Outside their classrooms, over twenty students and classroom teacher Patrick Kelly from the Yap Catholic High School (YCHS) along with Waa’gey volunteers were clearing under a shady tree that will become their carving site for the next few months.

A fallen log that had been cut down during the initial clearing of the new school campus was identified for the students to carve their fist canoe.

Before all the carving took place, Larry Raigetal of Waa’gey gave some safety tips on how to handle carving tools including adzes.  A brief lecture was also given on core principles and fundamental values of canoe carving.  The students waste no time is getting their first hands on experience by starting to carve out the main hull of the canoe.

The project which had been in discussion between Waa’gey and YCHS for the past few months was put into motion following a school visit by Waa’gey volunteers where a presentation was given to students on the values of traditional skills including canoe building and navigation.  Mr. Kelly who teaches at the school said the project will also allow students, particularly those who are skilled in hand work to carve other things such as the school seal and crosses to be put on the classrooms.  “The students are very excited in doing this extracurricular work “said Mr. Kelly

This is a historical project as it could be the first canoe ever carved out by high school students on the island.  Furthermore, the fact that more than half of the student participants are female presents quite an interesting scenario, said Raigetal of Waa’gey.   While the process of canoe carving lays out specific roles for both genders, actual carving is one carried out by the men.  Waa’gey is also considering bringing its weavers under the project.


The project allows Waa’gey carvers to visit the school once a week and work with the group.  However, at some later stage of carving, and as dictated by carving procedures, more frequent visits and work on the canoe will become necessary.

Waa’gey is a community-based organization founded by local s and chartered under Yap state laws.  Waa’gey uses traditional skills to confront the social, economic and environmental challenges faced by the people of Micronesia’s most remote islands. Both Yap Catholic and Waa'gey are proud partners of the US-based Habele, a small nonprofit serving students across Micronesia.
Share

Habele, a US-based charity, has inaugurated a computer science education program on the Micronesian island of Pohnpei. With the financial assistance of donors Barbara and Ray Dalio, Habele has begun shipping computers, software, and related accessories to Our Lady of Mercy Catholic High School in Pohnpei.

The charity is working closely with Sr. Isabel Seman at Our Lady of Mercy to build the most appropriate computer lab possible for the school’s needs.

“The idea is to teach students the information technology skills they will need the rest of their lives,” said Neil Mellen, a director of Habele. “The twenty-first century is going to be online, and high school students in Micronesia need to start preparing for that reality now.”

Habele has sent the school Mac computers, monitors, peripherals, and the most common commercial software applications students will encounter. The choice of Macs rather than PCs will help familiarize Our Lady of Mercy students with the types of computers used at most of the higher education institutions in the western Pacific, assisting students with the often-difficult transition from high school to university.

Habele aims to provide the school with a total computer package: all the equipment needed to set up a first-rate lab, plus assistance with the installation.



“So often in the past, Micronesia has seen poorly-targeted or poorly-implemented aid projects,” said Mellen. “Our donation to Our Lady of Mercy is different. These are exact computer systems the students need, and we’re sending out a local technician in October to make sure it all runs smoothly.”

Habele board members and volunteers will also conduct periodic site visits to work with the school on its computer science program.

Since 2006, Habele has provided scholarships to K-12 students in Micronesia to attend private schools in the country such as Our Lady of Mercy Catholic High. The scholarship program has provided access to classroom education for dozens of low-income students annually, but now the charity wants to increase access to computer training as well.

“The traditional student skills—your reading, writing, and arithmetic, if you will—are still an important part of our mission,” said Mellen. “But we’re realizing more and more that students need fluency with computers and the internet as well if they’re to be full participants in the twenty-first century.”


Due to its remote location, Micronesia has historically lagged behind other countries in terms of access to information technology. Habele aims to change that on Pohnpei.

“Students around the world have a natural interest in computers. Micronesian students are no different. The stumbling block in Micronesia has been access to top-of-the-line equipment, and we’re grateful to the Dalio family for their help in rectifying that lack in Pohnpei,” said Mellen.

With its focus on local partnering and targeted education, the Habele-funded computer lab is the first of its kind in Micronesia, and is different from previous efforts to bring computers to the islands—efforts that have sometimes been less than successful due to insufficient cooperation with local schools or bureaucratic encumbrance.

