(July 31, 2007, Columbia, South Carolina) The Habele Outer Island Education Fund announced today that it is awarding over $3,500 in high school scholarships to students from a remote and underdeveloped Pacific Atoll in Micronesia.

Habele, a South Carolina based nonprofit, is comprised of former Peace Corps Volunteers and other education-minded Americans with an interest in Micronesia, a Federation of islands in the central Pacific formerly administered by the United States Department of the Interior.

The recipients are two girls aged 17 and 18 from the islands of Falalop and Asor on Ulithi Atoll in Yap State. They will be attending classes at the all-girls Bethania High School in the Republic of Palau.

One of the awards, the Oceanic Society Sea Turtle Scholarship, is being granted through the support of the Oceanic Society in recognition of the community’s ongoing support for a local sea turtle research and conservation program. The Society is a US based non-profit marine conservation group involved in environmental expeditions and education in Micronesia and around the world. Like Habele, the Oceanic Society recognizes the unique difficulties faced by students in the Outer Islands.

Neil Mellen, Habele’s founder explained,

“These isolated atolls in Micronesia face a gamut of social, political, and economic challenges. Their remoteness and limited natural resources leave them dependent on government foreign aid which encourages the expansion of an inefficient public-sector-based economy. The Secretariat of the Pacific reports that fewer than a fifth of these islanders have access to acceptable sanitation and that infant mortality rates are five times higher than those the United States.

“Expanding academic opportunity and promoting educational accomplishment is an essential first step in promoting individual, island, and national sovereignty. Through scholarships to private schools and material donations to public schools, Habele is working with the Outer Island Communities to meet this goal.”

Mario Suulbech, a Habele volunteer who lives on the Island of Falalop, echoed Mellen’s optimism.

“These girls are the future of our islands. Sadly, some people here are still skeptical about the value of education and the role of women in our changing traditions. These particular girls are working hard to prove them wrong, to build a brighter future for their families, and our island community.”

The scholarship winners will travel to and from the school with money raised by their families, and have signed a strict performance contract that ties their scholarships to academic targets.

Habele consists of donors and volunteers from throughout the United States and the Pacific. The Fund has no paid employees and is still seeking support for its ongoing public school book drives. Visit www.habele.org to learn more.
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As part of our ongoing effort to keep Habele volunteers and donors informed about cultural and political developments in Micronesia’s remote Outer Islands we have compiled this brief overview of national indicators. It is important to keep in mind that these figures reflect either federal averages or the data gathered in district centers, and that the situation in the Outer Islands tends to be significantly less developed.

The Asian Development Bank’s four-page 2007 Fact Sheet on Micronesia is a great place to start. The Bank notes The FSM economy is dominated by a public sector funded by sector grants under the Compact II assistance arrangement with the United States (US). Despite significant levels of development assistance, the FSM economy averaged annual growth of only 1.8% during Compact I (1987–2003). It contracted 0.7% in 2006.

The 2007 Infant Mortality Rate for Micronesia is reported at 42 per 1000 (close to the Pacific/ East Asia average, but compared to just 8 per 1000 in the United States) and the Per Capita Gross National Income is US $2,300 - about 1/20th of that in the US.

The International Monetary Fund’s Selected Issues and Statistical Appendix for the Federated States of Micronesia is forty-five page compilation of facts and figures. The IMF explains that since 2001, private sector growth has stagnated. During 2001–05, private sector GDP grew by 0.9 percent on average, compared with 2.2 percent for the public sector. As a result, the private sector’s share in GDP fell to 29 percent in 2005, compared to 40 percent for the public sector. During this period, employment in manufacturing, construction, and tourism fell sharply, while in services, mainly retail, it expanded.

The Fund is also cautious about the future, and fears that this stagnation will worsen in coming years. Analysis shows that the barriers to conducting business make Micronesia an unlikely candidate for growth. There is evidence within the region suggesting a link between the business climate and private sector growth. A simple plot of average growth rates during 2000–06 and the World Bank’s Doing Business in 2007: How to Reform rankings show that Pacific Island Countries (PICs) with lower costs of doing business featured faster average growth rates. With Micronesia ranking near the bottom among PICs in both the business environment and growth performance, improving the regulatory regime could yield significant economic benefits. Overall, Micronesia ranked 106th among the 175 participating counties and at the bottom among Pacific Island Countries in the ease of doing business.

