An ABC Radio Australia program that covers news and events in the Pacific  broadcast an interview with Neil Mellen, President of the Habele Board of Directors.

Presenter Steve Rice explained how the small US based charity called Habele, which operates in Micronesia, has been officially praised by Yap State Legislators for its work there.

"The Speaker and Governor both communicated their belief that targeting support for students in intermediate and high school grades remains the best use of the charity's limited resources.

"The Council of Tamol and other traditional leaders encouraged Habele to expand its mission to serve all economically disadvantaged students, rather than only those from outer and distant lagoon islands.

"Habele's directors and supporters have just completed their 2012 listening tour in Yap State, to assess how the projects are working and how they can be improved."

The full audio clip of the interview is posted online here.

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Eighty students from the College of Micronesia-FSM and Yap High School visited the Waa'gey canoe carving project at the Living Museum canoe houses yesterday, Thursday, November 8th. Volunteer and coordinator of the project, Larry Raigetal gave a brief description of the project and basic instructions, including simple measurements on canoe carving. Principal Domingo Techur of Yap High School said he is "very happy the students had this opportunity to visit the project as Yapese culture and traditional skills such as canoe carving are just as important to learn."

Yap High School teacher Ms. Stephanie who coordinated the field trip for the High School students said the trip was "a success and a students learn a great deal of stuff."



Waa'gey is a locally chartered community based organization which actively works at the grassroots and community level to promotes use of traditional knowledge and skills. Some of its current projects aside from canoe carving include learning the skills of traditional weaving of royal fabrics for the girls and fish trap making for the boys.


Funding for this canoe project is made available from the Australian Government through its Small Grant Scheme. Waa'gey also receives support from Habele Outer Island Education Fund, a US-based charity.


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Habele Directors and supporters just completed the 2012 “Listening Tour” in Yap State, Micronesia. Meetings were held with state government officials, traditional chiefs, public and private school educators, as well as parents and community members in the villages.

Also attending the meetings was Nils Winkler, CEO of Yapital, a European-based electronic payments company. Yapital sponsored the Statewide Dictionary Project, delivering 1,000 dictionaries to middle school students, as part of its ongoing partnership with Habele to support K-12 students across Yap State.

Here are some of the trip highlights:

Yap State Legislators passed a resolution officially praising Habele’s six years of service to the students of Yap. The Speaker and Governor both believe that targeting support for students in intermediate and high school grades remains the best use of Habele’s limited resources.

The Council of Tamol and other traditional leaders encouraged Habele to expand its mission to serve all economically disadvantaged students, rather than only those from outer and distant lagoon islands.

Principals and teachers told Habele that after school programs such as Waa’gey (traditional canoe carving and weaving) and the Vex Robotics clubs have been genuine “game changers” for participating students. They asked for support to expand these extracurricular efforts.

The Women’s’ associations and the Waa’gey traditional skills programs thanked Habele for our donations of materials and funds. They both asked for Habele’s support in raising awareness of their work outside of Micronesia.


Public and private school educators asked Habele to repeat the statewide “Dictionary For Every Eighth Grader” donation on a yearly basis.

The feedback was constructive; the encouragement thrilling. Parents and educators communicated a genuine sense of gratitude. They want Habele to grow and gave us specific, actionable program ideas.

We encountered anxiety across Yap State about the drawdown in US Government aid and the prospect of a new multi-resort tourism and golf complex. This concern has spurred unprecedented public dialogue. The terms “sustainable development” and “effective foreign investment” were oft repeated. Directors noted a new interest in non-government organizations and hope about the role such groups could play in social and economic development.


The challenges faced by Yap (and all of Micronesia) represent an opportunity for Habele. Our targeted programs for students are academically effective and economically efficient. Habele’s slow-and-steady, grassroots, brick-by-brick growth strategy is being validated by praise and encouragement among official leaders and –more importantly– “back in the villages.” As the only US-based nonprofit solely serving students in Micronesia, Habele’s position remains unique and our ability to affect positive change enormous.


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Lorenzo Sartilug of the Yap State Department of Education reports:

"The donated dictionaries are ready to go on the ship. The ones for Ulithi Schools will be sent on the plane."

That government field trip ship will be sending the dictionaries to middle school students throughout the "outer" or "neighboring" islands of Yap State.

The outer islands -mostly lowing atolls actually- are collectively home to half of Yap State's population. They span hundreds of miles of open ocean between Yap Proper and Chuuk Lagoon. Habele also provides K-12 tuition scholarships to support ambitious students from these remote Pacific islands, in order to help equalize educational opportunity.

Learn more about Habele's tuition scholarships, public school donations and innovative after school programs at Habele.org


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Photo: the first boxes of dictionaries are picked up by Yap DOE at the FSM Post Office in Colonia, Yap.

A US-based nonprofit organization has sent a thousand English language dictionaries to the State of Yap, Micronesia (FSM).

Yap is one of four states comprising the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) a far-reaching chain of tiny picturesque islands strung across the Central Pacific. The nation, a long time ally of the United States, enjoys a status of “Free Association” with the US. It is best known to many mainland Americans as the site of bloody battles during the island-hoping Pacific Campaign of World War Two.

The donation is intended is to provide every student in middle school throughout Yap a personal dictionary of their very own. Twenty boxes were shipped directly to the Department of Education in Colonia, Yap where they will be distributed among students attending twelve public schools and two independent schools on Yap Proper. Another twenty boxes will travel aboard a state supply ship, headed for students at the eighteen public schools spread across Yap’s neighboring islands. Yap State is home to roughly 16,000 residents, with nearly 900 students in grades six through eight.

Yap, like all of the FSM, struggles with economic and educational development challenges. Data from the US government indicate that over half the adult Micronesian population has not earned a high school diploma. Among those lucky enough to enter the two-year community college system in Micronesia, just one-in-five will earn a degree.