“No more used computers showing up in boxes, unannounced and unsupported,” said Mellen. “That’s not how Habele operates. We’ve identified a need, and we’ve worked out a program to address it directly. We’re not part of the US aid program, we’re not part of the FSM government. This is a hands-on, results-oriented approach to education assistance.”

Habele was founded by former volunteer teachers to fill in gaps left by the US-funded public education system in Micronesia. With its focus on direct assistance and its close monitoring of education outcomes, Habele operates with an efficiency that government programs often lack.

Those interested in supporting Habele’s efforts can learn more online at www.habele.org.


Share

Written by Duane M. George of the Pacific Daily News

Some youths in Yap will wear real high school sports jerseys for the first time ever.

Habele, a U.S.-based charity, sent custom-designed sports uniforms to Yap Catholic High School and SDA School, two private high schools in Yap, according to a news release from the charity.

Habele has been working with the two private schools for years, providing scholarships to needy students, supplying the robotics program and making the targeted donation of library materials.


The uniforms -- the first of their kind for both schools, the release stated -- will help inaugurate intramural sports leagues at both schools. Previously, the students crafted crude jerseys out of old T-shirts by spray-painting numbers using handmade cardboard stencils, the news release states.

"We're tremendously excited to be helping the high schools with their nascent sports programs," said Alex Sidles, a Habele director. "These uniforms will give the students a lot of pride and enthusiasm for their schools."


The new uniforms feature the schools' names and colors on one side and can be turned inside-out to reveal a white side.

Basketballs, volleyballs - Habele also will send high-quality basketballs and volleyballs to each school.
"Sports are such an important part of growing up to be a healthy, well-rounded adult," said Sidles. "It's a real pleasure to help these schools out with that."


The sports program is the charity's first initiative in this field and was made possible by Habele's donors and volunteers, the release stated.

To learn more or to help Habele's educational mission, visit www.habele.org.


Share

US-based charity Habele has sent a collection of sports uniforms to Yap Catholic High School and SDA School, the two private high schools on the Micronesian island of Yap. The uniforms, the first of their kind for both schools, will help inaugurate intramural sports leagues at both schools.

“We’re tremendously excited to be helping the high schools with their nascent sports programs,” said Alex Sidles, a Habele director. “These uniforms will give the students a lot of pride and enthusiasm for their schools.”  Previously, the students had been crafting crude jerseys out of old t-shirts by spray-painting the cloth beneath handmade cardboard stencils.

The new uniforms feature the schools’ names and colors on one side—light blue for Yap Catholic, maroon for SDA—and can also be turned inside-out to reveal a white side. The American made reversible jerseys allow the schools to set up teams within their own campuses.

“These are really good uniforms,” said Sidles. “We had them custom designed and crafted for each school. I’ve seen the student athletes play at these schools, and they deserve the best equipment we can get them.”


In addition to the uniforms, Habele will be sending high quality basketballs and volleyballs to each school. “Sports are such an important part of growing up to be a healthy, well-rounded adult,” said Sidles. “It’s a real pleasure to help these schools out with that.”

The two schools are not yet scheduled to play regular matches against one another, but Sidles said he is hoping for a couple of exhibition games during the school year. One possibility is to incorporate an exhibition game into the Yap Robot Day festival. The two schools’ robotics teams compete against each other on Robot Day, and it might be possible to showcase a game between their sports teams at the same event.

“The uniforms just open up more possibilities for public games, intramural leagues, competitions between schools, whatever you can think of,” said Sidles. “I played basketball for my high school, and it was one of my favorite parts of the high school experience.”

Habele has been working with the two private schools for years, providing scholarships to needy students, supplying the robotics program, and making the targeted donation of library materials. The sports program is Habele’s first initiative in this field and was made possible by Habele’s US-based donors and volunteers, including Barbara and Ray Dalio of Connecticut. Those interested in learning more or in helping Habele’s educational mission can visit www.habele.org.




Share

Waa’gey founder and volunteer Mr. Larry Raigetal gave a presentation to the Council of Tamol (chiefs) from the neighboring islands of Yap on the ongoing activities of his group's work.

Waa'gey is a Habele supported extracurricular program. It uses a mentorship model to support at-risk high school aged students through the instruction of traditional cultural skills.