The Secretariat of the Pacific Community’s Statistics Unit is another great resource. The Secretariat reports that only 23.5 percent of the Micronesian population has access to “improved sanitation,” though 92.8 percent enjoy access to improved drinking water.”

Also worth a look is the United Nations Population Fund’s Indicators, and the World Bank’s guide to doing business in Micronesia.

The Habele Outer Island Education Fund is a US-based nonprofit dedicated to promoting educational opportunity and accomplishment in the remote islands and atolls of Micronesia’s Outer Islands. Through scholarships to private schools and material support to public schools we work to provide a firm basis for personal, island, and national growth in Micronesia.

Habele has just received the 2007-08 tuition schedule from Bethania High School in Palau. Citing rising costs in utilities, teacher cost of living adjustments and basic school supplies the school announced a 16 percent increase in tuition. The school also has added a range of fees (including standardized testing costs) to the 12th grade tuition rate.

To date, Habele donors have responded generously to the needs of our scholarship students. We hope to gather the funds to cover this unanticipated fee hike by the end of summer when we will award our 2007-08 scholarships!

In broader regional news:

Matson Increases Container Rates To Palau, FSM, Marshalls.

FSM Administration Moves To Help Financially Troubled States

Micronesian HESA confirms Zika virus, says quarantine unnecessary for Yap.

US GAO says trust funds not complete answer to US funding in Compact Territories.

The Habele Outer Island Education Fund is a US-based nonprofit promoting educational opportunities and accomplishment in Micronesia’s remote Outer Islands. Please consider a donation of time, school supplies, or money today!

The South Carolina Secretary of State has reported that Habele devoted 82.8 percent of its total expenses to program services during the 2006 fiscal year.

Tom Lutte, the Fund’s Treasurer, noted that Habele is able to maintain such an efficient organization by not having a single paid employee. Unlike most development organizations, Habele is organized and administered exclusively by volunteers – both US and Micronesia based.

Looking further into the numbers reported by the SC Secretary of State, Mr. Lutte noted that the remaining 17.2 percent of expenses were broken down in the Fund’s financial report as:

0.95 percent for “occupancy, rent, utilities and maintenance"
4.47 percent for “printing, publications, postage and shipping”
11.85 percent for “other”

The largest portion, “other” consisted of fees paid by Habele to the US Treasury Department, the Internal Revenue Service, and the State of South Carolina during the process of formal incorporation and tax exemption. Habele donors will be pleased to hear that these are primarily one-time expenses. The “postage” expenditures include the parcel costs of sending Habele’s shipments of donated school supplies to public schools in the Outer Islands.

Further details of the Fund’s expenditures can be found in its annual report.

To help Habele in its work promoting educational opportunity and accomplishment in the remote Outer Islands of Micronesia please consider donating today.

California volunteers are sending more toys for Head Start centers on the Atoll of Ulithi. Please contact Habele if you are interested in helping with this warm-hearted project. In regional news:

Trust Funds May Not Provide Sustainable Income for FSM
The new report, "Compacts of Free Association: Trust Fund for Micronesia and the Marshall Islands May Not Provide Sustainable Income," issued June 15, 2007, is the fifth in a series since July of 2005. The GAO has found accountability problems, sustainability challenges, and limited development prospects facing the two Pacific nations. Market volatility, in addition to the investment strategies chosen, may lead to a wide range of trust fund balances at the close of grant funding in 2023, states the GAO.

The faces of Micronesia's fallen
Since the war on terror began in 2001, Guam and its Pacific island neighbors have seen hundreds of their sons and daughters deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq and the Horn of Africa as part of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. To date, 22 sons of Micronesia are among those who have been killed, including more than 3,500 Americans killed in Iraq. This year has been the deadliest with eight casualties.

Habele is a US-based nonprofit working to promote educational opportunity and accomplishment in Micronesia's remote Outer Islands.

A quick review of news from the Outer Islands of Yap and around Micronesia.

Authors of a new paper in the Journal of Public Health Nutrition found that the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) has "suffered a great loss in production and consumption of local foods. Inconsistent external and internal government policies and food aid programmes have contributed to the problem."

Conservation Volunteers from Beautify CMNI recently discussed the idea of collaboration between the turtle protection programs on Ulithi and similar efforts proposed in the Marianas Islands.

The FSM Justice Department has filed charges against that nation’s former Ambassador to the US Jessie Marehalau.

