Send books to students in Pohnpei!

Kolonia Elementary School needs your help!

The school’s library desperately needs books, both for students, as well as for their parents and other community members who enjoy reading.

Send Books Now to Micronesian Readers

Students and families on Ulithi Atoll and Fais Island want to read. Will you send them books?

Stephen Guertler, a Peace Corps Volunteer, hopes you will. Serving as a school based librarian on the Island of Fedraey (Federai), he has sought Habele's help in putting books in the hands of eager Island readers.

Donations Enroute: Woven Hand Fans of Micronesia

Habele is proud to be sending copies of Barbara B. Wavell's newest book, Woven Hand Fans of Micronesia, to libraries in Palau, FSM and the Marshall Islands.

Woven hand fans are an integral part of life in the far flung islands of Micronesia where the use of plant fibers to produce woven products constitutes a major cultural and economic resource.

Wavell’s work documents styles of hand fans from some of the world's most remote islands including Chuuk, Kiribati, Kosrae, Pohnpei and the Marshall Islands. While each island likely had their own unique fan styles, new techniques developed and spread in the historic context of the 20th century where successive occupations by the Germans, Japanese and Americans influenced the production of woven fans.

Accompanied by over 60 illustrations mostly in color, this work is useful guide to anyone who has an interest in the rich and varied creativity of these exotic islands.

More kind words from Pohnpei!

Wonderful email from Peace Corps Volunteer Sarah Winston, working with educators and families in Pohnpei:

Dear Habele team!
Thank you so much for sending those amazing books to the library, words cannot adequately express how thankful my students and community are for your generous contribution.  

Please see the attached photo of some students and community members, and expect something in the mail (snail mail) soon! 

Thanks again, Sarah

Habele is proud to be a small part of the success achieved by the educators and engaged families at the Temwen School, located in the Madolenihmw municipality of Pohnpei.

Kind words from Satowan in the Mortlocks

Kind words from Satowan in the Mortlocks of Chuuk State, Micronesia.

Thank you so much for the box of goodies! It was such a lovely surprise to receive them a few weeks ago. My students were so excited for the books that I had a hard time getting them to focus on the lesson. All they wanted to do was read the new books. We appreciate everything that you sent. 

Photo and message sent from Peace Corps Volunteer Sarah Feigelson.

She and the public school educators at Satowan Elementary contacted Habele in March of 2016, seeking age-appropriate texts for classroom and library use.

Habele is an all-volunteer nonprofit expanding educational access and accomplishment in the Caroline Islands (Micronesia). It supplies targeted, on-demand donations to educators and extracurricular programs, as well as needs-based scholarships to individual students.

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Small Cost, Big Impact: DONATE NOW!

For a decade, we've served ambitious students from the most remote Micronesian Islands.

This past year presented new challenges to Habele. Super Typhoon Maysak uprooted many of the communities and schools we support. A new category of educationally-displaced students emerged.

Outer Island schools remain in disarray. Most families lack the resources for alternatives. Habele continues to receive scholarship applications from these displaced students, as well as families across Micronesia seeking the best classroom for their child. As in years past, demand greatly exceeds our limited resources.

For under $600, Habele can place ambitious students in top schools in the state capitals for an entire school year. Our goal is to award twenty, K12 student scholarships in 2016. With your help we can make it happen.

In addition to funding scholarships, money raised now sustains the only high school robotics league in the Central Pacific, a vibrant traditional skills mentorship program, and direct-to-schools library donations.

This yearly plea is the only time Habele raises money. As an all-volunteer nonprofit, we channel contributions to our locally-defined programs, not aggressive fundraising efforts. By contributing, and urging friends and family to get involved, you empower ambitious Micronesian students to define and pursue their own futures.

Please make a donation to Habele today. We are an IRS-recognized nonprofit, so you may be eligible for a tax deduction.

Thank you for your continued support!

or send check or money order to  Habele, 701 Gervais St, STE 150-244, Columbia, SC 29201.

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UPDATE: Temwen Library, Pohnpei

In July of 2015, Habele sounded the call. An eager Peace Corps Volunteer, working with local educators and families, sought to restore a school based library in Pohnpei, Micronesia.

Temwen School is a small and rural Elementary school in the Madolenihmw municipality of Pohnpei. Temwen School has a small staff of seven teachers and one Peace Corps Volunteer; the Principal Elcid Joseph is a teaching principal.

The library had to be built from scratch. Staff members of Temwen Elementary School worked tirelessly to salvage books from all different areas of the school grounds. Then they renovated an older structure of the campus.

READ TOMIL: T-Shirt Fundraiser for Yap Library

"A Peace Corps volunteer couldn't hope for a better duty assignment than Tamilang Elementary School," exclaims Laurel Taylor.

That K-8 school serves the the historic municipality of Tomil, on the storied and remote Island of Yap in Micronesia. Motivated and organized, the local community does everything possible to let the talents of their creative and intelligent students shine.