Following a brief introduction from Andy Tafileichig, the acting Chairman of the council, Mr. Raigetal provided a brief summary of what the program mission and objectives were.  He said, Waa’gey is premised on the need to protect and safeguard our dynamic cultures by providing hands on opportunities in canoe carving, rope making, fish trap making, and weaving among others for the younger generation of the state.   Raigetal also briefed the councilmen on Waa’gey’s key partnership with two foreign entities namely a US based charity organization Habele and Yapital a European company. He said both organizations have been very supportive in providing tools and equipment to support Waa’gey in addition to providing scholarships for Yapese students attending private primary and secondary schools.


Following the brief summary, a lively discussion including questions and comments were entertained. The consensus of the councilmen was that the program is vital to the need to preserve the dynamic cultures and traditional skills of the islands by keeping the future generation of the state engaged.  The group felt that COT must be encaged and get more involved in the project including being on the organization’s board of directors, an idea that is much welcomed by Waa’gey.  It was also discussed by the group and agreed that support from the main island is critical as the program is for the entire state of Yap.  As such, it was shared amongst the members that the Council of Tamol must give its support to the program as it is in line with its own mission to protect our culture.

The councilmen also expressed appreciation for the scholarship program extended from Habele and assure of their future support in encouraging their island students to apply.


Share

US-based charity “Habele” has begun shipping books to the Micronesian island of Pohnpei as part of a statewide public literacy project. The books include reference materials, cultural research literature, and regional histories. There are also texts dealing with local languages, arts and plants. The books are headed for high school and public libraries, where they will be available to both students and the community at large.

Neil Mellen, a Habele Director, explains: “Public access to topically relevant works is limited. There aren’t bookstores, and many people don’t have the money or the computer access to buy books through the Internet. Brick and mortar libraries may be on the decline here in the US, but in Micronesia, they’re still the cornerstone of a well-read, educated public.”

The donation -nearly a thousand hand-chosen texts- ranges from scholarly collections of source documents detailing early western contact with Micronesia, to children’s books about traditional and contemporary arts in the Pacific. There are also detailed reference guides to local fishes as well as fiction and poetry books by native Oceanic authors. Support for the effort was provided by Habele’s US network of volunteers and donors, and in particular, Ray and Barbara Dalio of Greenwich, Connecticut.

“There’s a huge hunger in Micronesia for the printed word,” said Alex Sidles, another Habele Director. “Micronesia is a society of readers. What’s been lacking in the past is wide access to quality educational literature, and we’re doing something about that. Focusing on content that is relevant is key to drawing a broader selection of readers into the libraries.”


Founded in 2006 by former Peace Corps Volunteers, Habele prides itself on its hands-on approach to assistance projects. By donating books and other materials directly to the schools and libraries, the organization avoids the lengthy delays and financial overhead that sometimes plague government-run literacy efforts in Micronesia. As longtime Habele volunteer Matthew Coleman said, “The key to literacy is simply reading. Our group puts good books in people’s hands and let them do the rest.”

The carefully assembled donations are headed to the Pohnpei Public Library as well as libraries at Calvary Christian Academy, Our Lady of Mercy Catholic High School, the SDA High School and Pohnpei Island Central School. Habele’s approach will be work with the libraries and schools, determines what works, and then reinforce success. “If we get detailed and constructive feedback from the local partners,” said Mellen, “then many more books and materials will be sent later in the year.”


Share

Mary Dorothy Alexander Vickers

Dorothy “Dot” Vickers, 91, of Winchester, Virginia, passed on to the Lord, August 27, 2013, at Consultant Nursing Home in Woodstock, Virginia.

Mrs. Vickers was born in Shelby, North Carolina, December 27, 1921. Mrs. Vickers attended Western Carolina Teachers College in Cullowhee, North Carolina. She was a member of the Opequon Presbyterian Church in Kernstown, Virginia. She supported educational activities all of her life.


Share

Photo: Students working at Yap Catholic High School. YCHS is one of eight schools across Yap, Chuuk and Pohnpei where Habele supports students through it's tuition scholarship program.

US-based charity Habele has announced issuance of its annual tuition K-12 scholarships to students across the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) this week. The scholarships are awarded to low-income and high-performing students to attend the K-12 school of their family’s choosing.

