Habele

Yapital Robo Day: Hands on Learning in Micronesia

2013-05-21T08:11:00.002-05:00

Over 100 students, teachers, and parents convened in Colonia at the Yap Community Center in late May to support student robotic teams from Yap Catholic High School and the Yap SDA School. The inter school robotics league –and its end of the year exhibition– is the only extracurricular robotics program in the Central Pacific.

The competition began with facilitator Larry Raigetal of “Waa’gey,” who explained the ground and technical rules of the competition. Raigetal also provided the audience with background information of the program, now in its second year. He explained how each school provided their student teams with classroom and after school instruction during the course of the school year. The Robo Day event marked a final display of progress and competition, but the goals of the ambitious extracurricular program were being met throughout the last nine months. Both teams had designed and built their robot from an elementary parts kit, honing and improving the robots' performance through trial and error over two semesters.

Each of the two-student team was given five minutes to operate their robots through the pre-determined game course during two timed rounds. The Yap SDA team won a coin tossing and was given the opportunity to lead off the first round. Both teams were tied at thirteen points after the first round. Following some readjustments to the robots, the second round was given to Yap Catholic High School to lead off. The final score for the game was 20 points for Yap Catholic High School and Yap SDA garnering 17 points.

The competition this year brought more excitement to the crowd as the two robots were greatly modified by the teams, allowing them to maneuver and move about the course at higher speeds than last year. Both teams did exceptionally well in operating their robots. Fr. Michael Corcoran SJ Principal of Yap Catholic High School said he was very happy with the turn out and was most impressed at the improvement made by both robotic teams. “Last year after the first round, the score was only 1-0” This is a huge improvement he said. Principal Ryan of Yap SDA shared Corcoran’s enthusiasm. Local television and media were also on site to interview the teams and their coaches following the event.

The US based charity “Habele” coordinated the event, with financial support from the European based electronic payments firm “Yapital." The Yap based Waa’gey organization organized the exhibition and served as a liaison to educators and team members throughout the school year. Larry Raigetal of Waa’gey declared the event a major success. “Not only did we see great improvements on the performance of the teams and their modified robots this year, the level of turn out and excitement of those who came only makes us want to work harder for a better event next year!”###

Carvers in Mentoring Program Proud of New Blades

2013-05-16T11:17:00.000-05:00

Students and their mentors in the Waa'gey traditional canoe carving program are giving rave reviews to a set of new tools, provided in part by the US based charity Habele.

Adzes are a traditional tool used for carving or smoothing rough-cut wood in hand woodworking. They are most often used for squaring up logs, or for hollowing out timber. Long ago islanders in the Central Pacific used shell, coral, and sometimes even stones, for the blades of their woodened handled adzes. Today metal blades are fixed to the locally cut and carved handles.

For years, Waa'gey carvers had to salvage truck springs and other low-grade scrap metal in order to shape the blades. Now, master metalsmith Jim Wester of Waldron Island, Washington is forging high-grade, specialized blades for the group. The partnership was initiated and coordinated by Habele as part of that group's mission to serve K-12 aged students across Micronesia.

"Waa'gey's model of pairing master carvers and weavers with high school aged students is great. They are doing so much to revive and preserve the cultural heritage," said Alex Sidles, a Habele Director. "The efforts also fit perfectly within Habele's mandate to promote academic excellence and access" Sidles continued. "Like the high school robotics teams, this type of extracurricular program really compliments Habele's scholarships and library donations."

The international partnership between canoe carvers in Yap, a small charity in South Carolina and a metalsmith in Washington State has not gone unnoticed. Wester's shop is now offering similarly large and customized blades to other carvers across the world.

"Last year, I sold a few gutter adze irons to some carvers in the remote outer islands of Yap, Micronesia," Jim explains. "But they are building traditional dugout canoes and really want something more aggressive, for two handed work. So they commissioned me to make larger gutter irons, about 3 1/2 inches wide and five times heavier than my normal ones. Not only are they more powerful but also less taxing on the forearm than the single handed adzes."

