Outer Island students are facing unique challenges in the wake of Super Typhoon Maysak.

Every year, hundreds of children from dozens of isolated islands travel across the open ocean – some students traversing hundreds of miles – to attend Outer Island High School in the isolated atoll of Ulithi.

Everything changed when Super Typhoon Maysak obliterated historic Outer Island High School. Students (OIHS) from storm-ravaged islands were suddenly left without even basic educational facilities, or supplies to finish the school year.

Local stakeholders and community leaders quickly put into place an alternate plan. With no local option for schooling, thirty-two seniors from devastated Outer Islands matriculated to the state capitol of Yap to complete their studies and graduate.

Many of these students have had their own homes destroyed, and are now now attending an unfamiliar school, far from their families, on an island with a different language and customs. To make the situation even more pitiable, many of these students have arrived without even basic personal belongings or school supplies.

In partnership with Habele and Waa’gey, McREL International is continuing to collect much-needed supplies for “New Beginning” Kits for Outer Island students. These kits contain basic school supplies, toiletries, and even sandals to protect the students’ feet from shards of sheet metal.

Even low-cost, readily available items are completely out of reach for many of these young people. The donations making the “New Beginnings” kits possible are meeting a very practical need, as well as encouraging students who have already lost so much to the storm.

If you are interested in assembling or contributing to a kit, please contact the McREL International Denver Office.

To donate directly to Habele's ongoing work in Moving Past Maysak:

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