Books Donated to Eauripik, Micronesia

The fiction and literature portion of the donation, boxed up and ready to be mailed.

The Habele Outer Island Education Fund announced today that it mailed over a dozen boxes of school supplies, textbooks and instructional materials to the Atoll of Eauripik in Yap State, Micronesia.

The Atoll of Eauripik is comprised of several small islands surrounding a shallow lagoon and located between the state capitals of Yap Proper and Chuuk lagoon just north of the Equator in the Central Pacific. The remote island receives only two or three visits from a government supply ship during the course of a year. The island is home to roughly three hundred people. Subsistence fishing and agriculture are the foundation of the local economy.

“This collection of books and supplies is part of our effort to support public schools in the most isolated parts of the Pacific,” explained Marc McNamara, a member of Habele’s Board of Directors and a former Peace Corps Volunteer.

“We have communicated with educators on Eauripik and sent them texts that will compliment their efforts, as well as provide community members with recreational reading opportunities.”

In addition to a collection of up to date reference books, the donations include several sets of complete class sets of textbooks so that each child will be able to follow instruction and complete homework assignments with their own book.

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

In last two years Habele has mailed similar donations to the islands of Ulithi and Fais. The Fund has also awarded nearly $5,000 in scholarships to students from the Outer Islands of Micronesia attending boarding schools in the district capitals.

Reference books and school supplies being packed.

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 and scholarships. Visit www.habele.org to learn more.

Thanks from Woleai

Habele has received a kind letter of thanks from Vocational Education Teachers on the Atoll of Woleai (also spelled Wooleai). The Fund mailed the school a collection of basic hand tools as part of Habele’s ongoing public school and library support project. Albert Fong explained:

Thank you so much for your support and your interest in our school. Teaching the students how to build and repair the family homes and other buildings here is so important for our lives and the future of these islands…

Mr Fong went on to extend thanks to all Habele donors and volunteers as well as all those Americans who have an interest in the remote atolls of the Caroline Islands (modern day Micronesia).

In addition to being the location of the Neighboring Islands High School, Woleai is the birth place of both Mr. James Naich, Deputy Chief of Mission, and Mr. Dominic R. Maluchmai, First Secretary of the Micronesian Embassy in Washington.

More information on Woleai can be found at:

The Herald Net obituary of Shelly Greer who served as a Peace Corps Volunteer on Woleai with her husband.

The Wikipedia Article on Woleai

The US Department of Interior press release about the journey of a traditional canoe voyage navigated by Mau Piailug.

A Telegraph news article about bones that washed ashore there in 2001.

Habele is a US-based nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing educational opportunities and accomplishment in the remote Outer Islands of Micronesia. Please consider making a donation of materials, time or financial support today.

Pacific News Links

Habele is an all-volunteer non-profit narrowly focused on promoting educational opportunities and accomplishment in Micronesia. Toward that end we offer the following links to keep our donors and volunteers abreast of developments in the Pacific.

The Economist considers the adoption and development of technology in the third world, and wonders if the "leapfrogging"of cell-phones is anomalous.

…The World Bank concludes that a country's capacity to absorb and benefit from new technology depends on the availability of more basic forms of infrastructure. … It would be great if you could always jump straight to the high-tech solution, as you can with mobile phones. But with technology, as with education, health care and economic development, such short-cuts are rare.

Working with the United States Department of Education and the Pacific Resources for Education and Learning, schools in the Federated States are adopting new standards for career and technical education.

Politicians in the Republic of Palau campaign on the promise of lowered salaries for lawmakers.

The Food and Agriculture Organization’s Sub-regional Office for the Pacific Islands (FAO–SAPA) headquarters is holding a workshop covering costal fisher policy issues.

Small town paper in California runs article on the islands of Yap.

Learn more about Habele's Outer Island library development and scholarship programs at Habele.org