A high tide, calm waters and a light wind made for a beautiful scene as the “Rose of Lima” slipped into waters of the Pacific for the first time.

A team of master carvers and the young men they are mentoring crafted the canoe, a traditional hand-carved dugout outrigger. The work was organized by Waa’gey, a community-based organization that utilizes traditional skills to confront the social, economic and environmental challenges faced by the people of Micronesia’s most remote Outer Islands. This is Waa’gey’s second large sailing canoe in the last twelve months, and only the second Outer Island style canoe ever carved on Yap Proper.

Among those at the shore for the launch were members of the Habele 2012 Listening Tour. Habele Directors Regina Raigetal and Neil Mellen explained that their organization had provided financial and material support for Waa’gey. They relayed how parents of participating students reported a positive impact on classroom achievement and the students’ self worth.


Raigetal further noted that Waa’gey had been partnering with both independent and public schools on Yap to provide instruction on cultural skills and traditional technologies to a larger pool of children through hands-on tours and lectures.


Also on the Listening Tour, and observing the canoe launch, was Nils Winkler, CEO of Yapital, a European-based electronic payments company. Yapital helped to provide fuel and tools for the carvers, as part of its ongoing partnership with Habele to support K-12 students across Yap State.

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Photo: James Hapdei holds a model canoe in Yap, Micronesia. The model was a gift from his father to Francis Wilson, Chief Pharmacist’s Mate, who helped treat a Yaws epidemic during World War Two.

A two-foot long model canoe has returned to Yap, Micronesia, where it will be restored and preserved by a local group of carvers. Included in the group is the son of the man who first made the model for a special US Sailor seven decades ago.

The canoe has traveled thousands of miles on its journey home. It was carved as a gift for a US Navy sailor who served in the Pacific during World War Two. Chief Pharmacist’s Mate Francis Wilson was one of a pair of sailors who helped to battle an outbreak of yaws, a crippling tropical infection, on the Atoll of Ulithi during the war. The other was physician and author Dr. Marshal Paul Wees.

According to 1950 article in the "Saturday Review," “Dr. Wees was sent by the U. S. Navy to cope with a terrible scourge of yaws with which the people of Ulithi were afflicted... With a minimum of medical supplies and no assistance but the aid of a pharmacists' mate, Dr. Wees accomplished his mission and eliminated yaws.”



Photo: Master and apprentice carvers from Waa’gey examine the donated canoe model and prepare plans for its restoration and display.

The islanders gave Pharmacists Mate Wilson the canoe along with other gifts of thanks and friendship when the two Navy men left Ulithi. The model is over two feet long and nearly a foot wide from the edge of its outrigger to the hull line. Wilson’s son located the canoe among his deceased father’s effects earlier this year and coordinated the donation through “Habele,” a US-based nonprofit organization that supports students across Micronesia.

Habele reached out to long-time partner “Waa’gey,” a local partner group in Yap that preserves and revives traditional island skills such as carving and weaving. Waa’gey has been crafting full size traditional canoes by pairing older master carvers with high school aged students. Among their volunteers is James Hapdei, the son of the man who first carved the canoe model for Wilson during the war. The group offered to make repairs to the slightly deteriorated model and display the canoe for islanders and tourists to enjoy.

The model is a faithful and detailed representation of the Caroline Island dugout sailing canoes that are emblematic of Yap and appear on the Yap State flag. It is believed to be the oldest Outer Island style canoe model in all of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM).

“Waa’gey is receiving a valuable artifact from an interesting period in Ulithi’s past, when model outrigger canoes were not just souvenirs for tourists but taught young people how to make real canoes.” explains Anthropologist, Barbara Wavell, an expert on Caroline Island carvings and author of “The Arts and Crafts of Micronesia.” “Model canoes were also used in traditional rituals or as toys for young boys.”

The medical work of Francis Wilson and Dr. Marshall Paul Wees were chronicled in the 1950 book “King Doctor of Ulithi.” The text makes specific mention of the model. The canoe model is also nearly identical to one depicted in “The Ulithi Encyclopedia,” a text authored by US Navy Lt. John Loudon Vollbrecht and other sailors in 1945.

“Holding this canoe feels like one has reached through time and touched the past,” explained Larry Raigetal the founder and director of Waa’gey. “As modern day canoe builders, it gives us an incredible sense of motivation and participation in our past. We are so grateful to Luke Wilson and Habele for this donation, and this trust”


Photo: Canoe depicted in the "Encyclopedia of Ulithi," a booklet of history and cultural information compiled by US Navy sailors while stationed in Ulithi Atoll, Yap State (present day Federated States of Micronesia).


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Late in October, participants in the Habele Listening Tour waded ashore on the Island of Asor.

They brought with them a box of English student dictionaries; part of a larger, statewide donation providing each and every middle school student in Yap State with a personal dictionary for use at home and school.

