund, is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization that has been issuing tuition scholarships and providing school supplies to Micronesia since 2006. Visit www.habele.org to learn more.

Habele, the scholarship granting organization serving Micronesia's Outer Island students, has been in the news this month, receiving positive press attention for it's 2008-09 tuition scholarships. Among this highlights:

Pacific Magazine: "Six Outer Islanders received scholarships from US Fund" link (9/3)

Sapian Tribune: "Remote Pacific Islanders awarded scholarships" link (9/6)

Hawaii's Tribune-Hearld: "Remote Pacific Islanders awarded Habele Fund Scholarship" link (9/10)

Scholarship winner Joeann M. from Falalop Ulithi, entering her senior year at Bethania High School in Palau.

Six decades ago, the remote Pacific Islands of Micronesia were the site of intense battles between American GIs and entrenched Japanese defenders. Now the region is better known for hosting the reality television show “Survivor” and its picturesque palm-lined beaches.

The reality behind the television show is less glamorous. Literacy and life expectancy are low, even by developing world standards, and the isolation of the tiny islands poses a major barrier to economic development.

A small group of former Peace Corps Volunteers and American teachers is working to help.

Their charity, the Habele Outer Island Education Fund, has awarded over $5,000.00 in tuition scholarships to island students who will attend private schools in the Pacific this fall. The scholarships are issued to children in grades kindergarten through high school as part of an effort to promote educational opportunity throughout Micronesia.

Neil Mellen, a Habele board member explains: “The Secretariat of the Pacific reports that fewer than a fifth of these islanders have access to acceptable sanitation and that infant mortality rates are five times higher than those in the United States. At Habele, our hope is that greater access to education will provide these students with the tools to help their communities address the problems.”

The six scholarship winners from throughout Chuuk and Yap States will travel to and from their schools with money raised by their families, and all of the recipients have signed performance contracts that tie their scholarships to strict academic targets.

Albert Fong, a native of Woleai who teaches at a public school on Ulithi, reiterated Mellen’s optimism: “Micronesians are proud of their long and close relationship with the United States. The role of charities like Habele is powerful. As a nation we recognize that continued improvements in K-12 education are vital. Working with local community leaders and traditional chiefs, Habele has a big impact on the lives of our youth.”

Habele has also sent more than $2,000.00 in books and school supplies to community libraries this year. The charity works in conjunction with Peace Corps Volunteers serving in the islands and members of the non-profit Oceanic Society. David Reside, Country Director for the US Peace Corps in Micronesia said of the scholarships “it is particularly important that there be opportunities for those students who show great promise but are great disadvantage to accessing continued education. Habele is addressing this issue by providing modest educational grants to students from the more remote outer islands, students who might not otherwise be able to pursue these educational opportunities.”

Habele consists of donors and volunteers from across the United States and the Pacific. The Fund operates on a strictly volunteer basis with no paid employees and is still seeking support for its ongoing public school book drives. Visit www.habele.org to learn more.

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Habele would like to thank our friends at the Palmetto Scoop and Sunlit Uplands for helping gather t-shirts for public school students in the Outer Islands of Micronesia.

Today Habele mailed four brimming boxes of shirts to staff at the high school on Falalop, Ulithi, which serves the Islands of Asor, Mogmog, Federai, Falalop and Fais.

Donations of clothing are supplemental to the work of Habele in awarding tuition scholarships and providing materials for schools and community libraries.

To learn more about Habele's all-volunteer commitment to educational opportunity in Micronesia visit habele.org

Today Habele mailed a set of 2004 Worldbook encyclopedias to Moch Elementary and Junior High School on the island of Weno in Chuuk State.

The books were sent following a request from Principal Akapio Raymond who had heard of the positive impact that Habele book donations made in schools and libraries in neighboring Yap State.

Chuuk is the most populous of the four island groups comprising the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). The Habele Outer Island Education Fund is a all-volunteer non profit organization dedicated to serving the educational needs of Micronesia's most remote communities.