The scholarships cover seventy-five percent of a student’s tuition at one of eight participating schools in three of the FSM’s four states. The students primarily come from rural communities and remote outer islands. Habele’s scholarships allow them to attend the highest quality private schools in the country, which tend to be located on the larger islands that serve as state capitals.

“Habele is very proud to announce our 2013 scholarship recipients,” said Neil Mellen, a Habele Director. “Thanks to our generous donors, we’re going to help over forty students this year; nearly twice the number that we supported last year.”

The increase in scholarship allocations was made possible by a combination of individual and institutional donations from across the United States and Europe. Special support came from Ray and Barbara Dalio of Greenwich, Connecticut as well as from the Luxembourg based corporation “Yapital.”


Photo: Parents and students on Yap attended a Habele workshop in order to learn about the scholarship program and to receive support in completing their applications.

“We’re very grateful to our donors,” continued Mellen. “People have been more generous than ever—we’ve had contributions from American civil servants, scuba diving tourists in the islands, and former Peace Corps volunteers. In particular, we’ve received just tremendous levels of support from Barbara and Ray Dalio, who visited Pohnpei and Yap last year, and from Yapital, a European financial services corporation that just launched this summer.”

Habele, an all-volunteer group, has been awarding scholarships to primary and secondary school students in Micronesia since 2006. Each student is required to provide Habele with copies of his or her report card, a thank you letter, and a photograph during the course of the school year. New applicants also submit details of their family’s financial situation, and those applying to renew their scholarships must re-submit their application forms each year.

Photo: Scholarship recipients and their families meet with Habele Directors and Donors on Yap to celebrate students' report cards.

“We’re investing in these students,” said Mellen. “That’s our mission: to take a promising young man or woman, one who may not have access to quality education due to life circumstances, and give him or her the best schooling we possibly can. These are the young people who will grow up to lead Micronesia.”

“A scholarship is not a handout,” agreed fellow Director Alex Sidles. “Not only are the families of our scholars contributing their share to the tuition costs, but we see our scholarships as an investment in the future of the FSM. It’s good for the students, and it’s good for the country.”

Tuition checks will be mailed out to the schools in the coming days, and parents of successful scholarship applicants will be notified by mail at the same time.

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

This week a delegation of traditional culture experts from the Waa’gey organization travelled  to Yap Catholic High School for a presentation to the summer school students. Volunteers Joe Paiyar of Fachailap and Selestine Retewailam of Satawal spent several hours at the school talking to the students about canoe carving and traditional navigation.

Waa’gey founder Larry Raigetal accompanied the volunteers to supplement their presentations and provide translation into English when needed, and Habele member Alex Sidles was also present to talk to the students about scholarship opportunities.

Although most of the students at Yap Catholic were from Yap State, the Waa’gey presentation was for many the first time they had learned in detail about the various skills and practices required to build and operate a traditional sailing canoe. According to the Waa’gey members, such knowledge is in danger of being lost as society in Yap changes. As Raigetal explained, the purpose of Waa’gey is to remind young people of their heritage, even as they face the future.


Raigetal used the metaphor of a canoe to explain the value of teaching students cultural knowledge: “When a canoe is sailing toward a distant destination, the navigator always looks back at the point of departure to estimate how fast the canoe is drifting due to ocean currents. If he didn’t look back, he would have no reliable way of reaching his destination. We at Waa’gey  teach traditional skills as a way of giving young people the means to look back on where they came from, even as their lives take them to new places or new countries. Without a firm understanding of who they are, they would be as lost as a canoe that didn’t take note of its point of departure.”

Joer and Selestine illustrated their presentation using model canoes, sketches of canoes under construction, star charts, and wave pattern diagrams. Although the information was new to most of the students, they absorbed the concepts quickly. “Now you’re ready to a sail a canoe,” Selestine joked at the end of the presentation , although in fact it takes many years of study to acquire the full range of necessary skills.


Raigetal invited any interested students to come to the canoe house in Colonia and spend time with the Waa’gey volunteers who work there. “The canoe house is yours as much as it is ours,” said Raigetal, addressing the students. “Everything we do is for the purpose of teaching young people, so please come by any time you like!”