United States Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne visited the Federated States of Micronesia, and spoke of the strong historical ties between the two nations. During the Trust Territory period the Department of the Interior oversaw the governance of the four states that now constitute the Federated States of Micronesia. While the FSM is now a sovereign self-governing nation, Kemthorne described the country as “an important part of the portfolio of the Department of the Interior.” This seemingly imprudent comment may be a function of the role played by his Department in the Compact of Free Association between the two countries.


The Habele Outer Island Education Fund is nonprofit organization serving the educational needs of communities and students in the Outer Islands of Micronesia. Habele grants scholarships to children attending private schools and supports public schools through material donations. Visit Habele.org for more details.

Habele is proud to announce that we, with the help of generous donors across the US, are within $200 of reaching our summer fundraising goal! Habele will be officially awarding its scholarships to Micronesian Outer Island students at summer’s end.

New photos of Habele scholars during the 2006-07 school year are now online at Habele’s Flickr photo page.

In broader Micronesian news:

Word Press reports on the role of lump sum government foreign aid in the Pacific. There is no ideology involved; the entire situation is due to the "culture of dependence" governments in Oceania, which are only interested in dollar terms. Both China and Taiwan are playing "check-book diplomacy." The one who can offer more can gain a new bedfellow as well as a valuable United Nations vote.

The Associated Press considers theories about, and the impact of, rising sea levels in Oceania. Island people disagree on whether it is global warming, but they know there is less sand and the trees are falling into the ocean. The question for some islands is, will there be anyone left to hear them fall?

Radio Australia covers the US calls for an audit of the Republic of Palau’s finances.

Habele is a nonprofit dedicated to the advancement of educational opportunity and accomplishment in Micronesia’s remote Outer Islands. We have no paid employees and do not accept government support. If you believe in the value of education and the power of grass roots change please consider donating today.

Habele volunteers in California have been gathering donated stuffed animals this week for the Head Start center on Falalop Ulithi.

Overseen by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Head Start is public pre-kindergarten program that promotes school readiness by enhancing the social and cognitive development of enrolled children.

Head Start began as a domestic US program for poverty reduction in President Johnson’s Great Society reforms, but Head Start services and support have been extended to Pacific Island nations in Free Association with the United States.

This volunteer-organized donation drive is an excellent example of how Habele works year round to fulfill its mission of supporting public schools in the Outer Islands of Micronesia. For more information on how you can support this project, or to learn about our private school scholarships, visit www.habele.org.

Habele is proud to announce a forthcoming collaboration with the Oceanic Society, a nonprofit conservation organization based in San Francisco, to expand our high school scholarships for Outer Island students in Yap State.

The Oceanic Society aims to protect marine wildlife worldwide through an integrated program of scientific research, environmental education and volunteerism. Toward that end, the society has been involved in a small scale ecotourism project in Yap State, with a special emphasis on turtle tagging and tracking project begun by former Peace Corps volunteer Jennifer Johnson on the Ulithi Atoll.

The partnership will enable Habele to offer an additional scholarship in the 2007-08 school year. Habele, a nonprofit founded by a group of young Americans with teaching experience in the Outer Islands, works to promote educational opportunity and accomplishment in the most isolated areas of Micronesia. Visit www.habele.org for more details.

The Economist recently published an excellent piece on the power of educational vouchers. The article argues that greater parental choice in K-12 education correlates with improved student performance, and not merely from the so-called "skimming" of smart students or "self-selection" by ambitious parents.

Harry Patrinos, an education economist at the World Bank, cites a Colombian programme to broaden access to secondary schooling, known as PACES, a 1990s initiative that provided over 125,000 poor children with vouchers worth around half the cost of private secondary school. Crucially, there were more applicants than vouchers. The programme, which selected children by lottery, provided researchers with an almost perfect experiment, akin to the "pill-placebo" studies used to judge the efficacy of new medicines. The subsequent results show that the children who received vouchers were 15-20% more likely to finish secondary education, five percentage points less likely to repeat a grade, scored a bit better on scholastic tests and were much more likely to take college entrance exams.

Habele's donor-financed scholarships are another type of voucher; a privately funded one. Currently, we are in the midst of our annual summer fundraising drive. Special thanks to recent donors Valerie, Jay, Ana, Charlotte, and Josh. We hope to continue this drive and complete our goal of two full scholarships by summer's end.

We at Habele see this type of merit-based privately-financed scholarship as an excellent tool for promoting educational opportunity and accomplishment in the the remote outer islands of Micronesia's Yap State. To learn more about the Habele Outer Island Education Fund, visit our website www.habele.org.