To learn more about Habele's work in Micronesia, a collection of Central Pacific Islands formerly administered by the United States, visit www.habele.org.

Donations for Habele's 2008-09 high school scholarships continue to pour in. In early June the Fund received a check for $600 from a California couple who recently vacationed in Micronesia.

"We are excited to help provide support for the full tuition cost of a student in Chuuk." explained the donors. Micronesia is beautiful but isolated, and we see broader access to adequate formal education as essential to improving the quality of life in this developing island nation."

This donation came just days before word from Ulithi that two additional students in Yap State will also be applying for tuition scholarships this fall. The young women, from Asor and Mogmog Island on the Ulithi Atoll, are looking to attend the prestigious Bethania High School on Palau. Habele sponsored two students at Bethania this last school year.

"This is an exciting time for Habele," said Neil Mellen, President of the Habele Board of Directors. "We have raised funds for one scholarship to Bethania and three for students in Chuuk who will attend Xavier High School and Saramen Chuuk Academy. We recently received thank-you letters from public schools on Eauripik and Ulithi that received donations of books made earlier this year. Now we are working hard to answer requests for encyclopedias from Chuuk public schools and raise money for the two additional scholarships to Bethania."

Habele is an all-volunteer non-profit organization founded by former Peace Corps Volunteers. By supporting public school libraries and providing exceptional students scholarships to private schools, Habele is working hard to promote educational excellence in Micronesia, a former United States Trust Territory in the Central Pacific. Habele works in close conjunction with Peace Corps Volunteers, other nonprofits (including the Oceanic Society), and public school educators in Micronesia, as well as traditional community leaders.

Please consider making a gift of scholarship money or school supplies today. To learn more visit Habele.org

The Habele Outer Island Education Fund has just received a packet of letters from Moch public schools on Weno, in Chuuk State. In addition to a note from Principal Akapio Raymond (above) there were nine hand written letters from middle school students expressing their need for Encyclopedias and other reference materials.

Habele looks forward to raising the funds and purchasing these supplies. To learn how you can help, and about about Habele's scholarships, visit www.habele.org.

Habele's recent donation of school supplies to the Atoll of Ulithi has arrived at Falalop Ulithi Elementary School (FUES) and Asor Community Elementary School (ACES), where students are making good use of the paper, pens, pencils, notebooks, folders, crayons and texts.

"These materials will be a big help for our kids." explained Lucy Nery, teacher at FUES on Falalop. "We try to be very resourceful and use our materials wisely, but classroom instruction can be a huge challenge when we lack the basis supplies. We are grateful for all that Habele's volunteers have done to help."

Regular donations to public schools and community libraries on the Outer Islands of Yap are one of the ways the Habele Outer Island Education Fund works to promote academic opportunity and access in one of the most remote corners of Micronesia. Habele also provides scholarships for students to attend independent and private schools in the district capitols.

For more information on the all-volunteer nonprofit Habele, please visit www.habele.org.

Habele donors from around the nation are responding to the Fund's request for assistance in awarding high school scholarships to children in the remote Outer Islands of Micronesia.

"We have been very lucky so far," explained Marc McNamara, of the Board of Directors. "In just the first week we have received commitments of more than $1,200 in addition to the $1,500 promised by board members."
Habele is an all-volunteer non-profit founded in 2006. It works to promote educational access and accomplishment among communities in the central pacific islands known as "Micronesia." The Fund awards scholarships to exceptional students and provides community schools and libraries with books and instructional materials.

Joeann Malchelmar (pictured above) is a Habele scholar attending Bethania High School in Palau. Joeann is a native of Falalop, Ulithi, She first received support from Habele in 2006 and looks to complete her studies as a senior during the 2008-09 school year. Despite growing up on an island with just 400 people, Joeann has adapted well to the rigors of formal education in Palau and regularly receives awards for academic achievement at Bethania.