To encourage them in their imaginings and English language acquisition, Taylor began to pursue the community's longstanding interest in improving Tailing's library. She made it her top goal at the beginning of this academic year. Typhoon Sudal had ripped the roof off the building and destroyed half the school's books, leaving outdated encyclopedias and reference books and molding picture books.

Build a Library for Temwen!

Habele’s volunteers and donors are working to stock a school-based library in Pohnpei, answering the request of local educators on that Micronesian Island.

Temwen School is a small and rural Elementary school in the Madolenihmw municipality of Pohnpei. Temwen School has a small staff of seven teachers and one Peace Corps Volunteer; the Principal Elcid Joseph is a teaching principal.

Donated Dictionaries Headed to Pohnpei, Micronesia (FSM)

A South Carolina based nonprofit has sent a thousand English language dictionaries to the picturesque Island of Pohnpei. Its one of four states in the Central Pacific Ocean that make up the string of islands called the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). The dictionaries include an abbreviated atlas, something local island students can use to learn more about distant North American geography.

This unique donation is enough to provide every eighth grade student across Pohnpei State with something previously unheard of – a dictionary of their very own.

More than forty boxes of books will soon arrive in the Pohnpeian city of Kolonia. They will be distributed to the 900 eighth grade students who are enrolled in the roughly 30 public schools across Pohnpei and its Outer Islands. Dictionaries are also enroute to eighth grade students at the Pohnpei SDA School, Calvary Christian Academy, and the Pohnpei Catholic School, as well as readers at the downtown public library.

Habele installing computer lab on Pohnpei

Habele, a US-based charity, has inaugurated a computer science education program on the Micronesian island of Pohnpei. With the financial assistance of donors Barbara and Ray Dalio, Habele has begun shipping computers, software, and related accessories to Our Lady of Mercy Catholic High School in Pohnpei.

The charity is working closely with Sr. Isabel Seman at Our Lady of Mercy to build the most appropriate computer lab possible for the school’s needs.

“The idea is to teach students the information technology skills they will need the rest of their lives,” said Neil Mellen, a director of Habele. “The twenty-first century is going to be online, and high school students in Micronesia need to start preparing for that reality now.”

Habele has sent the school Mac computers, monitors, peripherals, and the most common commercial software applications students will encounter. The choice of Macs rather than PCs will help familiarize Our Lady of Mercy students with the types of computers used at most of the higher education institutions in the western Pacific, assisting students with the often-difficult transition from high school to university.

Habele aims to provide the school with a total computer package: all the equipment needed to set up a first-rate lab, plus assistance with the installation.

Books Headed to Pohnpei, Micronesia

US-based charity “Habele” has begun shipping books to the Micronesian island of Pohnpei as part of a statewide public literacy project. The books include reference materials, cultural research literature, and regional histories. There are also texts dealing with local languages, arts and plants. The books are headed for high school and public libraries, where they will be available to both students and the community at large.

Neil Mellen, a Habele Director, explains: “Public access to topically relevant works is limited. There aren’t bookstores, and many people don’t have the money or the computer access to buy books through the Internet. Brick and mortar libraries may be on the decline here in the US, but in Micronesia, they’re still the cornerstone of a well-read, educated public.”

The donation -nearly a thousand hand-chosen texts- ranges from scholarly collections of source documents detailing early western contact with Micronesia, to children’s books about traditional and contemporary arts in the Pacific. There are also detailed reference guides to local fishes as well as fiction and poetry books by native Oceanic authors. Support for the effort was provided by Habele’s US network of volunteers and donors, and in particular, Ray and Barbara Dalio of Greenwich, Connecticut.

Donated Cultural, Historical Books headed to Palau

Shipments of cultural studies and art history books are headed to the Republic of Palau.

The donation, made by Habele, consists of copies of "Micronesian Arts and Crafts," "The Art of Micronesia," and a the newly released "Painting Palau's History." Each is authored by the esteem anthropologist and regional expert Barbara Wavell.

The books are headed to the Historic Preservation Office (HPO), the Palau National Museum, as well as public libraries. The hope is that both experts and lay readers alike will have easy access to the texts.

The newly published "Painting Palau's History" tells the story of Charles Gibbons. One of Palau's most famous artists, Gibbon's life spanned three Colonial administrations and saw many changes in Palauan society. His memories, expressed through his detailed and meticulous water color images of the past preserve cultural traditions and provide a valuable record of those early days. This work explores his life and art. Filled with vivid color illustrations, the book is visually striking and certain to be of interest to native readers in Palau.

Donated Dictionaries Helping College Bound Chuukese

Students attending Chuuk High School have sent their thanks to Habele for donating English language dictionaries. The US-based charity provided the texts when approached by Vice Principal Jason Reiong.


Reiong wrote to Habele in late 2012, explaining: "I read about your organization in the Kaselehie Press and I was very happy with what your organization has being doing for all the schools across Micronesia. I am writing to ask if your charity could help our students at CHS with some dictionaries, such as those you've provided to students in Yap..."

