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Habele is sponsoring 21 students across Micronesia this school year, providing them with tuition assistance to attend prestigious private schools.

The scholarships are designed to increase access to quality classroom instruction and raise community expectations for all types of schooling. A Habele director explained it this way to the Saipan Tribune:

“Every child from every island deserves access to an effective and appropriate classroom,” explains Alex Sidles, a Habele board member. Sidles observed that scholarships for low-income and isolated students also had a broader impact. “We are working to change attitudes and expectations… when parents see that students from their community can excel academically they come to expect –even demand– more from all types schools.”

One of the 2010-11 scholarships winners is Virginia, a native of Satawal who attends school on the Island of Pohnpei (Micronesia's national capital). She is enrolled in the widely respected SDA school located in the city of Kolonia.

She recently wrote to Habele board President Neil Mellen expressing her gratitude to Habele donors and excitement about the forthcoming school year.



Virginia is one of three students studying in Pohnpei with Habele scholarships. The other two, Glimmer and Nick, attend the Pohnpei Catholic Elementary school.

The average private school tuition fee in Micronesia is less than $500, or roughly half of the per-student spending in the public schools.

Learn more about the need for, and impact of, privately funded scholarships for Micronesian students at www.habele.org.

Habele Fund will donate copies of two-way Ulithian-English book to students, educators and aid workers

Published: Saturday, September 4, 2010 7:46 AM HST

The picturesque atoll of Ulithi, located in the Central Pacific, is home to 700 islanders. These Micronesians live on a chain of coral islands a thousand miles east of the Philippines. Most have learned to read and write in English, but their native Ulithian language remains largely undocumented.

A U.S.-based charity is looking to help. The Habele Outer Island Education Fund just published a Ulithian-to-English and English-to-Ulithian Dictionary. Copies of this first comprehensive Ulithian dictionary will be donated to students, educators and aid workers.

Historically, there has been little agreement between speakers about the spelling of Ulithian, a problem for both young islanders learning to read and write in English, as well as for English-speaking U.S. Peace Corps volunteers teaching on the islands.
"We've worked hard to create a consistent and intuitive pattern of Roman alphabet spelling," explained John Hancock, a Habele linguist and dictionary co-author. "This makes the Ulithian-to-English transition simpler for students in elementary and middle schools."

There are four inhabited islands in the Atoll of Ulithi, itself part of a larger archipelago that spans hundreds of miles across the States of Yap and Chuuk in the Central Pacific nation of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). These so-called "Outer" or "Neighboring Islands" lack the population density and educational resources found in the larger state capitals of Yap and Chuuk. A perceived lack of opportunity has fueled emigration that threatens the existence of the many distinctive Outer Island languages.

Despite various attempts over the past few decades, Micronesian Outer Island languages such as Ulithian, Woleaian, and Satawalese lack stable spelling systems. Non-native speakers have found the scattering of existing language materials to be confusing, inconsistent, and even unhelpful.

"An important secondary goal of this ongoing project is the documentation of Ulithian, a distinctive Trukic Language in the Austronesian family, observed Neil Mellen, Habele founder and board member.

"More and more families are moving in from the Outer Islands to live on Yap Proper and the distinctions between Ulithian, Woleaian and Satawalese have become less clear as the result of intermarriage and greater exposure to English language media."

Worldwide, there are an estimated 3,000 living Ulithian speakers.

The language is spoken natively on the islands of Falalop, Mogmog, Federai, and Asor on the Ulithi Atoll, as well as the Island of Fais, 40 miles to the west.

The Habele Outer Island Education Fund is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization. It was established in 2006 by a group of former Peace Corps Volunteers and works to expand educational access and accomplishment across Micronesia.

The group awarded 18 scholarships to Outer Island students attending private elementary and high schools during the 2009-10 school year.

Copyright © 2010 - Hawaii Tribune-Herald


http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/articles/2010/09/04/features/features03.txt

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Twenty-one students from across Micronesia will enroll in prestigious private schools this fall with the help of scholarships from the Habele Outer Island Education Fund.