Share

In a simple traditional launching ceremony held at the Yap living history museum canoe houses, Larry Raigetal of Waa’gey thanked the invited guests for honoring Waa’gey carvers and volunteers by making time to attend the ceremony.  He went on to explain the ceremony, in a typical traditional setting, is one of several, and the final event to mark the completion stage of a canoe carving process.

“Hefaifoi” as the ceremony is termed usually allows for free flow of traditional knowledge and skills as well as criticism of the completed canoe by other master craftsmen present at the occasion.  The canoe marks the second sailing canoe completed by Waa’gey.

 Attending the ceremony were Lt. Governor Tony Tareg, several local master canoe carvers along with Waa’gey carvers and volunteers.  Special guests attending the ceremony included Yapital CEO Mr. Nils Winkler, Maren Winkler and their two sons Lex and John Winkler. Mr. Alex Sidles of Habele was also on site to attend the ceremony.  “This is a very important ceremony that attests to Waa’gey ‘s successful effort in ensuring that valuable knowledge passed down for many generations is kept intact by the future generations of Yap.  These skills are at high risk of being lost as modernization of these islands increases.  Waa’gey is doing the right thing in allowing this transfer of skills. We at Habele are happy to be part of this effort ,“ Sidles said.


Waa’gey is a locally chartered nonprofit organization that uses traditional skills to confront the challenges of tomorrow. Other components of Waa’gey projects include women weavers who are teaching younger girls such valuable skills.



Share

Non-profit organizations Habele and Waa’gey conducted a workshop for parents interested in obtaining Habele scholarships for their children in the 2013-2014 school  year.

The workshop was held in the afternoon at the community center in Colonia, Yap (Micronesia). Interested parents arrived throughout the day, and volunteers from Habele and Waa’gey were on hand to assist them in the application process. The workshop was the first of its kind for Habele, and around forty applications were received during the course of the event.

The workshop also marked the first time that Habele accepted scholarship applications from students from the main island of Yap. Previously, scholarships had been limited to outer island students only, due to Habele’s limited finances. This year, however, the contributions of several generous donors, especially the Germany-based financial services corporation Yapital, have made it possible for Habele to expand its scholarship program to Yapese students as well.

“Yapital has been a crucial partner in our ability to expand our scholarships this year,” said Habele board member Alex Sidles. “Without Yapital’s assistance, we wouldn’t be able to accept nearly as many students.”

The workshop on Yap enabled families without internet access to complete applications. “Not everyone has access to a computer or a printer,” said Larry Raigetal, of  Waa’gey  who assisted in organizing and conducting the workshop. “In fact, it’s often been the neediest families who have the hardest time getting their applications turned in.”

Due to the strong positive feedback Habele received from the community following the workshop, Habele plans to conduct a similar workshop on Yap every year. Habele will still accept scholarship applications over the internet, but the new annual workshop will enable families without internet access to apply. “We want to be as inclusive as possible when accepting scholarship applications. An annual workshop is the best way to do that,” said Sidles.

Habele will announce its decisions regarding scholarship applications in August. Families will be notified individually whether their student’s application has been approved or declined. In the case of a declined application, Habele encourages the family to apply again next year.


Share

A letter from the Habele Board President to donors and volunteers:

This has been a great year for Habele, and now we need your help in keeping our commitments to the ambitious students of Micronesia.

Since January, we’ve delivered dozens of boxes of dictionaries to students throughout Yap and Chuuk States. We’ve also provided specialized adze blades to master carvers in the Waa’gey canoe carving mentor program. Most exciting, we’ve partnered with schools in Yap to orchestrate our second annual high school robotics competition.

Now we are looking toward August 1st, when Habele announces its 2013-2014 Student Scholarships – and we need your help!

These scholarships offer students from remote islands and low-income families equal access to the quality instruction provided by Micronesia’s most effective independent schools.

Habele’s K-12 student scholarships serve a locally defined need. They raise community expectations of the power and utility of formal education. The scholarships are a targeted, transparent, and effective form of support for the most challenged segment of Micronesia’s population: students.

