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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Four students who attend Yap Catholic High School with support from Habele K-12 tuition scholarships earned "Second Honors" certificates for their work in the third quarter.

"We're proud of their hard work and commitment to success in the classroom," explained Alex Sidles.

Sidles, a Habele board member and former classroom teacher in Micronesia, was in Yap to visit the Yap Catholic students and their families. He also toured the SDA School and Saint Mary's, the two other independent schools in Yap where Habele students are enrolled.

"It is clear these students are driven and their parents are really engaged in their education. The high expectations at home and in the classroom foster a real culture of success," continued Sidles.

Several of the Habele students at Yap Catholic are also participating in the Habele-sponsored Robotics Club. That group plans to have public exhibition for members of the community sometime later this semester.

Photos of the school, students and robotics clubs are posted on Habele's Facebook page.

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A few boys with their master canoe carver, Joseph Yetigmal of Lamotrek, cut down a tree and planted ten in replacement on Friday, March 30, 2012 to commemorate the FSM Culture Day.

The boys did not waste any time after the tree had fallen and began carving out the hull of a sailing canoe. Project Coordinator Larry Raigetal of Waa’gey said the log will be moved to the canoe house at the Yap Living History Museum for completion. It will take couple days to work in the jungle to reduce unnecessary weight of the log before transporting it to the museum site.

The project, which aims to be completed by next month (april) will have the boys continue learning canoe carving and other traditional skills. It will also allow for students around the island to observe and participate thru organized school visits.

Once complete, the canoe will be used to train teams for the upcoming canoe festival now slated to take place the early weeks of November 2012. Mr. Alex Sidles, a board member of Habele, a US based nonprofit organization, and partner with Waa’gey, was on site to join the project launching.


Waa’gey has been working with the boys group from Lamotrek in promoting cultural and traditional skills learning. The group, through an arrangement by the Yap Traditional Society and the Yap Living History Museum, has been providing canoe tours and traditional skills demonstrations on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the canoe houses.


This canoe project is in partnership with the coalition of Yap Against Drugs and Alcohol (YADA),  Habele, Yap Traditional Navigation Society, and  the Yap Living History Museum.


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Historically, Outer Islanders traded finished goods such as woven skirts and mats for canoes built on Yap Proper. This was part of a far-reaching pattern of trade and tribute that spanned hundreds of miles across the Caroline Islands in the Central Pacific Ocean. Raigetal explains how the promise of healthcare, education and employment has drawn more and more Neighboring Islanders to the larger, more developed islands in Micronesia that serve as that nation’s four state capitals. “One of the complications of the move is the break that many people -especially the young people- have with their families’ traditions. Those traditions are based on the routines of social life in the isolated Outer Islands.”


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The February issue of Robot Magazine details the progress of robotics clubs at Yap Catholic High School and the SDA School in Yap, Micronesia.

The article explains how Yap State’s two private high schools have announced an innovative new pro- gram to serve students with an interest in math and computers. The schools, Yap SDA and Yap Catholic, are each establishing robotics teams for their pupils. These student teams, with support from teachers and other school staffers, will design, build and operate basic robots. Both teams have been equipped with classroom robotics kits from VEX Robotics.

The Habele Outer Island Education Fund donated the kits along with teacher guides and the equipment required for using desktop computers to program the robots.

A prominent VEX Robotics team based at the Chaminade College Preparatory high school in West Hills, California, Eagle Engineering Team #1138, is at the root of this story.


In 2008, Eagle Engineering began sending textbooks from all academic disciplines to Micronesia to help build up resources for two new high schools. Eagle Engineering sent the texts to Father Corcoran, director and principal Yap Catholic high school on the island of Yap. Corcoran used the texts to build libraries for the school and shared the donations with other public and private schools in Yap State.. The book program was launched by former Chaminade student Amelia Weiss, a team alumni who is now at the University of California, Berkeley majoring in marine biology and engineering.

In the last year, Eagle Engineering began creating instructional videos for the Micronesian students, as well. These videos cover robotics basics, programming and more. In recent months, the team sent two VEX Robotics Starter Kits to the students, as well as a VEX game playing field and game elements. From the beginning, the Habele Outer Island Education Fund, a philanthropic foundation, provided funding for Eagle Engineering to make this outreach possible.


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Canoes are being carved in Gargey, Yap.

The program is a joint effort of "Waagey," a Yap based community organization, and Habele, a U.S. based charity serving students across Micronesia since 2006.

One of the more experience canoe builders from Lamotrek named Xavier and the navigator, Ali, have come to support young men from Lamotrek and other Outer Islands who now live on Yap Proper complete the project.



The project leaders feel that young people from Lamotrek who have been living in Yap their whole lives are Outer Islanders in name only. Those young men and women struggle with the basic skills traditional required for village and family life. The groups's vision is to use instruction in traditional skills to build a sense of identiy and accomplishment among these youth.

More great photos here.

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Report cards are arriving, detailing the academic progress of Habele's scholarship winners through their first semester of the 2011-12 school year.

Each of the 24 students is attending a prestigious private school with the support of a K-12 tuition scholarship that covers roughly 75 percent of enrollment costs. The students come from atolls and islands throughout the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). The schools they attend are situated on the "larger" or "high" islands that serve as State Capitals.

Nationwide, only half of K-12 students graduate high school. Among those entering the Micronesian college system, only one-in-ten graduate with a degree. Students from private secondary schools have much higher graduation and completion rates in Micronesia, and are consistently reported to be "better prepared" to succeed at the post secondary level.

Habele was created by a group of former Peace Corps Volunteers who taught in classrooms across Yap and Chuuk States. Initially focused on Outer Island students, the organization identifies needy students seeking to attend private K-12 schools and provides their family with financial support in the form of tuition scholarships. Checks are issued directly to reputable independent schools. Habele works with these families, and the schools their children attend, to keep detailed records of the students’ personal and academic progress throughout the school year.

Habele also supports students and schools of all types through targeted donations of books, classroom supplies, as well as the creation of local language materials. Habele is a US-based not-for-profit organization, recognized by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) with no full-time salaried employees.

Habele has been raising money from individual and corporate donors across the United States to fund tuition scholarships since 2006. Donors and volunteers support Habele because of an interest in education in Micronesia and the knowledge that Habele responsibly serves educational needs in an efficient and effective way.



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