The students, whose families come from isolated islands and atolls throughout Yap and Chuuk States, have been awarded tuition assistance covering 75 percent of the cost of their 2010-11 enrollment. They will be attending independent K-12 schools on the islands of Yap, Chuuk and Pohnpei, where most will live with relatives or sponsors for the length of the school year.

Habele is a US-based charity that awards scholarships to Micronesian students each fall. Since 2006, the organization has provided over $17,000 in tuition assistance, as well as hundreds of boxes of donated books for public school libraries.  The group also published a comprehensive Ulithian-English Dictionary earlier this year for island educators.

“Every child from every island deserves access to an effective and appropriate classroom,” explains Alex Sidles, a Habele board member. Sidles observed that scholarships for low-income and isolated students also had a broader impact. “We are working to change attitudes and expectations… when parents see that students from their community can excel academically they come to expect –even demand– more from all types schools.”


Sidles and other former teachers established Habele to meet the strong local demand for greater educational access. This year’s scholarship winners come from the islands of Ulithi, Fais, Eauripik, Woleai and Satewal in Yap State and from Ta, Lekinoch and Kutu in Chuuk State.   More than 50 students from throughout Micronesia applied for tuition support for the 2010 school year. 

“My parents and I really want to thank Habele for everything they’ve done for us,” writes Maia Lesarof, a fifth grade student from Falalop Woleai who attends Saint May’s School in Yap.  Rising High School senior Parkey Mwarike of Kuttu in Chuuk echoes Maia’s enthusiasm: “Again, this year, without the help, I could not afford to attend Saramen Academy.”

The “Outer” or “Neighboring” Islands are a loosely connected group of islands and atolls that stretch across the Central Pacific Ocean, slightly north of the Equator. The term “outer” derives from their location outside of the larger, more densely populated islands now serving as the state capitals of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). A strong traditional culture, focused on fishing, weaving and gardening still guides daily life in the Outer Islands of Micronesia.

“These islands remain some of the most isolated and underdeveloped areas on the planet,” said Neil Mellen, another Habele board member. Nationwide, one-in-three Micronesians live below the basic needs poverty line, but the rate is much higher in the Outer Islands. “Families and island leaders keep telling us that education is the key for the lives of their children and the future of their communities.”   

In 1976, Mr. Piailug made international headlines when -- using nothing but nature's clues and the lessons he'd learned from his grandfather, a master navigator schooled in traditional Micronesian wayfaring -- he steered a traditional sailing canoe more than 3,000 miles from Hawaii to Tahiti. 

The journey was a project of the Honolulu-based Polynesian Voyaging Society, co-founded by anthropologists interested in the enduring mystery of how the Pacific's scattered islands, often separated by hundreds of miles of water, had become populated by peoples who lacked nautical technologies such as the compass and sextant. 

Many scientists had believed that Polynesians, unable to navigate across vast seas, had arrived on various islands by accident when their boats had floated off course. Mr. Piailug's feat showed insteadthat indigenous peoples could indeed have deliberately explored and colonized Pacific islands. 

Featured in a National Geographic special, the journey also showed the world that traditional navigation was rooted in profound skill. Among Pacific peoples, who were fast becoming westernized, it led to a resurgence of cultural pride and a renewed interest in ancient wayfaring skills. 

"The rebirth of non-instrument navigation came about largely due to this man, Mau Piailug," said former Smithsonian secretary Lawrence Small at a 2000 ceremony in Washington honoring Mr. Piailug (pronounced Pee-EYE-lug). 

He became an eager teacher, breaking with tradition to share among cultures his closely guarded navigation secrets that had traditionally been passed down only within families.

More donated books are headed to James Martin and Susan Guarin.

James is a Peace Corps Volunteer serving on the Atoll of Ulithi and Susan is the Librarian at the College of Micronesia (COM) on Yap Proper.

The need for these types of donations is stark. Ulithi is one of the Outer Islands of Yap State,  the most remote and impoverish part of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM).