Over the last several months, Habele volunteers and their partners obtained the dictionaries and sent them to Chuuk. The cost of postage and processing was funded by the European based electronic payments firm "Yapital." On his end, Reiong navigated the donated boxes through customs, the post office and the school system's own bureaucracy. He explains that the timing of the arrival allowed the dictionaries to be used by students preparing for their state and district achievement tests.

"Since the students started using the dictionaries -both in the class and at their homes in the evenings- we've seen the scores on the local assessment increase," Vice Principal Reiong explained in a gracious letter to Habele volunteers. "The higher scores, and the rise in our College of Micronesia (COM) admission rate are possible because of the thoughtful contributions from people like you."

"That is a humbling claim," insisted Alex Sidles, a Habele Director who formerly served as a teacher on Unanu, in the Namonweito Atoll. "I think the real credit goes to the hard working educators and pupils in Weno who've made the most of the dictionaries. We are happy to have helped them do just that."

Hundreds of pens headed to students in Yap, Micronesia

A small American charity is sending ballpoint pens to elementary and high school students on the Island of Yap. Yap is situated in the western Pacific Ocean, just southwest of the US Territory of Guam. The island serves as the capital of Yap State, one of four members of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM).

One large box of the BIC Grip Roller Pens was sent to each of the three independent schools on Yap: Saint Mary's Elementary School, The SDA School and Yap Catholic High School. Each box contained several hundred of the high quality blue ink pens.

The donation was a gift of Habele, a South Carolina based charity that supports K-12 aged students throughout Yap State and across Micronesia. Habele provides gifts of classroom materials and textbooks to compliment it's tuition scholarship and extracurricular programs.

"Most of our efforts involve building local capacity and supplementing local educators' efforts," explained Habele Director Marc McNamara. "But on occasion we are able to deliver basic supplies upon request and in this instance we are delighted to be doing just that."

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Final Boxes of Dictionary Donation Reach Yap Students

An ambitious project to provide every middle school student in the Micronesian State of Yap with an English Langauge Dictionary reached a major mile stone this week.

The final shipment of boxes of books arrived in the state's capital city of Colonia where they were received by the State's Department of Education.

The effort began in earnest in mid 2012 when "The Dictionary Project" committed to donate 1,000  student dictionaries to the US-based "Habele" charity, which has been working across Micronesia since 2006. Habele then reached out to Nils Winkler, CEO of Yapital, a European-based electronic payments company. Yapital provided the financial support to process and forward the books to Yap State, and then distribute the texts to students  both on Yap Proper and throughout the remote Outer Islands.

Officials at the State Department of Education volunteered to oversee and coordinate that process of delivering the dictionaries. They worked with Habele, the Yap State Post Office and the Department of Sea Transportation. Seaman on the state supply ship also pitched in, stevedoring the boxes at each of the tiny islands and atolls on the ship's semi-regular field trip. Leaders at DOE also sent thank you letters written by students and teachers throughout Yap back to the donors.

"This was a great project that met a local need and was well executed, explained Nils Winkler, CEO of the Yapital. "Yapital was happy to be part of the effort to get these dictionaries in the eager hands of the students across Yap."

Winkler and several Habele board members were in Yap as the bulk of the shipment arrived this fall. They were able to deliver several boxes of books to schools in person during their "Listening Tour" of the state. "Meeting with students and parents in the Men's Houses of these tiny, isolated and un-develop Pacific Islands was a wonderful opportunity" reflected Winkler. "I'm certain the dictionaries will be put to great -and regular- use!"

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Donated Dictionaries Reach Students in Remote Yap

Late in October, participants in the Habele Listening Tour waded ashore on the Island of Asor.

They brought with them a box of English student dictionaries; part of a larger, statewide donation providing each and every middle school student in Yap State with a personal dictionary for use at home and school.

Delivery of this box to the community of Asor, Ulithi marked the final step in a far-reaching effort. The initiative began in June with collaboration between Habele and the Dictionary Project, who provided the texts. Cases of dictionaries began to arrive on Yap Proper in early August where officials from the Yap State Department of Education worked with the Post Office, FSM Customs and Tax Administration, and the State Transportation Department to process the shipment and direct the boxes toward their final destinations.

Islanders Say "Thanks" for Donated Dictionaries

Habele continues to receive letters from students and parents as well as school and community leaders following the donation of dictionaries to students throughout Yap State.

The most recent note came from the island of Wottegai on the Atoll of Wooleai.

The community school principal and the traditional island chief explain:

 

"...So many thanks to whomever brought about this pleasant idea; whomever agreed to this idea; and whomever supported, supporting, and will continue to support this idea... At this tiny elementary level school, grades 1-8, we received a good amount of students dictionaries which they are very helpful to the students. Each student has his/her own dictionary. The students, their parents, the teachers, community leaders, as well as the whole community of Wottegai were very happy with the donations!"

Donated Dictionaries Head to Micronesian Outer Islands

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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Dictionaries Donated to Micronesia

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.