Early in April, a massive super typhoon ravaged Micronesia, a chain of remote islands strewn across the Western Pacific.

Home to a primarily subsistence economy, Micronesia's most remote "Outer Islands" lay directly in Super Typhoon Maysak's violent path. The islands have deep historic and strategic ties to the US.

Habele has been sending Response Kits and Recovery Kits to families and local community organizations. You can help this all-volunteer effort by donating right now. We've highlighted other reputable groups and individuals serving victims as well.

Habele is also sending micro Action Grants directly to local partners who've demonstrated exceptionally innovative or sustainable responses.

The first of these was a $1,000 check awarded to Pacific Missionary Aviation (PMA). Decades of service and experience translates into an immediate response, daily delivering subsistence materials to islands with runways, notably Ulithi and Fais. Regular updates are posted on their PMA Facebook page.

A second action grant is headed to Waa'gey, a local cultural organization operating throughout Yap State. A long time Habele partner, their Typhoon Response efforts are most focused on remote islands and atolls such as Fechaulap, which lack airstrips. They've further committed to provide support for transient students displaced by the destruction of Outer Island High School (OIHS) on Falalop, Ulithi.


Habele is also distributing "Moving Past Maysak" t-shirts for local organizations to sell as fundraising items. The shirts will be provided free of charge so all net receipts can be reinvested in Typhoon response. Shirts will also be provided to volunteers and relief workers.

The "Moving Past Maysak" logo is free to use and can be downloaded in JPG, PNG, EPS and AI formats.
To donate to Habele:

or send check or money order to 
Habele, 701 Gervais St, STE 150-244, Columbia, SC 29201.

Habele is a tax exempt, all-volunteer, US based nonprofit with a proud history of high impact support for our partners in Micronesia.

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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.


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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

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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.


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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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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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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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This is an editorial guest column published in the Honolulu Star Advertiser (link) on November 23, 2011 under the title "Teach a man to fish." It is a response to this editorial calling for a revision to the immigration provisions of the Compacts of Free Association.

One billion dollars over the last six years.

That’s the estimated cost for government services provided to migrants from the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), the Marshall Islands and Palau living on Hawaii and Guam. It’s separate and addition to direct U.S. assistance to those three island nations.

Frustration with the costs is growing. The money could be going to fund other core government services in Hawaii and Guam, or fuel growth in the private sector economy that created it. Spending on services and entitlements for these immigrants is really just a symptom: one manifestation of the faltering relationship between the United States and its long-time strategic partners in the Pacific.

Pacific Islanders from the three nations may enter and reside indefinitely in the United States, bypassing visa and labor certifications required of other immigrants. That’s a benefit provided by the Compacts of Free Association, those bi-lateral treaties that solidify America’s unique relationship with these three Freely Associated States (FAS).

Inevitably, the vast majority of FAS immigrants make their way to Hawaii and Guam. Their children attend public schools. Most of these students require remedial instruction in English and other subjects. Many claim free or reduced cost school meals. FAS citizens are eligible for Medicare and Emergency Medicaid programs. Among older FAS immigrants, high rates of obesity, diabetes and hypertension lead to heavy medical costs. There’s also federal or state rent support for FAS families. It all adds up.

Geography explains why the impact of the Compact is disproportionately borne by Hawaii and Guam. It cannot account for the sheer size of that impact. That is a story of costly disappointments and unintended consequences.

Consider the FSM. Half of Micronesians over 25 are now high school dropouts. Only one-in-ten who enter the two-year community college system graduate from it. Private sector unemployment is rampant and a third of the national population lives below the “Basic Needs” poverty level. The IMF ranks Micronesia in the bottom quarter of its worldwide “ease of doing business” survey. All that is despite $130 million in annual assistance programs from the U.S. Government.

The bleak conditions at home explain why an estimated 56,000 Micronesians, Marshallese and Palauans now reside in the United States. They comprise nearly a quarter of those nations’ total populations. Over half of these immigrants come to Hawaii and Guam.

The original intent of American support to the three Freely Associated States was to build the capacity for economic and political self-sufficiency in those nations. Despite decades of assistance, the FAS remain poor and dysfunctional, so many of these Micronesians, Marshallese and Palauans understandably seek greener pastures in the U.S.

A skeptic might argue that, thanks to their remote location and lack of natural recourses, small isolated island nations are “automatically” destined for permanent financial dependency; that political and financial sovereignty are unobtainable. But none would claim the present situation is the best that can be realized. The problem is not the size or scope of U.S. support, the problems lay within the ways that money is structured, allocated and managed. Private investment is crowded out, local decision-making and initiative hampered, and civil society woefully underdeveloped.