Delivery of this box to the community of Asor, Ulithi marked the final step in a far-reaching effort. The initiative began in June with collaboration between Habele and the Dictionary Project, who provided the texts. Cases of dictionaries began to arrive on Yap Proper in early August where officials from the Yap State Department of Education worked with the Post Office, FSM Customs and Tax Administration, and the State Transportation Department to process the shipment and direct the boxes toward their final destinations.

Nearly half of the books were sent to students attending schools in the remote Outer Islands of Yap State. The majority of these reached their destination in September aboard the Yap State transport vessel, the MV Hapilmohol, whose captain and crew worked with Lorenzo Sartilug. Sartilug serves as neighboring island coordinator for the Department of Education. On Yap Proper, the Education Department Director Vincent Parren and his staff simultaneous distributed boxes to schools throughout Colonia and Yap’s ten municipalities.


The final boxes, slated for the islands of Ulithi (the closest Outer Island to Yap Proper) reached Falalop, Ulithi in November, aboard a Pacific Missionary Airline (PMA) flight. These parcels were received by Lazarus Ulith, who arranged transportation for the books and members of Habele’s Listening Tour within the Atoll. On each of the Atoll’s four islands, Habele Directors held meetings with educators and parents to solicit feedback and answer questions about Habele’s tuition scholarships, library donations and extracurricular programs.

Also in the meetings was Nils Winkler, CEO of Yapital, a European-based electronic payments company. Yapital sponsored the Statewide Dictionary Project, delivering the 1,000 dictionaries to middle school students, as part of its ongoing partnership with Habele to support K-12 students across Yap State. Following the discussions, the boxes of dictionaries were presented to each island’s school principal.

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Many of the people of Yap in the Federated states of Micronesia are leaving the outer islands for the more urbanised big islands at the centre of the group and in the process they can lose parts of their traditional culture

Waa'Gey incorporated is an organisation dedicated to ensure the skills involved in traditional canoe carving and weaving are passed on to future generations.

It's helped in its work by the small American based charity Habele that provides materials and some funds for its extracurricular activities for school students.

Regina Raigetal, is a Habele Director and the C-E-O of Waa'Gey and explained its work to Steve Rice.

Presenter: Steve Rice

Speaker: Regina Raigetal, the C-E-O of Waa'Gey in Yap

RAIGETAL: Ah it's currently focused on a particular weaving that we want to preserve it, and it went slowly for the past year, very few people remember all the intricate patterns that go onto this, and so we're trying to revive it and sustain it by teaching it to the younger generation, and the same idea was canoe carving.

RICE: I believe the weaving on Yap involves looms?

RAIGETAL: Well the looms are handmade and it's all manual, nothing electronic to it. The whole loom itself is made of wood and every little work done on it is done by the person who has structured the loom.

RICE: What sort of yarns do you use in the weaving?

RAIGETAL: We use banana and hibiscus fibres. For the younger girls we use cotton thread or polyester thread, because it's less brittle and we can teach it to them when they get to know that and adjust do it, then we provide them with the banana and hibiscus fibres.

RICE: How do you do that?

RAIGETAL: Well the banana, we peel the whole trunk of banana, because the banana tree the trunk is layered, and deeper within the banana tree trunk is whiter fibre, that's the ones that we use, and then for the intricate patterns that we add on and form the pattern into the actual loom or the lavalava we use the hibiscus fibre, which is soaked in water and then dried in the shade and then dyed.

RICE: What do you use to make the dyes?

RAIGETAL: Well we have natural dyes, but most recently we've been using imported dyes.

RICE: What were the natural dyes made of?

RAIGETAL: Well plants, roots and then we even used the husk of the coconut, we mash it and we squeeze the juice from it.

RICE: How old is the weaving culture?

RAIGETAL: I think the weaving actually involved in the Polynesian Islands, because there are studies of some anthropologists who've found that they have similar patterns drawn onto tapa cloths in the South Pacific.

RICE: And how many women are left that know all the skills of the weaving and how to do it?

RAIGETAL: I think less than 20, and so that is why we're working hard to preserve it and teach it to the younger generations.

RICE: And how many people of the younger generations are now interested in this art form?

RAIGETAL: A lot are interested and they are even some who are currently taking college courses, and so after their classes they come home and they join the group. And each student has their own loom. We currently have about ten students and two teachers.

RICE: Ok and what are the finished products used for?

RAIGETAL: The traditional uses are many, but this particular weaving or this pattern that we're focussed on, it used to be and still is a Chiefly, so we would call it the royal fabric and we weave it for funerals, they were used as mats and shrouds.

RICE: How many traditional patterns are there?

RAIGETAL: There are many patterns for wearing.

RICE: And that's for everyday life is it?

RAIGETAL: Yes every day. We sleep in them, we don't wear pyjamas or a nightdress, we wear the lavalava day or night, whatever in the water or on land, it's part of the culture.

RICE: And tell us about the canoe building?