Learn more about the Waa'gey program here.

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Donated Dictionaries Helping College Bound Chuukese

2013-05-13T16:47:00.001-05:00

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."

China's Micronesian Gain is U.S.' Shame

2013-05-09T08:06:00.000-05:00

This letter to the editor appeared April 9, 2013, on page A14 of the U.S. edition of the Wall Street Journal.

Regarding Neil Mellen's "A Pacific Island Prefers Chinese Investment to U.S. Welfare" (op-ed, April 2):

Mr. Mellen's focus on Micronesia's economic stagnation is illuminating. But the really alarming aspect of the growing Chinese presence on Yap he mentions only in passing -the Chinese expansion of Yap's seaport and airport. This is more than an economic development; it is potentially a military one. Are we really to be muscled out of the Pacific so easily?

Alex Sidles
Seattle, Washington

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A Pacific Island Prefers Chinese Investment to U.S. Welfare

2013-05-06T08:30:00.000-05:00

For decades, American aid did little but promote dependency. Now here comes a Chinese entrepreneur.

This article appeared April 2, 2013, on page A13 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal.

A Micronesian island of about 39 square miles in the western Pacific will in the coming years become a destination for Chinese tourists if a massive resort complex proceeds as planned. The island, called Yap, is part of the Federated States of Micronesia and is strategically located at the crossroads of the Pacific, 500 miles southwest of the major U.S. military bases on Guam.

There are likely to be significant cultural, environmental and economic side effects from the project proposed by Chinese real-estate developer Deng Hong and his Exhibition and Travel Group, or ETG. Certainly a 4,000-room casino-and-golf complex would transform Yap. Yap State, a group of islands with a total population of 11,000, is one of the world's most isolated and traditional societies.

There will also likely be a shift of influence as the Chinese take de facto control over an airport and seaport—both will undergo major improvements for the development—at the heart of a region once termed "the American Pacific." The region is one that the post-World War II Pentagon promised would never again be ceded to foreign influence, as it had been to the Japanese in 1917.

Americans will be tempted to focus on growing Chinese influence in a former U.S. client state and strategic ally. Yet the real lesson is about America's 75-year failure to export one of its greatest assets: free-market capitalism. Since 1945, the U.S. has seemed to direct little more than state socialism to Micronesia and the rest of the American-affiliated Pacific.

The many billions of dollars sent to Micronesia in direct foreign aid was intended to finance the development of economic and political systems across these remote islands and atolls. The Micronesians have instead used the aid to feed a government bureaucracy that mirrors the worst excesses and inefficiencies of the U.S. Department of the Interior, the agency that controls most of the aid.

The sad result is a huge, U.S.-funded Micronesian public sector that crowds out economic development. This has ensured the perpetual dependency of the people, like the Yap islanders, on the state and federal government of the Federated States of Micronesia.

So oppressive is the bureaucracy that the World Bank estimates it takes a year and a half's worth of personal income—spent, for instance, on licensing and attorney fees—to open a small business in Micronesia. In 2013, the bank ranked Micronesia second-worst in the world (behind East Timor) in policies for land registration. The difficulty of recording and holding assets that will be protected under law makes credit virtually unobtainable. The public sector is effectively the sole source of jobs, services, benefits and entitlements—unless Micronesians migrate to Hawaii or Guam (where they are eligible for entitlements on par with native-born U.S. citizens) or enlist in the U.S. military (a career option opened by the "free association" status between the U.S. and Micronesian state governments).

There is no more telling indictment of U.S. policy than the Chinese resort complex planned for Yap. Certain key decision makers publicly justified the deal under the banner of free-market development. Advocates of the plan insist that it is a once-in-a-century opportunity to replace aid dependency with economic development. In short, they are trading in U.S. government handouts—which are scheduled to end in 2023—for the wide-open promise of Chinese-style capitalism.

The U.S. could have spent the past seven decades working with Micronesians to develop modern property rights and an adherence to the rule of law. Washington could have given them the tools to envision and pursue the political and economic future of their own design. Instead the U.S. has devoted itself to keeping the lights on in countless cinder-block government buildings and handing out cheap perishables such as rice and Spam.