No one has better means or motivation to advocate for improved development in the Freely Associated States than the people of Hawaii and Guam. Hawaiians and Guamanians have a unique appreciation of the strategic importance of American forces and transit in the Central Pacific. Likewise, they have a heightened sensitivity to the influx of immigrants who are themselves frustrated with the state of under-development in their home islands.

If the people of Hawaii and Guam can direct mainland Americans’ attention to solving economic and political challenges in the Freely Associated States, then they will accomplish much more than just reducing the short term “Compact Impact” costs they now struggle with.

About the author: Neil Mellen is President of the Habele Outer Island Education Fund, a South Carolina based charity that supports Micronesian students through private school scholarships, library donations and academic competitions.

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Charity Reports Support for Micronesian Students

An American charity working in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) released its annual report today, detailing support provided to schools and students over the last year.

The “Habele” Outer Island Fund is a US-based nonprofit organization established in 2006 by a group of former Peace Corps Volunteers. In 2010 the organization provided tuition scholarships to 21 students attending non-public elementary and high schools in the FSM. The scholarship winners came from Outer Islands and Lagoon Islands across the States of Yap and Chuuk.

“We are excited to see demand for these scholarships grow,” explained Marc McNamara, a Habele Director. “We had more than three applications for each scholarship we could award this year. The interest is quite strong and the students who’ve earned Habele scholarships are excelling in the classroom.”


The K-12 tuition scholarships issued by Habele are a form of “School Choice,” extending access to private schools to middle and low-income families. “It’s about the best classroom for each student, and giving parents a way to get more involved in their child’s education,” noted McNamara. The report highlighted data from the US and FSM governments indicating student achievement and graduation rates at public schools in Micronesia have stagnated. That’s despite major financial aid from the US government through the Compact of Free Association that links the two nations.

The report also detailed Habele’s development of a Ulithian-English Dictionary. The dictionary was created to support public school classroom teachers in the Outer Islands of Yap. The publication was the first of its kind and copies were widely distributed to educators across the State.

The full annual report can be found online at www.habele.org.

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

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

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

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

You check out Ben's blog here.

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A copy of the President's speech can be found by clicking here, or you can view his video presentation.
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Early in October, President Obama announced his intent to nominate Peter A. Prahar to be the US Ambassador to the Federated States of Micronesia.

The United States Senate unanimously confirmed the appointment on November 20th.

The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) is an island nation in the central Pacific with close historical and economic ties to the United States. The FSM was established in 1979 after five decades of direct US-control through a region-wide United Nation overseen Trust Territory.

Prior to the confirmation, Prahar was serving as the transnational crime officer at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, Russia. Before that assignment, he served in the Office of Asian, African and European Programs in the Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement. Other previous assignments included tours in China, Japan, Albania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali and Rwanda.

In 1983, the US and FSM governments entered into a status of Free Association. The ongoing agreement provides Micronesia with significant financial assistance in exchange for US defense rights in the region. It also allows for open and reciprocal travel rights for both countries' citizens, as well as access for Micronesian nationals to US social services and entitlements.

Despite its close relationship with the United State, Micronesia is challenged by high rates of poverty and low levels of K12 and secondary educational attainment.

Addressing the Foreign Relations Committee, Peter Prahar explained:

"Under the Compact, the United States provides more than $90 million in annual assistance to the FSM through Fiscal Year 2023. Last year, total U.S. assistance to the country, including all federal services, programs, and grants, exceeded $130 million…This assistance is intended to be an economic springboard as the FSM improves its business climate, fiscal policies, and capacity to govern, while reducing its dependence on recurrent, public sector expenditures supported by foreign assistance.

"If we are to meet these development goals by 2023 – which, in development terms, is very soon – we must ensure that programs in which we invest have clearly stated goals and objectives, agreed-upon benchmarks and performance indicators, and formal monitoring and evaluation plans that provide feedback on what is working and what is not, and how deficient areas can be improved.

"At the same time, while insisting on reasonable safeguards for U.S. taxpayer money, we must be careful to avoid the impression that the most powerful country in the world is dictating to one of the smallest. We need to reaffirm that we seek the same results from the Compact’s investments to the FSM: a good educational system, improved public health, effective governmental services, an open business climate, and protection of the FSM’s unique and lovely environment.

Read Prahar's full statement to the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations here.

Habele is an all-volunteer non-profit organization that promotes educational access and accomplishments in the remote Outer Islands of Micronesia.

A mere 10 percent of Micronesians who enroll in the nation's community college system actually graduate.