RAIGETAL: Here the society has very defined gender roles and the women have their work, which is to garden and weave, and the men have their's, which is to fish, and so that's where the canoe comes in, because not everybody in the smaller islands have a motorboat, and so they still fish today using canoes. We're trying to teach it also to the younger generation so that they appreciate the art, and then also we have paddlers to come and paddle the ones that are already done carving, just to get a feel of it and know that it's usable and it's right there and it's theirs.

RICE: I believe that recently a new canoe was launched that had been carved out of a piece of Philippine mahogany?

RAIGETAL: Yes, yes, and they used that for the canoe festival. It won several races, and right now there's another log that is being carved.

RICE: So your organisation is dedicated to keeping alive the traditional handcrafts?

RAIGETAL: And the purpose for that is of course the migration of the neighbouring islanders to the main island or to the centre, and currently they choose to migrate here but soon with climate change and the sea level rising the way it is going, there'll be forced migration. And so they're coming in here and having their own settlements, they're losing their culture because they're meshing it with a more modern one here in the centre, and so I hope to pass these traditional activities so that other kids from the outer islands continue to learn it.

[This is a transcript of an interview conducted November 30th, aired on Radio Australia. The audio file can be found here].


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Habele continues to receive letters from students and parents as well as school and community leaders following the donation of dictionaries to students throughout Yap State.

The most recent note came from the island of Wottegai on the Atoll of Wooleai.

The community school principal and the traditional island chief explain:

 

"...So many thanks to whomever brought about this pleasant idea; whomever agreed to this idea; and whomever supported, supporting, and will continue to support this idea... At this tiny elementary level school, grades 1-8, we received a good amount of students dictionaries which they are very helpful to the students. Each student has his/her own dictionary. The students, their parents, the teachers, community leaders, as well as the whole community of Wottegai were very happy with the donations!"

The statewide donation of student dictionaries was orchestrated by Habele, a small US-based based charity that has been serving students in Micronesia since 2006.

The texts were donated by The Dictionary Project and funding for delivery was provided by Yapital, a European-based electronic payments company. Hard working educators at the Yap State Department of Education and seamen at the Yap State Government Sea Transportation ensured the donated texts reached each and every middle school across Yap and all its outer islands.

Habele also awards K-12 tuition scholarships, supports traditional arts and crafts, and develops after school programs that serve students in Yap State and across Micronesia.

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High tech met traditional tech when a group of US Navy Seabees pitched in to help the Waa’gey traditional canoe project in Yap, Micronesia.

The sailors, stationed on Yap as part of a construction civic action detail, used their powerful lifting equipment and wide-bodied truck to ferry a massive log to the traditional boat house where it will take shape as a sailing canoe.

Over the course of several weeks, Master Carvers and youth volunteers with the Waa’gey program had fallen, and carved out, a log in the jungles of Yap. It will serve as the hull for a traditional Carolinian sailing canoe. The dugout log -still weighing hundreds of pounds and measuring more than twenty feet long- was pulled up a trail from the depths of the jungle to a dirt road by a team of twenty boys using a rope. The next leg of the trip, the fifteen-mile road into Colonia where the Waa’gey’s boathouse sits at the edge of the lagoon, seemed an insurmountable obstacle.

“Thankfully, the US Navy was ready to help!” explained Larry Raigetal of Waa’gey. “They accomplished in a few minutes a lifting feat that would have taken us months,” Raigetal continued. “It was a great chance for us to share information and compare notes on our respective building techniques and technologies.”

The US sailors raised the hull onto a truck, drove it into Colonia, and delivered it to the boathouse. Young men and women presented the sailors with floral wreaths and gifts of local foods to convey their gratitude.

Waa’gey is a community-based organization. It aims to uses traditional skills to confront the social, economic and environmental challenges faced by the people of Micronesia’s most remote outer islands.
Waa’gey receives financial and material support from Habele, a US-based charity, which was holding a “listening tour” meeting at the boathouse when the log arrived on the Navy’s truck. Also present for the delivery was Nils Winkler, CEO of Yapital, a European-based electronic payments company. Yapital had donated chainsaws, adze blades and fuel for the Canoe Project through its ongoing partnership with Habele.

The US Navy Seabee civic action team is working on Yap to fabricate schools and hospitals, continuing a decades long tradition of American Government’s investment in core infrastructure for the people of Micronesia.
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An ABC Radio Australia program that covers news and events in the Pacific  broadcast an interview with Neil Mellen, President of the Habele Board of Directors.

Presenter Steve Rice explained how the small US based charity called Habele, which operates in Micronesia, has been officially praised by Yap State Legislators for its work there.

"The Speaker and Governor both communicated their belief that targeting support for students in intermediate and high school grades remains the best use of the charity's limited resources.

"The Council of Tamol and other traditional leaders encouraged Habele to expand its mission to serve all economically disadvantaged students, rather than only those from outer and distant lagoon islands.

"Habele's directors and supporters have just completed their 2012 listening tour in Yap State, to assess how the projects are working and how they can be improved."

The full audio clip of the interview is posted online here.