The Chinese plan for Yap is not universally popular on the island, where locals still use stone money and dugout canoes. That is particularly true among villagers outside the town center of Colonia, citizens of the more remote municipalities, and peoples from the nearby Outer Islands. Still, the project offers something other than the stagnation and nurtured self-pity of the status quo.

Mr. Mellen was a Peace Corps volunteer in Yap State from 2002-05. He is the president of "Habele," a U.S.-based nonprofit serving kindergarten through 12th-grade-age students across Micronesia.

Copyright 2012 Dow Jones & Company. Read a published response here.

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Micronesian Schools Plan "Yapital Robo Day"

2013-05-01T11:21:00.003-05:00

Educators at the two independent High Schools on the Island of Yap have announced plans for a public exhibition and competition, featuring teams from their student robotics clubs.

The 2013 “Yapital Robo Day,” will highlight the work of robotics teams from both Yap Catholic High School and the SDA School. It will serve as a culmination of the participating students’ hard work throughout the school year. The event will be held on Friday, May 17th at the Community Center in Colonia, starting at 3:00pm. Both schools will demonstrate the capabilities of their robots by navigating the machines through a series of obstacles and retrieving doughnut shaped cargos with the robotic claws.

Club members are looking to show community members, public officials, and their peers the capabilities of the VEX robots each team has built. Parts for the machines were initially donated by the US-based charity “Habele.” Over the course of the school year, the student teams have designed, assembled and programed the robots, turning those piles of raw materials into fully functioning robots.

Last year the two schools participated in the first-ever Yap Robo Day. It was coordinated by local community organization “Waa’gey.” That event, which garnered headlines across the Pacific and earned the recognition of robotics aficionados throughout the US, was Oceania’s first ever student robotics exhibition.

“The feedback on last year’s event was amazing,” explained Neil Mellen, President of Habele. “Our worry was that despite the hard work of the students and enthusiasm of their teachers, we wouldn’t be able to raise the money to buy new parts and stage the Robo Day event again.” Thankfully, the European based electronic payments firm “Yapital” offered to help.

Yapital’s financial support enabled Habele to purchase upgrade kits and spare parts for the robots, as well as shirts for all participating students. They also plan to cover the cost of hosting the Robo Day event itself. “When a delegation from Yapital visited Yap last fall we heard a lot about the Robo Day and just how much it meant to the participating students,” said Nils Winkler, Yapital CEO. “This type of practical application of science and technology instruction is inspiring. We at Yapital are proud to be supporting these hard working students and educators in Yap State.”

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Mentorship Program Preserves Traditions in Micronesia

2013-04-29T05:00:00.000-05:00

In late March, Habele's partner Waa'gey presented to participants in the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) UNESCO Workshop on Yap. It was an opportunity for the small community based organization to showcase its work across the Caroline Islands.

The workshops were focused on traditional canoe building, navigation, and cultural fishing methods. The presentations were given at the lagoon-side canoe houses where over 30 persons including officials from UNESCO as well as the Federated States of Micronesia's (FSM's) own National Archives participated. Waa'gey volunteers also passed on news of the group's growing network of partners and sponsors as well as its efforts to restore items of historical significance.

Feedback from the audience was outstanding. The UN officials and others in attendance expressed their enthusiasm for the work, particualry because it was a locally-envisioned, locally-pursued effort. They also noted that both the canoe carving and skirt weaving projects offered educational benefits for K-12 aged students, since Waa'gey's preservations programs are organized around master mentors who are paired with elementary and high school aged students.

"It is important for Waa'gey that our activities are in sync with -and work to compliment- the efforts of others' here that support students in the community," explained Larry Raigetal of Waa'gey. "The mentorship approach in the carving and weaving program not only preserve and revive important cultural traditions, but they function as extracurricular activities for students in the community. We're really proud of that."