The figure was released in the "IPEDS Data Feedback Report," complied by the College of Micronesia (COM) for the United States based National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). It measures the number of full-time, first-time, degree seeking undergraduates who obtain a degree within 150% of the time normally required. It also accounts for students who transferred out to other schools, usually in Guam and Hawaii, in order to continue their studies elsewhere.

More troubling, additional figures from NCES indicate a massive disparity in graduation rates along gender lines. Female students (comprising 53% of the COM student body) have a 15 percent graduate rate while their male peers (47% of students) graduate at a rate of just 4 percent.

The College of Micronesia has a national campus on the island of Pohnpei and state campuses in Kosrae, Chuuk, and Yap. It offers 2-year degrees as well as 4-year certificates and has an open admissions policy.

In 2008, there were 2,457 students enrolled in the COM system. Just over 2,000 of those students (or 83%) received tuition assistance from the United States government in the form of Pell Grants, totaling $4,050,092 in US aid.

The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) is an island nation in the central Pacific with close historical and economic ties to the United States. The FSM was established in 1979 after five decades of direct US-control through a region-wide United Nation overseen Trust Territory.

In 1983, the US and FSM governments entered into a status of Free Association. The ongoing agreement provides Micronesia with significant financial assistance in exchange for US defense rights in the region. It also allows for open and reciprocal travel rights for both countries' citizens, as well as access for Micronesian nationals to US social services and entitlements.

The majority of FSM K-12 and Higher Educational funding is provided by the United States through this Compact.

Read more about the COM college system here and the public K-12 school system here.

Habele is an all-volunteer nonprofit working to expand educational access and accomplishment in Micronesia's remote Outer Islands. Habele awards K-12 scholarships to low-income students attending prestigious private schools in order to improve their chances of entering into, and succeeding at, higher education.

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Last Thursday, the Habele Blog reported on the tragic death of Kirsten Elisabeth Wolcott, a Seventh-day Adventist student missionary in Micronesia.

Wolcott, a 20 year-old college student from Southern Adventist University (SAU), was serving as a teacher at the SDA school which several Outer Island children attend through Habele tuition scholarships.

Early accounts indicated that Kirsten Elisabeth Wolcott "had reportedly gone jogging by herself before morning classes and did not return."

Now, new details are beginning to slowly emerge from Yap, one of four States in the Federated States of Micronesa (FSM).

A Sabbath Blog is reporting that "According to the [SA] University, the FBI has made an arrest in connection to the murder."

Sources on Yap also indicate the deceased was found on the dirt road between Tom's store and SDA school by her students, whom the principal sent out to look for her in the morning. Kirsten, and avid runner, was often seen jogging and people on the small island knew her well because of this.

In 1983, the US and FSM governments entered into a status of Free Association. The ongoing agreement provides Micronesia with significant financial assistance in exchange for US defense rights in the region. It also allows for open and reciprocal travel rights for both countries' citizens, as well as access for Micronesian nationals to US social services and entitlements.

Under these terms, the Seventh-day Adventists, and other Christian missionaries, have expanded their presence in the islands, primarily through the construction of parochial K-12 schools.

It remains unclear how this agreement governs US law enforcement's involvement in domestic Micronesian crimes.

The Micronesian Seminar, an FSM based research and community development organization, has established an online forum for discussion of the incident here.

Habele's facebook page also has many comments and wall postings about the tragic death.

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Multiple media outlets are reporting that Kirsten Elisabeth Wolcott, a Seventh-day Adventist student missionary, has been murdered on the island of Yap, in the central Pacific island nation of Micronesia.

The Adventist News Network (ANN) cites unnamed SDA church leaders who explained, "Kirsten, a native of Virginia, had reportedly gone jogging by herself before morning classes and did not return."

Miss Wolcott, 20, was a 2007 graduate of Richmond Academy. She had taken a year off of school at Southern Adventist University in Collegedale, Tennessee. Kirsten was participating in the Adventist Volunteer Service program, and was one of 780+ student missionaries serving worldwide in that group.

Yap is one of four states in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), an island nation in the central Pacific with close historical and economic ties to the United States. The FSM was established in 1979 after five decades of direct US-control through a region-wide United Nation overseen Trust Territory.

In 1983, the US and FSM governments entered into a status of Free Association. The ongoing agreement provides Micronesia with significant financial assistance in exchange for US defense rights in the region. It also allows for open and reciprocal travel rights for both countries' citizens, as well as access for Micronesian nationals to US social services and entitlements.

Under these terms, the Seventh-day Adventists, and other Christian missionaries, have expanded their presence in the islands, primarily through the construction of parochial K-12 schools.