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Eighty students from the College of Micronesia-FSM and Yap High School visited the Waa'gey canoe carving project at the Living Museum canoe houses yesterday, Thursday, November 8th. Volunteer and coordinator of the project, Larry Raigetal gave a brief description of the project and basic instructions, including simple measurements on canoe carving. Principal Domingo Techur of Yap High School said he is "very happy the students had this opportunity to visit the project as Yapese culture and traditional skills such as canoe carving are just as important to learn."

Yap High School teacher Ms. Stephanie who coordinated the field trip for the High School students said the trip was "a success and a students learn a great deal of stuff."



Waa'gey is a locally chartered community based organization which actively works at the grassroots and community level to promotes use of traditional knowledge and skills. Some of its current projects aside from canoe carving include learning the skills of traditional weaving of royal fabrics for the girls and fish trap making for the boys.


Funding for this canoe project is made available from the Australian Government through its Small Grant Scheme. Waa'gey also receives support from Habele Outer Island Education Fund, a US-based charity.


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Habele Directors and supporters just completed the 2012 “Listening Tour” in Yap State, Micronesia. Meetings were held with state government officials, traditional chiefs, public and private school educators, as well as parents and community members in the villages.

Also attending the meetings was Nils Winkler, CEO of Yapital, a European-based electronic payments company. Yapital sponsored the Statewide Dictionary Project, delivering 1,000 dictionaries to middle school students, as part of its ongoing partnership with Habele to support K-12 students across Yap State.

Here are some of the trip highlights:

Yap State Legislators passed a resolution officially praising Habele’s six years of service to the students of Yap. The Speaker and Governor both believe that targeting support for students in intermediate and high school grades remains the best use of Habele’s limited resources.

The Council of Tamol and other traditional leaders encouraged Habele to expand its mission to serve all economically disadvantaged students, rather than only those from outer and distant lagoon islands.

Principals and teachers told Habele that after school programs such as Waa’gey (traditional canoe carving and weaving) and the Vex Robotics clubs have been genuine “game changers” for participating students. They asked for support to expand these extracurricular efforts.

The Women’s’ associations and the Waa’gey traditional skills programs thanked Habele for our donations of materials and funds. They both asked for Habele’s support in raising awareness of their work outside of Micronesia.


Public and private school educators asked Habele to repeat the statewide “Dictionary For Every Eighth Grader” donation on a yearly basis.

The feedback was constructive; the encouragement thrilling. Parents and educators communicated a genuine sense of gratitude. They want Habele to grow and gave us specific, actionable program ideas.

We encountered anxiety across Yap State about the drawdown in US Government aid and the prospect of a new multi-resort tourism and golf complex. This concern has spurred unprecedented public dialogue. The terms “sustainable development” and “effective foreign investment” were oft repeated. Directors noted a new interest in non-government organizations and hope about the role such groups could play in social and economic development.


The challenges faced by Yap (and all of Micronesia) represent an opportunity for Habele. Our targeted programs for students are academically effective and economically efficient. Habele’s slow-and-steady, grassroots, brick-by-brick growth strategy is being validated by praise and encouragement among official leaders and –more importantly– “back in the villages.” As the only US-based nonprofit solely serving students in Micronesia, Habele’s position remains unique and our ability to affect positive change enormous.


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Lorenzo Sartilug of the Yap State Department of Education reports:

"The donated dictionaries are ready to go on the ship. The ones for Ulithi Schools will be sent on the plane."

That government field trip ship will be sending the dictionaries to middle school students throughout the "outer" or "neighboring" islands of Yap State.

The outer islands -mostly lowing atolls actually- are collectively home to half of Yap State's population. They span hundreds of miles of open ocean between Yap Proper and Chuuk Lagoon. Habele also provides K-12 tuition scholarships to support ambitious students from these remote Pacific islands, in order to help equalize educational opportunity.

Learn more about Habele's tuition scholarships, public school donations and innovative after school programs at Habele.org


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Photo: the first boxes of dictionaries are picked up by Yap DOE at the FSM Post Office in Colonia, Yap.

A US-based nonprofit organization has sent a thousand English language dictionaries to the State of Yap, Micronesia (FSM).

Yap is one of four states comprising the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) a far-reaching chain of tiny picturesque islands strung across the Central Pacific. The nation, a long time ally of the United States, enjoys a status of “Free Association” with the US. It is best known to many mainland Americans as the site of bloody battles during the island-hoping Pacific Campaign of World War Two.

The donation is intended is to provide every student in middle school throughout Yap a personal dictionary of their very own. Twenty boxes were shipped directly to the Department of Education in Colonia, Yap where they will be distributed among students attending twelve public schools and two independent schools on Yap Proper. Another twenty boxes will travel aboard a state supply ship, headed for students at the eighteen public schools spread across Yap’s neighboring islands. Yap State is home to roughly 16,000 residents, with nearly 900 students in grades six through eight.