Joeann, as well as islanders from throughout Chuuk and Yap states, know that education is the key to social and economic development in Micronesia. Habele is committed to helping as many of these students attend school as possible. While Fund directors set a fund raising goal of $3,800, more money would mean more scholarships. Please visit habele.org right now and consider making a donation!

So far this year Habele has made book donations to public school libraries on the Atolls of Ulithi and Eauripik, and the Island of Fais. Dedicated volunteers have sent over three-dozen boxes of textbooks and school supplies to Eauripik alone. Now we are looking to raise support for our 2008-09 scholarships.

In 2008, Habele awarded two scholarships. Both Joeann Malchelmar from Falalop, Ulithi and Beverly Yagdoh from Asor, Ulithi received full scholarships to attend Bethania High School. These girls made the difficult transition from life on a remote atoll to the academically challenging classrooms of Bethania in the neighboring Republic of Palau. While Beverly has completed her studies, Joeann hopes to return to Bethania next year as a senior. To do this we need your help!

Habele is also partnering with Peace Corps volunteers in the Outer Islands of Chuuk State. These eager young English teachers have identified three of their most intelligent and ambitious students and helped them study for the rigorous entrance exams at Xiaver High School and Saramen Chuuk Academy. While all three students have been accepted, none of their families have the resources to pay the required tuition. If Habele is able to raise the funds, we hope to expand this opportunity to these and other worthy island students as well.

The estimated cost for Joeann is $2,000 and the Chukese students will need only $600 each for the school year. Habele board members have already pledged $1,500 of this $3,800 sum. We are hoping that our dedicated Habele donors can match this effort.

All four young scholars are exceptional learners with a strong drive to improve themselves and their community. Their challenge is frustrated by strict traditional restrictions on gender and caste in the Outer Islands, but through formal schooling they have a chance to break free from many of those limits.

Habele is committed to education in the Outer Islands of Micronesia. While the complications of western development in this remote former US territory are numerous, the benefits of formal schooling are profound. Education promotes critical thinking, civic participation, pluralism, individual self-worth, and provides the basic vocational tools for economic advancement. Through our public school donations and private school scholarships, Habele is working toward those noble aims. We ask for your continued support.

The Habele Outer Island Education Fund is an all-volunteer non-profit organization recognized as a 501(c)3 charity by the IRS. All donations are tax-deductible.

Habele has just sent four boxes of materials to Asor Community Elementary School (ACES) and Falalop Ulithi Elementary School (FUES) on the remote Atoll of Ulithi. The supplies, including pens, pencils, notebooks and calculators, are part of Habele's ongoing public school support project. Public schools on Ulithi, and other Outer Island of Micronesia, are among the most isolated and under-resourced in the Pacific.

Habele, the educational nonprofit serving Micronesia's remote Outer Islands, has just received a packet of scholarship applications from students living on atolls of Chuuk State.

The eager young scholars are finishing eighth grade at public schools staffed by Peace Corps volunteers on the islands of Ta, Oneop, Lekinioch and Moch in the Lower Mortlocks. They have taken placement tests to attend the prestigious Xavier High School and Saramen Chuuk Academy, but lack the funds to pay the (respective) $120 and $60 monthly tuitions.

Habele is an all-volunteer scholarship granting organization dedicated to promoting educational opportunity and accomplishment in the remote islands of Micronesia. In recent years donors have provided over $6,000 of scholarships to students from Yap State attending boarding schools on Palau. We look forwarding to reviewing the applications and hope that our dedicated base of volunteers and donors will contribute to the future of these bright young students.

As part of Habele’s ongoing Eauripik Public School Library Development Project, the fund will be mailing more books to the Atoll this week.

In addition to textbooks for students in middle school, the shipment also includes a range of books that deal specifically with regional issues of development, gender, culture and diplomacy in Micronesia.



The Habele Outer Island Education Fund is a US-based non-profit organization dedicated to the expansion of educational opportunity and accomplishment in the remote outer islands of Micronesia, a former US Trust Territory in the Central Pacific.