Yap Proper, the state capital, is home over 5,000 Yapese and Outer Islanders. The library at COM there received extensive damage during a recent typhoon.

The donation, totaling over 25 brimming boxes of books, was assembled by three students from the University of California, Berkley. Amelia (who has helped organize similar donations in the past) worked with Kim and Katie to compile, box, and ship the books to the elementary and high school libraries located on the Island of Falalop and the COM library outside of Colonia, Yap.

The girls were also joined by Noah and Souren, engineering students at Cal Poly. All five are former members of the high school robotics team at Chaminade College Prep.

To learn more about support of public school and libraries, as well as student scholarships in the Central Pacific, visit www.habele.org.

You can always view photos of book donations and scholarship winners at Habele's Picasa Web Album.

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Peace Corps Volunteer Benjamin Gruver has contacted Habele about tuition scholarships for students he is teaching in Chuuk, Micronesia.

Ben is also raising money for a Peace Corps Partnership project through the Peace Corps website. 

He explains, "If you belong to a RPCV group or know a lot of people with an interest in Micronesia, I would appreciate it if you ask them to donate a financial contribution to my project." 

Please visit to the website and click "Donate to Volunteer Projects" located on the left of the screen.  Ben's project number is number 401-139 and titled "Improved Community Access to Water."

You check out Ben's blog here.

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Helene Hofman recently interviewed Neil Mellen of the Habele Outer Island Education Fund on Radio Australia.

The topic was Habele's new Ulithian-English Dictionary, a unprecedented and innovative text designed for students on the Ulithi Atoll and Island of Fais in Yap State, Micronesia.

ABC Radio Australia is the international broadcasting and online service operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australia's public broadcaster.

Here is the link:


http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/pacbeat/stories/201005/s2899190.htm

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The picturesque Atoll of Ulithi, located in the Central Pacific, is home to 700 islanders. These Micronesians live on a chain of coral islands a thousand miles east of the Philippines. Most have learned to read and write in English, but their native Ulithian language remains a largely undocumented.

A US-based charity is looking to help. The Habele Outer Island Education Fund just published a Ulithian-to-English and English-to-Ulithian Dictionary. Copies of this first comprehensive Ulithian dictionary will be donated to students, educators and aid workers.

Historically, there has been little agreement between speakers about the spelling of Ulithian, a problem for both young islanders learning to read and write in English, as well as for English speaking U.S. Peace Corps Volunteers teaching on the islands.

“We’ve worked hard to create a consistent and intuitive pattern of Roman alphabet spelling,” explained John Hancock, a Habele linguist and dictionary co-author. “This makes the Ulithian-to-English transition simpler for students in elementary and middle schools.”

There are four inhabited islands in the Atoll of Ulithi, itself part of a larger archipelago that spans hundreds of miles across the States of Yap and Chuuk in the Central Pacific nation of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). These so-called “Outer” or “Neighboring Islands” lack the population density and educational resources found in the larger state capitals of Yap and Chuuk. A perceived lack of opportunity has fueled emigration that threatens the existence of the many distinctive Outer Island languages.

Despite various attempts over the past few decades, Micronesian Outer Island languages such as Ulithian, Woleaian, and Satawalese lack stable spelling systems. Non-native speakers have found the scattering of existing language materials to be confusing, inconsistent, and even unhelpful.

“An important secondary goal of this ongoing project is the documentation of Ulithian, a distinctive Trukic Language in the Austronesian family, observed Neil Mellen, Habele founder and board member. “More and more families are moving in from the Outer Islands to live on Yap Proper and the distinctions between Ulithian, Woleaian, and Satawalese have become less clear as the result of intermarriage and greater exposure to English language media.”

Worldwide, there are an estimated 3,000 living Ulithian speakers. The language is spoken natively on the islands of Falalop, Mogmog, Federai, and Asor on the Ulithi Atoll, as well as the Island of Fais, 40 miles to the southeast.