Yap, like all of the FSM, struggles with economic and educational development challenges. Data from the US government indicate that over half the adult Micronesian population has not earned a high school diploma. Among those lucky enough to enter the two-year community college system in Micronesia, just one-in-five will earn a degree.


“This is a team effort and there were a lot of moving parts,” explained Regina Raigetal, a Habele Director on Yap who led the dictionary donation project. “This would not be possible without the generosity of Mary French at the Dictionary Project, who provided the texts, and Director Vincent Parren, at the Yap State Department of Education, who is ensuring the books are properly distributed.” Raigetal noted the donation was designed to meet a specific, locally voiced need and hoped the books would reach students within the first few weeks of the new school year.

Parren echoed Raigetal’s enthusiasm about the partnership. “I would like to take this opportunity to thank Habele and its partners for their courtesy and kindness in sending the dictionaries to the students all across Yap State,” said Director Parren. “We really appreciate the help and gift, and are pleased to have helped usher the boxes through customs as we send them out to the far-flung schools.”

The project was initiated and organized by Habele, a South Carolina based charity that has been working in Yap State since 2006 to support K-12 aged students. In addition to donations of text, reference and reading books, the group awards scholarships and provides support to community-based afterschool programs. The dictionaries were provided by “The Dictionary Project,” another, South Carolina based organization that works to provide students across the globe with dictionaries of their own.
Learn more, and find out how you can help at www.habele.org.

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A US-based charity is awarding twenty-three students in Micronesia scholarships to attend the K-12 school of their parents’ choosing.

The scholarships, which cover three-quarters of each students’ tuition fees, will allow low-income children from rural communities and distant outer islands to attend prestigious private schools in the Micronesian State Capitals. The nearly two-dozen students were selected from a pool of sixty new applicants and former winners who sought the financial assistance.

 “Habele is exceptionally proud to be supporting twenty three students from nine different islands attending six separate schools in three Micronesian states,” explained Alex Sidles, a Habele Director. “Each year we receive more worthy applications than we have the money to support, which makes our decisions quite difficult,” Sidles continued. “We target that support at the elementary and high school level because that is where we see the starkest need.”

Data from the US Government indicates that half of all Micronesians over age 25 dropped out of school before earning a high school diploma. Among those who enroll in the island nation’s community college system, just one-in-ten complete a four-semester term of study within three school years.

The all-volunteer group has been awarding scholarships to students attending non-public schools since 2006, when it was incorporated by a group of former Peace Corps Volunteers. The organization also supports students through donations of library books and support of after-school programs including robotics clubs and traditional canoe carving.

Each scholarship winner is required to provide Habele with copies of her report card, a thank you letter and one photograph during the course of the school year. New applicants also submit details of her family’s financial situation and those applying to renew their scholarships must re-submit her application forms each year. “We try to keep the paperwork burden to a minimum,” Sidles explained, “but we also have an obligation to our generous donors in the US to show them how we are using their money in a fair, consistent and impartial way.”

Checks will be mailed directly to the schools and parents will be notified through the mail before the last week of July.

Those interested in applying for a scholarship, or supporting Habele’s work in Micronesia, can learn more online at www.habele.org. ###


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(Waa'gey - Colonia, Yap) This year's annual Yap Canoe Festival will once again take place in early November. This year the event organizers are giving community and interested groups the chance to put together activities for the celebrations.

Waa’gey, which has been working with local communities and other NGOs such as the Yap Tradition Navigation Society, YWA, and Habele, plans to organize public canoe carving seminars, sailing training and hands-on instruction on assembling local fish traps that will highlight the efficiency of local canoes in certain fishing techniques.

Waa’gey has the skill and manpower resource but lacks the financial means to carry out these activities alone. Waa'gey is therefore soliciting support for sponsor to our effort in ensuring a successful Yap Canoe Festival and more importantly to preserve our valuable traditions of canoe carving and local fishing techniques.

Here is our projected total need for the three activities:
* Canoe carving $5,000.oo
* 4 fish traps $1,200.00
* Sailing crew training $800.00

TOTAL $7,000.00

Contributions can be made through Habele, an IRS- recognized US-based nonprofit that supports Waa'geys work with K-12 aged students. Learn more about Habele's work with Micronesian after school programs here.

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By Scott Leis, former Peace Corps Volunteer. Reposted from the East Asia Forum.

With a total land area of 702 square kilometres spread across a series of tiny isolated islands and atolls, the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) may not be rich in land, but it does have one enormous resource, and that is its ocean.

The country’s Exclusive Economic Zone, which encompasses more than 2.5 million square kilometres, is some of the most strategically significant waters on the planet. It is an area near critical sea lines of communication and is located directly in the so-called ‘Second Island Chain’ from mainland Asia, close to all the major East and Southeast Asian Powers. And these waters are very rich too, containing abundant fish stocks that could help feed China’s enormous population. For these two reasons the FSM is commanding the attention and money of both China and the US.