There are 24 Habele scholarships from the 2012-13 school year that we hope to renew (a 25th, is set to graduate high school!) There are dozens more additional applicants this year, some having applied each summer for several years.  The need far exceeds our ability to meet it, but at a minimum we are determined to keep our existing students who’ve met their report card goals enrolled next year. Average tuition at the schools where Habele scholars attend is just over $550 next year. In addition to the scholarship renewals, our hope is to provide further awards to the most deserving of the new applicants.

Please, consider making a donation to Habele today. Remember, we are an all-volunteer charity, with no paid employees. We are also an IRS-recognized nonprofit, so you may be eligible for a tax deduction.

Thank you for your support, -NM


Share

Shipments of cultural studies and art history books are headed to the Republic of Palau.

The donation, made by Habele, consists of copies of "Micronesian Arts and Crafts," "The Art of Micronesia," and a the newly released "Painting Palau's History." Each is authored by the esteem anthropologist and regional expert Barbara Wavell.

The books are headed to the Historic Preservation Office (HPO), the Palau National Museum, as well as public libraries. The hope is that both experts and lay readers alike will have easy access to the texts.


The newly published "Painting Palau's History" tells the story of Charles Gibbons. One of Palau's most famous artists, Gibbon's life spanned three Colonial administrations and saw many changes in Palauan society. His memories, expressed through his detailed and meticulous water color images of the past preserve cultural traditions and provide a valuable record of those early days. This work explores his life and art. Filled with vivid color illustrations, the book is visually striking and certain to be of interest to native readers in Palau.

"We've found that books dealing with regional topics are in high demand across the Central Pacific," says Neil Mellen, a Habele Director. "Anything we can do to develop an interest in reading among younger students -and sustain and indulge that interest among older community members- is great. Our experience is that books about the islands themselves often work best."

Habele is a US based nonprofit that has been supporting students across Micronesia since 2006. The charity's private school tuition scholarships, targeted literacy donations and innovative after school programs are designed to promore both educational access and accomplishment.

Share

The competition began with facilitator Larry Raigetal of  “Waa’gey,” who explained the ground and technical rules of the competition.  Raigetal also provided the audience with background information of the program, now in its second year. He explained how each school provided their student teams with classroom and after school instruction during the course of the school year. The Robo Day event marked a final display of progress and competition, but the goals of the ambitious extracurricular program were being met throughout the last nine months. Both teams had designed and built their robot from an elementary parts kit, honing and improving the robots' performance through trial and error over two semesters.

Each of the two-student team was given five minutes to operate their robots through the pre-determined game course during two timed rounds. The Yap SDA team won a coin tossing and was given the opportunity to lead off the first round. Both teams were tied at thirteen points after the first round.  Following some readjustments to the robots, the second round was given to Yap Catholic High School to lead off.   The final score for the game was 20 points for Yap Catholic High School and Yap SDA garnering 17 points.

The competition this year brought more excitement to the crowd as the two robots were greatly modified by the teams, allowing them to maneuver and move about the course at higher speeds than last year.  Both teams did exceptionally well in operating their robots. Fr. Michael Corcoran SJ Principal of Yap Catholic High School said he was very happy with the turn out and was most impressed at the improvement made by both robotic teams.  “Last year after the first round, the score was only 1-0” This is a huge improvement he said. Principal Ryan of Yap SDA shared Corcoran’s enthusiasm. Local television and media were also on site to interview the teams and their coaches following the event.

The US based charity “Habele” coordinated the event, with financial support from the European based electronic payments firm “Yapital." The Yap based Waa’gey organization organized the exhibition and served as a liaison to educators and team members throughout the school year. Larry Raigetal of Waa’gey declared the event a major success. “Not only did we see great improvements on the performance of the teams and their modified robots this year, the level of turn out and excitement of those who came only makes us want to work harder for a better event next year!”###


Share

Students and their mentors in the Waa'gey traditional canoe carving program are giving rave reviews to a set of new tools, provided in part by the US based charity Habele.

Adzes are a traditional tool used for carving or smoothing rough-cut wood in hand woodworking. They are most often used for squaring up logs, or for hollowing out timber. Long ago islanders in the Central Pacific used shell, coral, and sometimes even stones, for the blades of their woodened handled adzes. Today metal blades are fixed to the locally cut and carved handles.