The Fund has created a new Facebook group. Donors and volunteers who have Facebook accounts can join here.

In old media news, both the Saipan Tribune and the Marianas Variety have printed articles about the recent donation of text books and school supplies to the Atoll of Eauripik.

The fiction and literature portion of the donation, boxed up and ready to be mailed.

The Habele Outer Island Education Fund announced today that it mailed over a dozen boxes of school supplies, textbooks and instructional materials to the Atoll of Eauripik in Yap State, Micronesia.

The Atoll of Eauripik is comprised of several small islands surrounding a shallow lagoon and located between the state capitals of Yap Proper and Chuuk lagoon just north of the Equator in the Central Pacific. The remote island receives only two or three visits from a government supply ship during the course of a year. The island is home to roughly three hundred people. Subsistence fishing and agriculture are the foundation of the local economy.

“This collection of books and supplies is part of our effort to support public schools in the most isolated parts of the Pacific,” explained Marc McNamara, a member of Habele’s Board of Directors and a former Peace Corps Volunteer.

“We have communicated with educators on Eauripik and sent them texts that will compliment their efforts, as well as provide community members with recreational reading opportunities.”

In addition to a collection of up to date reference books, the donations include several sets of complete class sets of textbooks so that each child will be able to follow instruction and complete homework assignments with their own book.

“Expanding academic opportunity and promoting educational accomplishment is an essential first step in promoting individual, island, and national sovereignty,” said McNamara. “Through scholarships to private schools and material donations to public schools, Habele is working with the Outer Island Communities to meet this goal.”

In last two years Habele has mailed similar donations to the islands of Ulithi and Fais. The Fund has also awarded nearly $5,000 in scholarships to students from the Outer Islands of Micronesia attending boarding schools in the district capitals.

Reference books and school supplies being packed.

Habele consists of donors and volunteers from throughout the United States and the Pacific. The Fund has no paid employees and is still seeking support for its ongoing public school book drives and scholarships. Visit www.habele.org to learn more.

Habele has received a kind letter of thanks from Vocational Education Teachers on the Atoll of Woleai (also spelled Wooleai). The Fund mailed the school a collection of basic hand tools as part of Habele’s ongoing public school and library support project. Albert Fong explained:

Thank you so much for your support and your interest in our school. Teaching the students how to build and repair the family homes and other buildings here is so important for our lives and the future of these islands…

Mr Fong went on to extend thanks to all Habele donors and volunteers as well as all those Americans who have an interest in the remote atolls of the Caroline Islands (modern day Micronesia).

In addition to being the location of the Neighboring Islands High School, Woleai is the birth place of both Mr. James Naich, Deputy Chief of Mission, and Mr. Dominic R. Maluchmai, First Secretary of the Micronesian Embassy in Washington.

More information on Woleai can be found at:

The Herald Net obituary of Shelly Greer who served as a Peace Corps Volunteer on Woleai with her husband.

The Wikipedia Article on Woleai

The US Department of Interior press release about the journey of a traditional canoe voyage navigated by Mau Piailug.

A Telegraph news article about bones that washed ashore there in 2001.

Habele is a US-based nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing educational opportunities and accomplishment in the remote Outer Islands of Micronesia. Please consider making a donation of materials, time or financial support today.

Habele is an all-volunteer non-profit narrowly focused on promoting educational opportunities and accomplishment in Micronesia. Toward that end we offer the following links to keep our donors and volunteers abreast of developments in the Pacific.

The Economist considers the adoption and development of technology in the third world, and wonders if the "leapfrogging"of cell-phones is anomalous.

…The World Bank concludes that a country's capacity to absorb and benefit from new technology depends on the availability of more basic forms of infrastructure. … It would be great if you could always jump straight to the high-tech solution, as you can with mobile phones. But with technology, as with education, health care and economic development, such short-cuts are rare.

Working with the United States Department of Education and the Pacific Resources for Education and Learning, schools in the Federated States are adopting new standards for career and technical education.