The FSM has an economic relationship with the US as a ‘Freely Associated State’ under the terms of a Compact of Free Association that was signed into law in 1986, was amended and renewed in 2003, and is set to expire in 2023. As a Freely Associated State, the FSM has received millions of US tax dollars to support and develop various sectors of their economy, including health, education, infrastructure, business and the environment. In return, the US has full international defence authority for the islands and their territorial waters.

As the Compact approaches its end the FSM is trying to secure its post-Compact future  by shifting away from its US-centric foreign policy. Since March 2000, China has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in developing its diplomatic relationship with the FSM. Most of the money has been distributed to the same economic sectors that the US–FSM Compact intended to develop. Some of the money China invested has been deposited into a Trust Fund that will help support the FSM government after 2023, when it is likely to face severe budgetary deficits as the Compact with the US comes to an end. Beijing’s money has also paid for FSM officials at every level to travel to China for meetings and training.

China has continually pushed to expand its fishing interests in the FSM’s territorial waters to the point where Chinese fishing businesses now have a vertical monopoly in the country. Initially, the Chinese offered pure grant money, but after Beijing decided, that ‘there is little return on [Chinese] investment owing to poor Micronesian performance’, they began to focus on preferential loans that would need to be repaid either with non-existent Micronesian money or through collateral.

In October 2011 a Chinese company, Exhibit and Travel Group (ETG), unveiled a huge development plan for the FSM state of Yap. Yap is roughly 800 kilometres away from Guam, where one of the US’s largest military facilities in the Western Pacific is based. The proposed development plan was consistent with the FSM’s own Strategic Development Plans for 2004–23, which involved making tourism ‘the leading economic activity in the FSM’.

As a result of these two complementary plans and with the support of Yap’s governor, in January 2012, the state council of traditional chiefs and ETG signed a memorandum of understanding with the intention of developing the island’s tourism industry and supporting infrastructure. If carried out, the provisions of the investment plan mean ETG will acquire the rights to the majority of Yap’s land, and promise to succeed where the US failed by developing key infrastructure including seaports, airstrips, roads and medical facilities while maintaining the environmental integrity of the island.

The recent Chinese involvement in Yap, and the FSM as a whole, may be nothing more than a coincidence between three interests: a private Chinese company seeking to make profit; the Chinese government trying to quell its Malthusian fears by securing a dependable food source for its enormous population; and the FSM government trying to develop infrastructure and a sustainable economic sector that a nearly 30-year-old agreement with the US has failed to develop. Yet given the FSM’s geo-political situation between China and the US, China’s ever increasing defence budget, and the proximity of these islands and their territorial waters to US military installations in Guam and the Kwajalein Atoll, there is reason to fear that something that started as mutually beneficial will devolve into something that is mutually detrimental.

If the Chinese development proposals in the FSM come to fruition, the FSM may no longer need a comprehensive assistance package from any foreign government after 2023. And if the Compact of Free Association is not renewed, the US will lose its full international defence authority for the islands and their territorial waters. But these strategically located islands will still require a foreign military for their national defence, and only time can tell whether that will be the US or China. Given the ever closer relationship between China and the FSM, it is increasingly possible to be China — but can, and will, the US allow that?

Scott Leis holds a Master of Arts from the Kansas State University. He lives in Edgewater, Maryland.


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(Saluda, South Carolina) Thanks to the efforts of volunteers in Saluda County, young adults on a remote island in the Central Pacific will have some much-needed reading material.

Kayla Haynes, Director of the Saluda County Library, led a joint effort with the Friends of the Saluda County Library to put together a gift of several dozen fiction books for teenage and adult readers on the tiny island of Mogmog. Situated about 300 miles south of Guam, Mogmog is one of only four inhabited islands in an outlying string of Micronesian islands called Ulithi.

The island’s small public elementary school has a sparsely furnished reading room that doubles as a community library. The addition of several boxes of books will be a source of tremendous excitement for a community with very limited access to new literature.

“These are books that were being pulled from circulation, so we’re excited to know they’ll continue to be enjoyed,” Haynes explained.

The Friends of the Library is a nonprofit organization that supports Saluda County’s two public libraries. Their work includes sponsoring public support of the library, promoting library facilities and services as well as providing additional money for library materials, equipment and services.

The donation will be sent to Micronesia by the Habele Outer Island Education Fund, another South Carolina based charity. “Habele” was established in 2006 by a group of former Peace Corps Volunteers who served as librarians and teachers in the Federated States of Micronesia. In addition to supporting public school and community libraries in the remote “Outer Islands” of Micronesia, the group also organizes after-school programs including traditional canoe carving and robotics competitions.

“These young adult and adult fiction books are great,” said Neil Mellen, a Habele volunteer in Columbia.“ Remote communities like Mogmog are starved for educational materials, and we’re doing everything we can to help meet that need with limited resources. Now, the older readers on Mogmog must to take an open boat across the choppy lagoon to the high school library on another island just to check out books at this reading level. The generosity of the Friends of the Saluda Library will save them the trip!”