Hundreds of pens headed to students in Yap, Micronesia

2013-04-23T07:15:00.000-05:00

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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Islanders Preserve, Revive Canoe Traditions

2013-03-28T17:14:00.002-05:00

Waa'gey's traditional canoe carving program is changing lives in Micronesia. It provides young islanders with a sense of self, community and their cultural heritage.

Publication of this blog post, by Pacific Voyagers, speaks to a growing awareness of the Habele-supported effort:

"Islanders on these remote [Micronesian] coral atolls have little contact with the outside world and even fewer modern day resources. Now, their complicated and time-honed crafts are being used to pursue a broader social agenda."

"A small group in Yap by the name of “Waa’gey” has begun to pair master carvers, weavers and other skilled mentors with post secondary school aged boys and girls. They hope to support those students’ academic and personal development. The exciting side benefit is the preservation and revival of a distinctive and technically rich tradition of craftsmanship and navigation."

"The process of crafting these complicated vessels is passed on from a handful of elderly experts, one generation to the next. The seemingly tenuous oral link with the past is kept vibrant through practice and observation. Waa’gey sees this as a chance to build bonds between generations and develop a positive work ethic among young islanders, particularly those who now reside in the more dense and developed state centers.

Waa’gey’s approach has been to work with master carvers across the Outer Islands and coordinate projects among teams both on Yap Proper and back on the smaller outer islands where the practices remain more vibrant. In the process they’ve revived a centuries old process of obtaining trees on Yap Proper (where they grow much taller) and exchanging the logs for specialty items only produced in the Outer Islands. That form of tribute and barter stopped when the Japanese ordered an end to the practice of inter-island canoe voyages in the 1920s"

Read the full story here.

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Habele Scholar Earns Straight A's

2013-03-25T08:36:00.000-05:00

All of Habele’s scholarship recipients have a lot to be proud of, but no one more than 2nd grader Kyle Taitiw.

That’s because Kyle is the only Habele scholarship student reporting a perfect 4.0 GPA on his second-semester report card!

Thanks to excellent instruction from the staff at St. Mary’s School in Yap, and a lot of hard work, Kyle is off to an inspiring start to the school year. Habele’s directors look forward to seeing more great things from Kyle in the future.

Without scholarship assistance from Habele, it is unlikely that Kyle’s academic aptitudes would ever be developed. That’s because Kyle is a native of the tiny undeveloped atoll of Woleai, which lies more than 400 miles east of Yap. There is incredible natural beauty on Woleai, but few opportunities for academic growth.

There are many children on Micronesia’s remote Outer Islands as eager to learn as Kyle, but little – if any – opportunity to cultivate that interest. Thanks to the generosity of our donors, Habele is currently helping twenty-five children from the Outer Islands attend school. That’s a record number of scholarship recipients for Habele, but the need is still great.

Please consider how your generous donation to Habele could open up a new world of learning for another child like Kyle.

Massive Sailing Canoe Takes Shape on Lamotrek

2013-02-28T08:57:00.002-05:00

Men on the remote Pacific Atoll of Lamotrek are hard at work, carving and shaping a massive sailing canoe. In addition to preserving their native traditions, they may be carving their way into the record books as they work under a tarp by the open-air men’s house on the beach.

Voyaging canoes in the Caroline Islands (modern day "Micronesia") are made from hollowed-out tree trunks for the keel. Planks are then fitted and tied in with rope made from coconut fibers to complete the sides. These graceful crafts appear symmetrical. Both sternposts and stems protrude up from the keel in forks that shoot up like lizard tongues. An outrigger is used to steady the canoe and the mast and sail are adjustable, rather than fixed. Remarkably, this allows for sailing to windward up to 75 degrees off the wind. The design used today is identical to that detailed by Spanish missionaries in the early 1700s who called the Carolinian canoes “flying proas.”

Canoes produced on the Outer Islands -those small islands and atolls that stretch between the Micronesian state capitals of Yap Proper and the Chuuk Lagoon, are limited in size. Trees growing in the rough soil of the remote atolls don’t reach the height and width require for very large canoe keels. In this case, the men and boys of Lamotrek received a massive tree from Yap Proper to serve as the canoe’s hull. That hull, roughly 40 feet in length, could make the new canoe a record breaker.