Politicians in the Republic of Palau campaign on the promise of lowered salaries for lawmakers.

The Food and Agriculture Organization’s Sub-regional Office for the Pacific Islands (FAO–SAPA) headquarters is holding a workshop covering costal fisher policy issues.

Small town paper in California runs article on the islands of Yap.

Learn more about Habele's Outer Island library development and scholarship programs at Habele.org

Last week Habele announced the start of a book drive for the remote Atoll of Eauripik in Yap State, Micronesia.

The Fund’s Directors had been working with donors to develop a comprehensive library development plan for that community and publicly announced details of the effort in mid-January to gather further support. Donations of school supplies, textbooks, literature and reference materials have poured in, as well monetary donations to support the cost of postage and to buy more books. Checks have arrived in the last week from Southern and Central Califorina, and books have been sent from Northern Virgina and South Carolina.

In the coming weeks Habele’s directors will continue to oversee the efforts, working with volunteers at schools and service organizations in the US to gather and purchase more books. Those interested in helping in the project, or donating to the Habele's scholarship program, are encouraged to visit habele.org and learn more.

Habele is excited to announce the start of a book drive for the island of Eauripik! We are looking to gather donations of fiction, nonfiction and textbooks to help fully stock the community library housed at the Eauripik Community School (pictured).

Working with donors in North Carolina and Texas, the Board of Directors has formulated a three-stage plan to ship books to the remote atoll.

Through this library project the Fund seeks to:

1. Provide a core set of reference and nonfiction books that will support and inform classroom instruction in English, math and the sciences.

2. Provide classroom teachers with class sets of textbooks and basic supplies so that each child will be able to follow instruction and complete homework assignments with their own textbook.

3. Provide both students and community members a range of general nonfiction and Oceania-related books for recreational reading.

Habele has already received donations from volunteers in Northern California (pictured) and is working to coordinate a textbook drive with college students in New Jersey. If you are interested in sending books, coordinating donations, or helping to pay the postage to deliver these books visit habele.org and look to the right hand tool bar for the Fund's contact information.

Working to keep Habele donors and volunteers abreast of events in the Pacific, we offer these links to two recently released publications.

Is That the Best You Can Do? A Tale of Two Micronesian Economies
Father Francis Hezel
…Hezel reviews the history of development initiatives in the FSM and RMI. In early territorial days, funds were limited and little in the way of development was accomplished. Later, funding was dramatically increased, and conventional approaches were implemented. Investment in human resources was followed by a large push in infrastructure improvements. The overall results were disappointing, and the islands became heavily dependent on the United States.

Report to the US Congress on the Compact of Free Association with the FSM and RMI
President of the United States
The government of the FSM has not yet developed indigenous capacity to generate and disseminate macroeconomic information and advice. Even basic statistics on the various components of the economy, the tax base, labor force, employment, wages and salaries, pensions and other commonly followed factors are not routinely compiled unless such activities are undertaken by outside entities…

Habele donors and volunteers are reminded to keep an eye on their post boxes for the 2007 Annual Report which will be mailed sometime this week.

The Habele Outer Island Education Fund is an all-volunteer not-for-profit organization dedicated to expanding educational opportunities and accomplishment in the remote Outer Islands of Micronesia.

The Board of Directors of the Habele Outer Island Education Fund is proud to announce the publication of its 2007 Annual Report. The report highlights a wide range of accomplishments from library development and school donations to the awarding of tuition scholarships.

An electronic version of the report is now available from the downloads page of the Habele website. Hard copies will be mailed to Habele donors and volunteers in the coming days.

The Fund, incorporated in 2006, is an all-volunteer nonprofit dedicated to the advancement of educational opportunities and accomplishment in the remote Outer Islands of Micronesia.

Also of interest to Habele volunteers is a letter received by the Fund several days ago from a staff member at the Head Start Center on Falalop, Ulithi. Habele has been sending donations of school materials and toys to the center and Mrs. Andresina Letalim was kind enough to send us her thanks.