The Yap SDA School opened in 1987 as an elementary school and subsequently expanded to a kindergarten through 12th-grade school.  The school is run mostly by Adventist college students volunteering as teachers. About 10 student missionaries are now serving there. The church also has a school on the Micronesian capital of Pohnpei. Both schools are widely seen as among the best in the developing island nation.

Habele, a charity serving Outer Island students across Micronesia, has been partnering with the SDA School on Yap since 2007. The US- based nonprofit works with school leaders to identify low-income Outer Island student whose families are unable to afford the modest $550 a year tuition fees. Habele issued six full tuition scholarships to students attending the Yap SDA School this 2009-10 academic year.

The last known death of a Christian Missionary killed by local islanders in Micronesia occurred in 1731. Father Contova and a group of Spanish solders were murdered on the Atoll of Ulithi, 100 miles east of Yap. Another six Spanish Jesuits died in Micronesia during World War Two, presumably at the hands of the occupying Japanese.

The US State Department had advised American travelers of crime in the neighboring state of Chuuk -long seen as more violent than other areas of Oceania- but has not issued personal alerts for visitors to Yap State.

Yap and its Outer Islands have a reputation for non-confrontationalism and traditional consensus-based dispute resolution. Nationwide, Micronesia has an incarceration rate of only 89 prisoners per 100,000 citizens.



Photo: Annaliza Laitilpiy, a 2nd grade student from the Atoll of Woleai, stands outside the SDA School on Yap. 

UPDATE: Informal reports from Yap indicate that a suspect is now in custody. These sources explain that the deceased was found on the dirt road between Tom's store and SDA school by her students, whom the principal sent out to look for her in the morning. Kirsten, and avid runner, was often seen jogging and people on the small island knew her well because of this.

Second Quarter (April through June 2009) inflation across Micronesia was 9.6 percent – more than double the rate for the same quarter in 2008.

The jump in inflation was primarily driven by a 21.1 percent growth in the cost of food.

By state, the annual inflation rate for the 2nd quarter of 2009 was 5.8% in Kosrae, 11.2% in Pohnpei, 8.8% in Chuuk, and 8.9% in Yap.

Households falling below the The Basic Needs Poverty Line (BNPL) had increased between 1998 and 2005.

In 2005, about 22.4% of households fell below the BNPL.

About 29.9% of the population was below the Basic Needs Poverty Line.

The Fall Semester 2009 updated enrollment data for the College of Micronesia is now online.

According to the President's latest announcment "The enrollment at all campuses are much higher this Fall Semester than Fall Semester 2008, as of 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, August 19, 2009.  This is the first semester that enrollment at the National Campus has exceeded 1000."

The headcounts for Fall Semester 2009 are as follows:

Campus	Students Enrolled
Chuuk	580
Kosrae	217
National	1,001
Pohnpei	730
Yap	207
Total	2,735

Read about K-12 public school enrollment in Micronesia here.

Habele is an all-volunteer US-based nonprofit organization striving to expand access to quality instruction for students of Micronesia's remote Outer Island community.

This brief overview of data, taken from 2007 state and federal sources in Micronesia, provides a general glimpse of public school characteristics in the four states of the Federated States of Micronesia.

Total K-12 Public School Enrollment

Chuuk 14,271
Kosrae 2,382
Pohnpei 10,825
Yap  3,125

Number of Public Schools

Chuuk 155
Kosrae 10
Pohnpei 34
Yap 60

Number of Public School Classroom Teachers (and % with 4-year college degrees)

Chuuk 948 (10%)
Kosrae 201 (15%)
Pohnpei 731 (21%
Yap 375 (5%)

Estimated High School Graduation Rate (the % of 8th completers who finished high school)

Chuuk 41%
Kosrae 84%
Pohnpei 68%
Yap 82%

Per-Student Spending in Micronesian Public Schools

Chuuk $565
Kosrae $2,051
Pohnpei $1,120
Yap $1,899

Nationwide enrollment in higher education (2-year community college system): 2,700 pupils

In 2009, Habele provided full tuition scholarships to 16 Outer Island students attending private elementary and high schools on Yap, Chuuk, and Pohnpei. The average tuition was just under $500.00.

Research conducted by the Micronesian Seminar indicates that student achievement at Outer Island public schools is "well below" the performance of public school students on Yap Proper, as measured by statewide 8th exit exams.

The author of that report, Francis X. Hezel, S.J., also found that private school students in the FSM consistently outperformed their public school peers on exit exams and college entrance tests. The independent schools charge tuition fees ranging from 40 to 60% of public per-pupil school spending.