The Habele Outer Island Education Fund is an all-volunteer non-profit organization. It was established in 2006 by a group of former Peace Corps Volunteers and works to expand educational access and accomplishment across Micronesia. The group awarded 18 scholarships to Outer Island students attending private elementary and high schools during the 2009-10 school year.



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"I think the island is in serious danger of sinking after the amount of books we received."

That is how Peace Corps Volunteer James Martin described the arrival of boxes of donated books sent to the Outer Island High School (OIHS) on the Island of Falalop.

Falalop is one of four inhabited islands on the Atoll of Ulithi, in Yap State, Micronesia.

This other donations to Micronesia's Outer Islands was coordinated by Habele. Habele is a group of former Peace Corps Volunteers and other Americans with an interest in expanding access to quality classroom instruction in the central Pacific.

Learn more about this book donation and the hard working students at Chaminade College Prep in West Hills, California who organized it here.

Educators at the SDA School on Yap are reporting that Habele's scholarships students there are excelling in their studies.

Praise for the students came along with copies of report cards, individual progress letters, and photos of the children both in the classroom and outside during recess.

School Principal Nicholas Fonseka reports that none of the students, whose home islands include Fais, Woleai, and Ulithi, received any type of disciplinary marks or behavior citations during the last semester.

Each of the students comes from an Outer Island family, and has received a full-tuition scholarship from the Habele Outer Island Education Fund to attend the prestigious SDA School.

Yap is one of four states in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), a central Pacific nation with close historical ties to the United States.

Photos of Shania (5th Grade), Abraham (9th), Annaliza (2nd), Ronald (10th) and Denianne (5th), along with other Habele scholars attending school on Chuuk and Pohnpei, can be found here.

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"Habele," a US-based charity serving Outer Island students in Micronesia, released it's annual report this week, detailing the nonprofit's accomplishments over the last year.

According to the report, the all-volunteer group provided 17 full tuition scholarships to low-income children attending private elementary and high schools in the Micronesian States of Yap, Chuuk, and Pohnpei. Habele also provided over sixty boxes of textbooks and donated school supplies to public schools on isolated islands throughout Yap and Chuuk.

Charitable work of this kind has received praise from FSM and US officials alike.

"The initiative of former Peace Corps Volunteers and teachers in supporting local-driven educational programs reflects the best hands-on spirit that we can share with the Federated States of Micronesia" explained Miriam K. Hughes, who served as US Ambassador to the Micronesia from 2007 to 2009.   

"Nonprofit outreach to schools and students in Micronesia has practical impact, building American partnership and bettering the lives of others who would otherwise not have a chance," continued Hughes.

The report includes letters from parents, students, and independent school teachers, detailing how these 17 children would be unable to attend the prestigious schools without the Habele scholarships, and expressing thanks to donors who invested in the childrens' educational futures.

In addition to providing details of private school tuition scholarships and public school donations, the document outlined Habele's plan to release a Ulithian-English dictionary during 2010. The text will be provided to students and teachers on Ulithi and Fais free-of-charge.

"We wanted to help Outer Island students by developing a commonsense Ulithian spelling system that preserves the local language and compliments phonics instruction for written and spoken English, " remarked Johnny Hancock, a linguist who is spearheading the effort for Habele.

The dictionary incorporates important developments in speech sounds and a phonological system that make the text useful for both young island students and native English speakers learning Ulithian.

Habele is an IRS recognized not-for-profit organization, incorporated in the State of South Carolina. The group was founded by Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) and other Americans with an interest in educational development in the Pacific.

The full 2009 Habele Outer Island Education Fund Annual Report can be downloaded online at http://www.habele.org/documents.asp.



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CHINESE OFFER COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS
The Government of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) is now offering scholarships for students from the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) to attend universities in China for the school year beginning August 2010. The scholarship program is extended to the FSM to promote cooperation and exchange in the fields of education and culture between China and the FSM.