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Author's Note: Ben Stiller knows nothing of Habele and in no way supports our important capacity building work in the isolated and impoverished island nation of Micronesia. Derek Zoolander is a fictional character, portrayed by Stiller, and presumably owned by other, yet-wealtheir persons and corporations similarly unaffiliated with Habele and our K-12 educational programs (including the life-changing K-12 scholarships, high school robotics and traditional canoe carving programs, which they know nothing of).  

Paramount Studios, producer of the film "Zoolander" has not in any way communicated support for -or even interest in- the ongoing work of Habele's all volunteer charitable efforts in a nation with long standing ties to the US but where lack of economic and educational opportunities limit the life prospect of ambitious and deserving students. 

Habele needs your help to continue supporting disadvantaged students in the Central Pacific.

Our important work in Micronesia is entirely funded by the donations of private individuals. We have no employees, no salaried staff, no corporate partners and no support from the public sector. Everything we do is accomplished through donations of time and talent from the people reading this annual fundraising letter and blog post (which neither Ben Stiller nor his talented wife and "Zoolander" co-star Christine Talyor, have either received or approved of).

Specifically, we need your help in supporting these projects:

Tuition scholarships for low-income and outer island students in grades K-12
Robotics teams and demonstrations for high school students
Traditional canoe building and crafts mentoring after school
Native language dictionaries for preservation and bilingual instruction

These ongoing projects, all highly successful and popular with the students and communities we serve in Micronesia, will only be renewed for the 2012-13 school year if you choose to support them.

The economic and educational outlook in Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei and Kosrae remains bleak. Half of all adults are high school dropouts. Just one-in-ten of the lucky students entering the nation’s community college system each year will successfully complete their course of study. Habele’s targeted programs are modest but proven.

We engage and support the students who need it most, and have committed to partner with them though the twelve grade. Help us to honor that pledge (as we continue to steer clear of aggressive legal actions on behalf of copyright and trademark holders who, as we've stated clearly, having nothing to do with the work of expanding educational opportunity and accomplishment across across the Central Pacific).

Please send Habele a check or visit our website and make a donation through PayPal.

Then, share the story of Habele with a friend. Let them know about the group of former Peace Corps Volunteers and other engaged Americans working to support students in a beautiful, isolated and often overlooked chain of islands in the Pacific.

Also let them know that our work is not affiliated with a fictional male model "Derek Zoolander" whose fictional friend Hansel McDonald [portrayed by Owen Wilson, another person totally unconnected with, and uninformed about Habele] believes he has been "brainwashed to 'off' the Prime Minister of Micronesia." Explain to them that we hope these donations will not be siphoned away from the classrooms serving low-income Micronesians in order to mount a legal defense of Habele and that Habele would in fact accept support from copyright holders and fictional characters not currently engaged with our efforts.

Hosa hachigchig,

Neil J. Mellen
Habele Outer Island Education Fund
701 Gervais Street, Suite 150-244
Columbia, SC 29201


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High school students in Yap, Micronesia held an inaugural robotics exhibition last week, ushering in a new era in math, science and engineering education on the remote Pacific Island.

Student teams from Yap Catholic High School and Yap SDA school designed and built robots from VEX robotics over the course of the 2011-12 school year. The kits were a gift from the Habele Outer Island Education Fund. The schools also received instructional materials from Habele as well as remote technical support from US students attending Chaminade Prep in California.

"Yap Robo Day" as it was called, was held at the Community Center in Colonia, Yap. Nearly 100 parents, students, educators and public officials came to watch and support the teams. Their robots were able to pick up plastic rings, carry these across the arena, and carefully position the rings onto small poles of different heights.

Despite weeks of careful planning and preparation, both teams faced a range of minor technical challenges the day of the event. Motors overheated, remote control frequencies overlapped and certain robot parts did not function exactly as planned. Still, the exhibit provided both teams a chance to show their families and members of the community all their hard work.

"This was a great day for the students," explained Larry Raigetal of Habele. "We saw real science on display as both teams used reasoning and experimental observation to identify problems, make corrections, and integrate new knowledge into what they'd already learned."


Rev. Michael P. Corcoran, S.J., the principal at Yap Catholic High School, echoed Raigetal's excitement. "Looking back on the whole experience, I must say that it was excellent for our students."

"Our students had a sense of pride and accomplishment,' Corcoran continued. "I think the final-week's frustrations and consequent adjustments were one of the best  aspects of the whole semester.  It was like watching engineers deal with real world problems!"


Habele has already begun to solicit donations in order to fund the program for the 2012-13 school year. The US-based organization also supports low-income students enrolled at Yap Catholic and other private schools across Micronesia through tuition scholarships. The charity was established by former Peace Corps Volunteers and  does not seek -and will not accept- funding from government sources. This year it also awarded funds to Waa'gey, a program that passes on traditional skills of canoe carving and weaving to students on Yap.