The project was envisioned and coordinated by Waa’gey, a community based organization headquartered on Yap Proper that serves Outer Islanders across Micronesia. Waa’gey collaborated with the Lamotrek Youth and with master carvers Xavier Yarofaliyango and Brono Tharngan. Young Outer Island men on Yap Proper cut the tree down and prepared it for delivery to Lamotrek aboard the State Supply Vessel. The US-based Habele organization provided financial support to compensate the landowner, provide tools, and ship the canoe aboard the state vessel.

The canoe is historic for reasons beyond it mammoth size. It may be the first canoe ever that was cut down by outer islanders in Yap proper, carved down to reduce weight and sent out to an Outer Island for final construction. Voyaging canoes of this type made regular trips between islands across the Carolines until the Japanese ordered an end to the practice in the 1920s.

Carvers on Lamotrek plan to donate the canoe to the community at large, ensuring the craft will see regular use through travel within the lagoon. The length and width will also be a major asset for men on community fishing trips during preparation for traditional ceremonies and parties. Unlike fiberglass hulled boats with outboard engines, fuel and spare parts shortages won’t be an issue.

Carvers hope to complete and launch the historic canoe this summer. Volunteers and supporters from both Waa’gey and Habele plan to attend. Once the traditional vessel has completed its sea trials, plans will be made for longer-distance sailing. “I’ve heard rumors and rumblings about an eventual open ocean voyage from Lamotrek to Saipan,” reported one source close to the project. “Just the fact that such a journey would be possible is a big deal!” Such a trip would serve to reenact a well-documented voyage in 1787 when three chiefs from Lamotrek arrived in the Marianas after ten days at sea.

Final Boxes of Dictionary Donation Reach Yap Students

2013-02-22T04:00:00.000-05:00

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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Waa'gey's Planning & Partnership Tour a Success

2013-02-19T05:30:00.000-05:00

Hon. Curtis Loftis and Waa'gey's Larry Raigetal

Larry Raigetal of the Community Based Organization “Waa’gey” has returned to Yap following a planning and partnership tour in the United States.

Raigetal met with a range of public sector officials and private citizens across several states, the District of Columbia and the Territory of Guam. “It was great to talk with policy leaders, philanthropists, cultural aficionados and others. I was surprised by the interest in -and frankly awareness of- the big issues we are facing in Micronesia,” reported Raigetal. “Every where I went, folks were particularly excited about Waa’gey and eager to help.”

Working across Yap State, Waa’gey uses traditional skills to confront the social, economic and environmental challenges faced by the people of Micronesia’s most remote outer islands.

The planning and partnership trip began with time in and around Washington DC. Raigetal conferred with officials from the US Departments of the Interior and Health and Human Services. He also sat down with retired State Department officials as well as former Peace Corps Volunteers living in the Virginia and Maryland suburbs around Washington.

Raigetal then traveled south to the Carolinas. He sat down with Curtis Loftis, the State Treasure of South Carolina. Loftis is the founder, chairman and primary benefactor of the Saluda Foundation, a development group known for its innovative and cost-effective work in Eastern Europe and South America. He advised Raigetal on how to grow Waa’gey in a sustainable way. “The Treasurer told it to me straight,” joked Raigetal, “never let your work or the group become an end in itself,” he said, “focus on empowering people at the grassroots with the end goal of making the organization itself unnecessary.”

Raigetal also took time to meet with volunteers and donors to Habele, a group that has provided Waa’gey with support for its canoe carving and skirt weaving projects.

Larry Raigetal of Waa'gey and KGUM's Travis Coffman

Traveling west back to the Pacific, Mr. Raigetal spent several days on Guam. He appeared as a guest on “the Big Show” with Travis Coffman. The call-in talk radio show on KGUM gave Raigetal the chance to share information about the Waa’gey canoe project with Micronesians living on Guam and local Chamorro groups who are similarly working to revive and sustain traditional carving and sailing techniques. Raigetal followed up with site visits and meetings with several of these Guam based efforts, including the Traditions Affirming our Seafaring Ancestry (TASA). He also met with US corporations on Guam interested in community outreach in Micronesia.