For years, Waa'gey carvers had to salvage truck springs and other low-grade scrap metal in order to shape the blades. Now, master metalsmith Jim Wester of Waldron Island, Washington is forging high-grade, specialized blades for the group. The partnership was initiated and coordinated by Habele as part of that group's mission to serve K-12 aged students across Micronesia.

"Waa'gey's model of pairing master carvers and weavers with high school aged students is great. They are doing so much to revive and preserve the cultural heritage," said Alex Sidles, a Habele Director. "The efforts also fit perfectly within Habele's mandate to promote academic excellence and access" Sidles continued. "Like the high school robotics teams, this type of extracurricular program really compliments Habele's scholarships and library donations."

The international partnership between canoe carvers in Yap, a small charity in South Carolina and a metalsmith in Washington State has not gone unnoticed. Wester's shop is now offering similarly large and customized blades to other carvers across the world.



"Last year, I sold a few gutter adze irons to some carvers in the remote outer islands of Yap, Micronesia," Jim explains. "But they are building traditional dugout canoes and really want something more aggressive, for two handed work. So they commissioned me to make larger gutter irons, about 3 1/2 inches wide and five times heavier than my normal ones. Not only are they more powerful but also less taxing on the forearm than the single handed adzes."

Learn more about the Waa'gey program here.

Share

Students attending Chuuk High School have sent their thanks to Habele for donating English language dictionaries. The US-based charity provided the texts when approached by Vice Principal Jason Reiong.


Reiong wrote to Habele in late 2012, explaining: "I read about your organization in the Kaselehie Press and I was very happy with what your organization has being doing for all the schools across Micronesia. I am writing to ask if your charity could help our students at CHS with some dictionaries, such as those you've provided to students in Yap..."

Over the last several months, Habele volunteers and their partners obtained the dictionaries and sent them to Chuuk. The cost of postage and processing was funded by the European based electronic payments firm "Yapital." On his end, Reiong navigated the donated boxes through customs, the post office and the school system's own bureaucracy. He explains that the timing of the arrival allowed the dictionaries to be used by students preparing for their state and district achievement tests.


"Since the students started using the dictionaries -both in the class and at their homes in the evenings- we've seen the scores on the local assessment increase," Vice Principal Reiong explained in a gracious letter to Habele volunteers. "The higher scores, and the rise in our College of Micronesia (COM) admission rate are possible because of the thoughtful contributions from people like you."

This letter to the editor appeared April 9, 2013, on page A14 of the U.S. edition of the Wall Street Journal.

Regarding Neil Mellen's "A Pacific Island Prefers Chinese Investment to U.S. Welfare" (op-ed, April 2):

Mr. Mellen's focus on Micronesia's economic stagnation is illuminating. But the really alarming aspect of the growing Chinese presence on Yap he mentions only in passing -the Chinese expansion of Yap's seaport and airport. This is more than an economic development; it is potentially a military one. Are we really to be muscled out of the Pacific so easily?

Alex Sidles
Seattle, Washington

Share

For decades, American aid did little but promote dependency. Now here comes a Chinese entrepreneur.

This article appeared April 2, 2013, on page A13 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal.

A Micronesian island of about 39 square miles in the western Pacific will in the coming years become a destination for Chinese tourists if a massive resort complex proceeds as planned. The island, called Yap, is part of the Federated States of Micronesia and is strategically located at the crossroads of the Pacific, 500 miles southwest of the major U.S. military bases on Guam.

There are likely to be significant cultural, environmental and economic side effects from the project proposed by Chinese real-estate developer Deng Hong and his Exhibition and Travel Group, or ETG. Certainly a 4,000-room casino-and-golf complex would transform Yap. Yap State, a group of islands with a total population of 11,000, is one of the world's most isolated and traditional societies.

There will also likely be a shift of influence as the Chinese take de facto control over an airport and seaport—both will undergo major improvements for the development—at the heart of a region once termed "the American Pacific." The region is one that the post-World War II Pentagon promised would never again be ceded to foreign influence, as it had been to the Japanese in 1917.

Americans will be tempted to focus on growing Chinese influence in a former U.S. client state and strategic ally. Yet the real lesson is about America's 75-year failure to export one of its greatest assets: free-market capitalism. Since 1945, the U.S. has seemed to direct little more than state socialism to Micronesia and the rest of the American-affiliated Pacific.


