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.
