Educators at the SDA School on Yap are reporting that Habele's scholarships students there are excelling in their studies.

Praise for the students came along with copies of report cards, individual progress letters, and photos of the children both in the classroom and outside during recess.

School Principal Nicholas Fonseka reports that none of the students, whose home islands include Fais, Woleai, and Ulithi, received any type of disciplinary marks or behavior citations during the last semester.

Each of the students comes from an Outer Island family, and has received a full-tuition scholarship from the Habele Outer Island Education Fund to attend the prestigious SDA School.

Yap is one of four states in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), a central Pacific nation with close historical ties to the United States.

Photos of Shania (5th Grade), Abraham (9th), Annaliza (2nd), Ronald (10th) and Denianne (5th), along with other Habele scholars attending school on Chuuk and Pohnpei, can be found here.

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"Habele," a US-based charity serving Outer Island students in Micronesia, released it's annual report this week, detailing the nonprofit's accomplishments over the last year.

According to the report, the all-volunteer group provided 17 full tuition scholarships to low-income children attending private elementary and high schools in the Micronesian States of Yap, Chuuk, and Pohnpei. Habele also provided over sixty boxes of textbooks and donated school supplies to public schools on isolated islands throughout Yap and Chuuk.

Charitable work of this kind has received praise from FSM and US officials alike.

"The initiative of former Peace Corps Volunteers and teachers in supporting local-driven educational programs reflects the best hands-on spirit that we can share with the Federated States of Micronesia" explained Miriam K. Hughes, who served as US Ambassador to the Micronesia from 2007 to 2009.   

"Nonprofit outreach to schools and students in Micronesia has practical impact, building American partnership and bettering the lives of others who would otherwise not have a chance," continued Hughes.

The report includes letters from parents, students, and independent school teachers, detailing how these 17 children would be unable to attend the prestigious schools without the Habele scholarships, and expressing thanks to donors who invested in the childrens' educational futures.

In addition to providing details of private school tuition scholarships and public school donations, the document outlined Habele's plan to release a Ulithian-English dictionary during 2010. The text will be provided to students and teachers on Ulithi and Fais free-of-charge.

"We wanted to help Outer Island students by developing a commonsense Ulithian spelling system that preserves the local language and compliments phonics instruction for written and spoken English, " remarked Johnny Hancock, a linguist who is spearheading the effort for Habele.

The dictionary incorporates important developments in speech sounds and a phonological system that make the text useful for both young island students and native English speakers learning Ulithian.

Habele is an IRS recognized not-for-profit organization, incorporated in the State of South Carolina. The group was founded by Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) and other Americans with an interest in educational development in the Pacific.

The full 2009 Habele Outer Island Education Fund Annual Report can be downloaded online at http://www.habele.org/documents.asp.



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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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Habele volunteers and donors will be eager to hear the Fund is set to release its annual report within the next two weeks.

Details of the report include over $10,500 in spending for the year, covering the tuition costs of 17 Outer Island students at private K12 schools.

The pie chart above provides an indication of how the Fund spent its money in 2009, with over 90 percent of expenditures directly dedicated to the scholarship and school supply programs.

Learn more about the Habele Outer Island Education Fund, and download copies of past annual reports, at www.habele.org

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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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Amelia Weiss sits with boxes of donated books headed for the Outer Islands of Micronesia.

Amelia, now a freshman at Cal Berkeley, began to gather materials for under-resourced schools in the Central Pacific after a visit to the Islands of Palau and Yap. She teamed up with other students at Chaminade Prep High School to collect text and reference books for Micronesian students attending Outer Island High School (OIHS) on the atoll of Ulithi, 100 miles east of Yap.

These boxes are just the latest shipment in the massive donation from the high school robotics team at Chaminade College Prep in West Hills, California. The team is participating in the annual Habele book drive, which began in the fall. Donations have also been sent to the Atoll of Woleai.

Across Micronesia, an isolated former US dependency, families struggle with poverty and students lack access to quality classroom instruction.

The problems are particularly acute in the picturesque Outer Islands, located far from the more developed, more densely populated, state capitals. Despite development elsewhere in Oceania, most of the Outer Islands remain subsistence based economies.

Special thanks are also due to Deborah L. Weiss, Amelia's mother, who help to coordinate the collections and delivered the many boxes to the post office.

To learn more about the Outer Islands of Micronesia, and how you can help expand educational access and accomplishment in this remote region, visit www.habele.org.

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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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"Habele" is an all-volunteer, US-based charity, promoting educational access and accomplishment in Micronesia.

The main focus of Habele's work is providing low-income Outer Island students with scholarships to attend private K-12 schools in the Federated States of Micronesia's (FSM) four state capitals.

Maia Leta Lesarof, a second grade student at Saint Mary's School on Yap Proper, is one of the 17 students who earned a Habele tuition scholarship for the 2009-10 school year. Her home is Woleai, an isolated and underdeveloped coral atoll due west of Ifaluk and southeast of Ulithi. She is attending the school along with three other Outer Island students who received full tuition support from Habele.

Her sponsor on Yap Proper, Marcellino Yang, recently wrote to Habele asking if we might consider also sponsoring Maia's sister, Myla Faith Lemaipiye:



If you are interested in helping to send Myla to join her sister Maia at Saint Mary's then please consider donating to Habele. If you do, you may be eligible for a tax deduction, in accordance with Habele's IRS granted tax exemption status.

You can also read about Habele scholars attending Saramen Chuuk and Berea High Schools in Chuuk and those enrolled at the SDA School on Yap.

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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.