The many billions of dollars sent to Micronesia in direct foreign aid was intended to finance the development of economic and political systems across these remote islands and atolls. The Micronesians have instead used the aid to feed a government bureaucracy that mirrors the worst excesses and inefficiencies of the U.S. Department of the Interior, the agency that controls most of the aid.

The sad result is a huge, U.S.-funded Micronesian public sector that crowds out economic development. This has ensured the perpetual dependency of the people, like the Yap islanders, on the state and federal government of the Federated States of Micronesia.

So oppressive is the bureaucracy that the World Bank estimates it takes a year and a half's worth of personal income—spent, for instance, on licensing and attorney fees—to open a small business in Micronesia. In 2013, the bank ranked Micronesia second-worst in the world (behind East Timor) in policies for land registration. The difficulty of recording and holding assets that will be protected under law makes credit virtually unobtainable. The public sector is effectively the sole source of jobs, services, benefits and entitlements—unless Micronesians migrate to Hawaii or Guam (where they are eligible for entitlements on par with native-born U.S. citizens) or enlist in the U.S. military (a career option opened by the "free association" status between the U.S. and Micronesian state governments).


There is no more telling indictment of U.S. policy than the Chinese resort complex planned for Yap. Certain key decision makers publicly justified the deal under the banner of free-market development. Advocates of the plan insist that it is a once-in-a-century opportunity to replace aid dependency with economic development. In short, they are trading in U.S. government handouts—which are scheduled to end in 2023—for the wide-open promise of Chinese-style capitalism.

The U.S. could have spent the past seven decades working with Micronesians to develop modern property rights and an adherence to the rule of law. Washington could have given them the tools to envision and pursue the political and economic future of their own design. Instead the U.S. has devoted itself to keeping the lights on in countless cinder-block government buildings and handing out cheap perishables such as rice and Spam.

The Chinese plan for Yap is not universally popular on the island, where locals still use stone money and dugout canoes. That is particularly true among villagers outside the town center of Colonia, citizens of the more remote municipalities, and peoples from the nearby Outer Islands. Still, the project offers something other than the stagnation and nurtured self-pity of the status quo.

Mr. Mellen was a Peace Corps volunteer in Yap State from 2002-05. He is the president of "Habele," a U.S.-based nonprofit serving kindergarten through 12th-grade-age students across Micronesia.

Copyright 2012 Dow Jones & Company. Read a published response here.


Share

Educators at the two independent High Schools on the Island of Yap have announced plans for a public exhibition and competition, featuring teams from their student robotics clubs.

The 2013 “Yapital Robo Day,” will highlight the work of robotics teams from both Yap Catholic High School and the SDA School. It will serve as a culmination of the participating students’ hard work throughout the school year. The event will be held on Friday, May 17th at the Community Center in Colonia, starting at 3:00pm. Both schools will demonstrate the capabilities of their robots by navigating the machines through a series of obstacles and retrieving doughnut shaped cargos with the robotic claws.


Club members are looking to show community members, public officials, and their peers the capabilities of the VEX robots each team has built. Parts for the machines were initially donated by the US-based charity “Habele.” Over the course of the school year, the student teams have designed, assembled and programed the robots, turning those piles of raw materials into fully functioning robots.

Last year the two schools participated in the first-ever Yap Robo Day. It was coordinated by local community organization “Waa’gey.” That event, which garnered headlines across the Pacific and earned the recognition of robotics aficionados throughout the US, was Oceania’s first ever student robotics exhibition.


“The feedback on last year’s event was amazing,” explained Neil Mellen, President of Habele. “Our worry was that despite the hard work of the students and enthusiasm of their teachers, we wouldn’t be able to raise the money to buy new parts and stage the Robo Day event again.” Thankfully, the European based electronic payments firm “Yapital” offered to help.


Yapital’s financial support enabled Habele to purchase upgrade kits and spare parts for the robots, as well as shirts for all participating students. They also plan to cover the cost of hosting the Robo Day event itself. “When a delegation from Yapital visited Yap last fall we heard a lot about the Robo Day and just how much it meant to the participating students,” said Nils Winkler, Yapital CEO. “This type of practical application of science and technology instruction is inspiring. We at Yapital are proud to be supporting these hard working students and educators in Yap State.”

Share

Share