"We have limited resources, but we will continue to target them to programs and projects that work for students," explained Neil Mellen, a US-based Habele Director. "Too few students graduate from high school in Micronesia, and just a fraction of those who do are career or college ready. The success of the robotics teams remind us that every student across the Pacific is capable of excellence."

Check out the Micronesia 101 infographic to learn all about the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM).

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A kind thank you letter was received this week from Shania, a Habele scholarship recipient in Pohnpei, Micronesia.

Shania is enrolled at Pohnpei Catholic School and earned an "A" average for the third quarter of this 2011-12 school year. She is in the seventh grade and is being raise by her loving grandparents, Moses and Gregoria Marpa.

Shania is one of twenty-four students attending nonpublic K-12 students across the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) this year through the support of Habele's tuition scholarship program. We wish her best of luck in the fourth quarter!

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Approximately 30 students from St. Mary's Elementary School in Yap visited the canoe carving site in Colonia, home of the Waa'gey Canoe Building Project. Waa'gey, in partnership with the Habele Outer Island Education Fund, was established to promote cultural activities among the island's youth.

"Every generation is responsible to the next generation for the instruction of our local customs and traditions," said Larry Raigetal, the founder of the Waa'gey NGO and it's Canoe Building Project. 

"Never is that more apparent in the teaching and learning of these kinds of skills, which were acquired by our ancestors over thousands of years," continued Raigetal. "Without the transfer of this knowledge and these skills, our heritage, in this regard, could be lost in a single generation."

The students of St. Mary's were shown some of the techniques required in building local canoes first hand by the carvers on site.  They were also treated to a tour of the Yap Living Museum and were informed about the cultural significance of such places by the staff of Yap's Historic Preservation Office.  Students of St. Mary's will continue to visit in groups continuing into next week through Wednesday.

Several of the Sant Mary's students are attending that school through Habele's K-12 Tuition Scholarship Program, which supports low-income families sending their children to non-public schools.


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These photos detail Waa'gey's latest progress. They've completed the "yaibo" stage of a large canoe. That is the point at which the canoe has really taken shape and is ready for finishing.

More photos and background information at www.Waagey.Tumblr.com

The Yap State election Commissioner, Laura T. Ngaden and her staff along with a staff from the National Election Office, paid a visit to the traditional canoe carvers and registered several young men to vote this week. They were also informed by the National Election Office staff to visit their office and obtain their voters registration identification cards.

During the visit, the Commissioner was given an introduction of the canoe carving project followed by a tour of the various canoe house activities, including traditional rope making and other typical canoe house chores.

“This is a great project that is not only important to the boys learning the skills but the state as a whole,” said Commissioner Ngaden. In support of the effort to preserve traditional skills, Ngaden told the group she is offering them a breadfruit tree for future carving. She also left copies of her office newsletter for the boys reading.

The project is being carried out by local NGO, Waa’gey, Inc., in collaboration with the young men from the island of Lamotrek. The group is working with a strong conviction that during these times of change, it is vital to retain their cultural identities by keeping cultural values and practices intact.

The sailing canoe is expected to be completed by next month and in time to prepare a team to compete in the annual canoe festival to be held in November.

Learn more about Waa'gey here and how to support the effort here.


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Betelnut Radio, the most far-reaching Island Music radio station in the world, is helping to raise awareness about Habele.

The radio station broadcasts an eclectic variety of Pacific Island songs through a range of mobile and desktop applications. Listeners are able to tune in or log on from nearly anyplace on the globe to hear songs from the Pacific.

This month, the station has generously begun airing Public Service Announcements (PSAs) highlighting the work of Habele, a US-based charity that serves students in Micronesia.

Betelnut Radio started in July of 2010 after a not-so-serious discussion about Pandora – a popular internet radio website – lacking Chamorro artists appeared on Frank "Kiko" Oliver  Facebook wall, providing a food for thought that would eventually turn into one of Kiko's biggest projects. With the help of family and friends, he set the idea into motion.

"We only started with 300 songs and streamed out of (my house). It was pretty cool hearing local music streamed on the internet while we were relaxing in the backyard," he laughs.

"We even had a little following of about 12 friends, who we'd call beta testers, who would listen every night." Kiko recalls spending hours and hours searching for good music through family, friends, record labels, artists and even the Micronesian Seminary for their Pohnpeian song library.

In May of 2012, Bert Javier, another project partner, reached out to Habele, offering to raise awareness of the charity's work through the growing medium. As the station's public service announcements explain, Habele has been providing students in the Federated States of Micronesia with tuition scholarships and school supplies since 2006. The announcements draw particular attendance to Habele's growing extracurricular programs for high school students.

"It is always a challenge for us to raise awareness of our work and get support for it since most [US] mainlanders have no idea where the islanders even are!" explained Marc McNamara, a Habele Director. "These PSAs are really special to us since Betelnut Radio's audience is a very targeted group of people with ownership in the Islands' future."

Listen to Betelnut radio and learn more at https://betelnutradio.com/listen

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