“This is a team effort and there were a lot of moving parts,” explained Regina Raigetal, a Habele Director on Yap who led the dictionary donation project. “This would not be possible without the generosity of Mary French at the Dictionary Project, who provided the texts, and Director Vincent Parren, at the Yap State Department of Education, who is ensuring the books are properly distributed.” Raigetal noted the donation was designed to meet a specific, locally voiced need and hoped the books would reach students within the first few weeks of the new school year.

Parren echoed Raigetal’s enthusiasm about the partnership. “I would like to take this opportunity to thank Habele and its partners for their courtesy and kindness in sending the dictionaries to the students all across Yap State,” said Director Parren. “We really appreciate the help and gift, and are pleased to have helped usher the boxes through customs as we send them out to the far-flung schools.”

The project was initiated and organized by Habele, a South Carolina based charity that has been working in Yap State since 2006 to support K-12 aged students. In addition to donations of text, reference and reading books, the group awards scholarships and provides support to community-based afterschool programs. The dictionaries were provided by “The Dictionary Project,” another, South Carolina based organization that works to provide students across the globe with dictionaries of their own.
Learn more, and find out how you can help at www.habele.org.

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A US-based charity is awarding twenty-three students in Micronesia scholarships to attend the K-12 school of their parents’ choosing.

The scholarships, which cover three-quarters of each students’ tuition fees, will allow low-income children from rural communities and distant outer islands to attend prestigious private schools in the Micronesian State Capitals. The nearly two-dozen students were selected from a pool of sixty new applicants and former winners who sought the financial assistance.

 “Habele is exceptionally proud to be supporting twenty three students from nine different islands attending six separate schools in three Micronesian states,” explained Alex Sidles, a Habele Director. “Each year we receive more worthy applications than we have the money to support, which makes our decisions quite difficult,” Sidles continued. “We target that support at the elementary and high school level because that is where we see the starkest need.”

Data from the US Government indicates that half of all Micronesians over age 25 dropped out of school before earning a high school diploma. Among those who enroll in the island nation’s community college system, just one-in-ten complete a four-semester term of study within three school years.

The all-volunteer group has been awarding scholarships to students attending non-public schools since 2006, when it was incorporated by a group of former Peace Corps Volunteers. The organization also supports students through donations of library books and support of after-school programs including robotics clubs and traditional canoe carving.

Each scholarship winner is required to provide Habele with copies of her report card, a thank you letter and one photograph during the course of the school year. New applicants also submit details of her family’s financial situation and those applying to renew their scholarships must re-submit her application forms each year. “We try to keep the paperwork burden to a minimum,” Sidles explained, “but we also have an obligation to our generous donors in the US to show them how we are using their money in a fair, consistent and impartial way.”

Checks will be mailed directly to the schools and parents will be notified through the mail before the last week of July.

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


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(Waa'gey - Colonia, Yap) This year's annual Yap Canoe Festival will once again take place in early November. This year the event organizers are giving community and interested groups the chance to put together activities for the celebrations.

Waa’gey, which has been working with local communities and other NGOs such as the Yap Tradition Navigation Society, YWA, and Habele, plans to organize public canoe carving seminars, sailing training and hands-on instruction on assembling local fish traps that will highlight the efficiency of local canoes in certain fishing techniques.

Waa’gey has the skill and manpower resource but lacks the financial means to carry out these activities alone. Waa'gey is therefore soliciting support for sponsor to our effort in ensuring a successful Yap Canoe Festival and more importantly to preserve our valuable traditions of canoe carving and local fishing techniques.

Here is our projected total need for the three activities:
* Canoe carving $5,000.oo
* 4 fish traps $1,200.00
* Sailing crew training $800.00

TOTAL $7,000.00

Contributions can be made through Habele, an IRS- recognized US-based nonprofit that supports Waa'geys work with K-12 aged students. Learn more about Habele's work with Micronesian after school programs 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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(Saluda, South Carolina) Thanks to the efforts of volunteers in Saluda County, young adults on a remote island in the Central Pacific will have some much-needed reading material.

Kayla Haynes, Director of the Saluda County Library, led a joint effort with the Friends of the Saluda County Library to put together a gift of several dozen fiction books for teenage and adult readers on the tiny island of Mogmog. Situated about 300 miles south of Guam, Mogmog is one of only four inhabited islands in an outlying string of Micronesian islands called Ulithi.

The island’s small public elementary school has a sparsely furnished reading room that doubles as a community library. The addition of several boxes of books will be a source of tremendous excitement for a community with very limited access to new literature.

“These are books that were being pulled from circulation, so we’re excited to know they’ll continue to be enjoyed,” Haynes explained.

The Friends of the Library is a nonprofit organization that supports Saluda County’s two public libraries. Their work includes sponsoring public support of the library, promoting library facilities and services as well as providing additional money for library materials, equipment and services.

The donation will be sent to Micronesia by the Habele Outer Island Education Fund, another South Carolina based charity. “Habele” was established in 2006 by a group of former Peace Corps Volunteers who served as librarians and teachers in the Federated States of Micronesia. In addition to supporting public school and community libraries in the remote “Outer Islands” of Micronesia, the group also organizes after-school programs including traditional canoe carving and robotics competitions.

“These young adult and adult fiction books are great,” said Neil Mellen, a Habele volunteer in Columbia.“ Remote communities like Mogmog are starved for educational materials, and we’re doing everything we can to help meet that need with limited resources. Now, the older readers on Mogmog must to take an open boat across the choppy lagoon to the high school library on another island just to check out books at this reading level. The generosity of the Friends of the Saluda Library will save them the trip!”

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