The program will support students who are interested in going to China for undergraduate and graduate degrees. The program fund will cover the cost of tuition, dormitory and a monthly allowance for meals and other basic necessities. International airfare for the students will be borne by themselves.

The Chinese Government will be accepting a maximum of 14 students this year under the scholarship program. Application forms are available at the FSM Department of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Palikir. Please contact the two respective offices directly for the deadline for submission of applications to the Chinese Embassy.

FRENCH GRANT FOR SOLAR POWER PROJECT
Governor Sebastian L. Anefal signed the Financial Agreement between the Yap State Government and the French European and Foreign Affairs Ministry for a €35,000.00 renewable energy grant. The Yap State Public Service Corporation (YSPSC) will be final recipient of the grant. The full amount, which is estimated at around fifty thousand US Dollars, will be used by YSPSC to set up on Ulithi a Photovoltaic (PV) system of 6kWp.


This summer lights went on island-wide for the first time on Faderai, one of the islets of Ulithi atoll in Yap. The electricity powering these lights is coming from the sun and it is captured and stored into large batteries by the FSM’s largest solar PV (photovoltaic) power plant.

The second phase of the project will be to conduct a wind assessment in the main island of Yap. The agreement stated that purchase of the solar materials will be done as soon as the agreement is signed and can take up to 5 months to reach the island. Installation of the material will follow; during a 3 month period. The wind assessment will take the whole project cycle and should be completed by October 30, 2010.

In a brief signing ceremony in the Governor’s Cabinet Room, Anefal took the opportunity to express sincere gratitude to the French Government on behalf of the people of Yap State for the grant. He said, the assistance will not only benefit YSPSC but the people of Yap.

PLANS FOR FIBER OPTIC CABLE
Federated States of Micronesia President Manny Mori held a meeting between members of the executive branch and the FSM Telecom Corp. to discuss the plan for the newly laid submarine fiber optic cable to Pohnpei and the connectivity issues of hooking up the other states.

Takuro Akinaga, general manager of FSM Telecom, provided a briefing on the FSMTC board’s decision to approve extra funding to upgrade the existing systems in all four FSM states to provide the infrastructure to allow for high speed internet, a larger capacity, and for cable TV.

This will be done by installing ADSL 2Plus, a new method of providing broadband Internet, which will allow for triple the Internet speeds that the islands currently see. It can also be able to be delivered over the existing telephone landlines, so it will be available to more customers.

Mori made it clear that all four FSM states should be connected to the high speed cable in order to enable them to have broadband connectivity which will provide social and economic development in each state.

FSM PRESIDENTS SPEAKS AT COPENHAGEN CLIMATE CONFERENCE
On December 16, 2009, President Manny Mori stood before the High Level Plenary at the Climate Change Negotiation Talks in Copenhagen Denmark, and gave his country remarks, asking the leaders present to save the planet, to save small islands, and to save the people of the FSM. In his brief remarks, the President highlighted four things that must be accomplished in Copenhagen to "seal the deal".

First, he asked that leaders act now to significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Second, he told leaders they must address the non-CO2 warming agents, while they also address carbon, to prevent the climate system from spinning out of control. Third, he suggested that there be a focus to reduce concentrations of warming agents directly from the atmosphere. Then implementation of carbon-negative strategies can be done to return the high concentrations of greenhouse gases back to pre industrial levels.

Finally, President Mori spoke to the need of a financial mechanism to provide funding for the most vulnerable states, especially the small island developing states and the least developing countries, to combat and adapt to climate change.

A copy of the President's speech can be found by clicking here, or you can view his video presentation.
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Habele volunteers and donors will be eager to hear the Fund is set to release its annual report within the next two weeks.

Details of the report include over $10,500 in spending for the year, covering the tuition costs of 17 Outer Island students at private K12 schools.

The pie chart above provides an indication of how the Fund spent its money in 2009, with over 90 percent of expenditures directly dedicated to the scholarship and school supply programs.

Learn more about the Habele Outer Island Education Fund, and download copies of past annual reports, at www.habele.org

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