Kolonia Elementary School needs your help!

The school’s library desperately needs books, both for students, as well as for their parents and other community members who enjoy reading.

Kolonia Elementary School (KES) is located in the heart of Kolonia Town, state capital of Phonpei, Micronesia. It serves 600 students, from Kindergarten through Eighth Grade, from all around Pohnpei –including the outer islands. It also enrolls children from the Philippines and Fiji living with their families on Pohnpei, making it one of the most diverse schools in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM).


Along with the Principal, Vice Principal and Librarian, KES is served by over 40 dedicated teachers, educators, and regular volunteers. In the fall of 2017, Parent Teacher Association President Richard  Porter reached out to Habele, a US-based nonprofit that organizes financial and in-kind donations for students throughout the Freely Associated States.

Mr. Porter explained:

We are in the process of getting our school's library up and running for all students, but are seriously lacking books for the students…
KES Library would love to have books, especially those catering to Kindergarten through Eighth graders (fiction and non-fiction) to include reference books and magazines.  Any and all donations are greatly appreciated!

You can help put books in the hands of these eager readers.

If you can purchase or gather books, please do so. Then provide Habele with the weight, dimensions, and a rough packing list of the closed box. Habele will mail you pre-paid postage, address labels, and customs paperwork in a sealed pouch to affix to the outside of the box. You can take the box to the US Post Office, bypassing the lines, and drop it off at the counter for its journey to Pohnpei.

If you’d prefer to make a financial donation, then Habele (a US-based IRS recognized nonprofit) will use the money to pay for the shipment of others’ book donations to the school.


Habele was established by former Peace Corps Volunteers –many of them classroom teachers and librarians- and other Americans looking to provide targeted support for students and schools across Micronesia. We are proud of our decade of work advancing educational opportunity through scholarships, exchanges, robotics, extracurricular programs, and assistance to libraries throughout the FAS.

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Gene Rachielug is from Federai and currently lives in Portland, Oregon. On his last home trip to Ulithi, he met Stephen Guertler a new Peace Corps Volunteer serving on the island. Gene proposed creating an online platform to not only raise awareness on the issues of Climate Change effecting his island home, and raise money and donations to help out the school and the entire community. 

Gene will coordinate all the monetary and in-kind donations, and Stephen will coordinate everything on the ground. 


The FSM has a special relationship with the United States, called the Compact of Free Association, which was officially adopted and signed into law on November 13, 1986. This agreement provides U.S. economic assistance in areas of health and education, along with defense of the FSM, and other services and benefits. The compact is periodically renegotiated between both governments, the last negotiation took place in 2003 and then next will one will take place in 2023.

The U.S. Peace Corps was established in the FSM in 1966, and has welcomed more than 4,340 total volunteers since its inception. Currently, Peace Corps Volunteers (PCV) are working in the Education Sector as co-teachers and co-planners in schools across the FSM in all four states. Peace Corps Response Volunteers (PCRV) also work in the education sector as professionals in the realm of accreditation. In the past, there have been volunteers in many sectors such as; agriculture, health, and youth development.

Stephen Guertler is currently a PCV serving on the island of Federai in the Ulithi Atoll. This atoll is situated 95 miles off the coast of Yap Mainland and is accessible via planes, and cargo ships.

Very few people know about these islands, or the generous, friendly, and hardworking people that inhabit them. It’s time for everyone to not only be aware of these super talented people, but to understand that if given the right tools to succeed they can do anything. To reach their goals, students need more resources to excel in school, continue in higher education, and come back to their home islands and influence positive change.

Gene and Stephen created this page to raise awareness, and create a space for people to donate goods or money to assist the community on Federai.  It is our hope, that you will help us reach our goal, spread our message, and create connections to the community on Federai. Lets help these students have access to the books and materials they need to excel and reach their full potential.   Education is key for the future sustainability of the islands.


To donate goods directly, please take a look at the list below for the most needed items. When you send the package, please include a note with your name and address. To ship, go to a United States Postal Service Location (USPS) and get a white priority box to get standard shipping rates along with a tracking number. The boxes come in different sizes; small, medium (top-loading), medium (side-loading) large, and board game

On the customs form please indicate “Donated Goods/toys/books” where applicable, and send to the following address, which is treated by the USPS as domestic:

Stephen Guertler: C/O Peace Corps
P.O. Box 190
Colonia, Yap
96943, FSM

Stephen has volunteered to coordinate distribution of all donated materials to the island community and will ensure all donations are put directly into the hands of students and teachers; but this page is not affilated with Peace Corps Organization.

To donate monetary funds, please use this GOFUNDME page, the proceeds will go toward the purchase of the list below, as well as covering shipping costs for additional materials donated locally.

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Kind words from Satowan in the Mortlocks of Chuuk State, Micronesia.

Thank you so much for the box of goodies! It was such a lovely surprise to receive them a few weeks ago. My students were so excited for the books that I had a hard time getting them to focus on the lesson. All they wanted to do was read the new books. We appreciate everything that you sent. 

Photo and message sent from Peace Corps Volunteer Sarah Feigelson.

She and the public school educators at Satowan Elementary contacted Habele in March of 2016, seeking age-appropriate texts for classroom and library use.

Habele is an all-volunteer nonprofit expanding educational access and accomplishment in the Caroline Islands (Micronesia). It supplies targeted, on-demand donations to educators and extracurricular programs, as well as needs-based scholarships to individual students.

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In July of 2015, Habele sounded the call. An eager Peace Corps Volunteer, working with local educators and families, sought to restore a school based library in Pohnpei, Micronesia.

Temwen School is a small and rural Elementary school in the Madolenihmw municipality of Pohnpei. Temwen School has a small staff of seven teachers and one Peace Corps Volunteer; the Principal Elcid Joseph is a teaching principal.

The library had to be built from scratch. Staff members of Temwen Elementary School worked tirelessly to salvage books from all different areas of the school grounds. Then they renovated an older structure of the campus.



In her request for help, Librarian and Peace Corps Volunteer Sarah Winston conveyed a severe need and genuine local ownership in the plan to address it. We implored Habele's donors and volunteers, explaining "Book donations are vital for this project to succeed."


Habele is proud to report our generous donors and volunteers helped do just that!

As Sarah reports on her blog, "For months, almost a year, I have worked with my fellow teachers to create the Temwen Community Library. Many people living in America helped make the library a success by donating books, so thank you, your kindness has made this space a reality. To date we have approximately 1,300 books!"

Habele was proud to also provide the hardworking educators at Temwen with t-shirts as small token of our support for their great work!


Habele continues to collect donations of books -and money to pay for their delivery- to Temwen. We are also working to support similar efforts in Tomil on Yap and Eauripik in the Outer Islands of Yap. We have outstanding -and unmet- requests from school based libraries in North Fanif (Yap) and Satowan (Chuuk) as well.

Habele is an all volunteer, US-based, IRS-recognized nonprofit. Help us answer the call!

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

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