Back on Yap, seated in the open-air traditional canoe house beside the lagoon, Raigetal is circumspect about the trip. “I think of the chilly snowy days, staring up at the awesome monuments in DC and the grace and hospitality of my hosts in the Carolinas” he explains. “Most of all I think to how the lessons learned and relationships made can help the people and places right here in Yap State.”

AUDIO - listen to Larry's discussion about Waa'gey with Travis Coffman here.

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Micronesian Scholarship Winners Report Progress

2013-02-15T10:28:00.000-05:00

"My family joins me in extending our deepest appreciation for your generous support. I'm looking forward to work extra harder (sic) throughout this school year. in return for your support and to make good use of the money's you've spent on my tuition. Thanks!"

That's what Habele scholarship student, Charlene Regalishyei, had to say after earning high marks on her first semester report card.

Recipients of the 2012-13 Habele Tuition Scholarships are proudly reporting their academic progress by sending copies of their first semester grades and awards to the US-based charity. Most recently, Habele directors received the enthusiastic letter from Charlene Regalishyei, a sophomore attending the Yap Catholic High School. Regalishyei is a native of the remote Atoll of Eauripik, an island that has enjoyed support from Habele through its libraries and literacy program.

Charlene earned both a certificate for "second honors" as the result of her high grades as well as a certificate recognizing her perfect attendance throughout the first semester.

Habele Board Director Neil Mellen was quick to make a connection. "There is an obvious link between Miss Regalishyei's excellent attendance and her great grades. Being in class ready to learn each day is key, Mellen continued. "That's why we are supporting the Waa'gey Arts and Crafts programs and the High School Robotics Teams; extracurricular programs that engage students drive better classroom attendance and higher grades."

Charlene is one of twenty five students across Micronesia (FSM) who will be reporting their progress to Habele as part of their tuition scholarship agreement this month.

Learn more about the Habele scholarship program, as well as the literacy and extracurricular projects, at www.habele.org.

Master Toolsmith Teams Up with Micronesian Carvers

2013-01-25T10:58:00.000-05:00

Master toolsmith Jim Wester of Waldron Island, Washington is teaming up with the traditional carvers of the Waa'gey arts and crafts project in Yap State, Micronesia

Wester has spent over two and half decades creating high quality custom tools and blades in the Pacific Northwest. He is now crafting specialized Adze blades for the Waa'gey carvers in order to improve the speed and safety of their work.

Adzes are a traditional tool used for carving or smoothing rough-cut wood in hand woodworking. They are most often used for squaring up logs, or for hollowing out timber. Long ago islanders in the Central Pacific used shell, coral, and sometimes even stones, for the blades of their woodened handled adzes.

Contact with the Spanish in the sixteenth century saw the introduction of metal blades. Still, the specific size, shape, and material requirements for blades that would work within the handle and use parameters set by the islanders necessitated local modifications and re-configuration of the metal.

Carvers in the Waa'gey canoe project still employ scrap metal -such as old truck suspension springs- to make the blades, but are strictly limited by the limitations of these materials. Wester, who has been making customized blades for traditional and modern carvers around the world since 1987, is helping to change that.

Late in 2012, the US-based charity Habele ordered several large adze blades from Wester's North Bay Forge and donated them to the Waa'gey program. "The blade are by far the best quality the guys here have ever seen," explained Larry Raigetal who organizes the Waa'gey sailing canoe operation in Yap.

Working with Waa'gey and the Habele donors, Wester is now embarking on a much larger work order. He is special ordering high quality steel as the carvers in Yap provide him with exact details of the size, shape, curvature and weight they need for their adze blades to sync with the handles they'll create for them.

"This is pretty exciting," said Wester about the partnership with Waa'gey Canoe Carvers. "Boat building [here in the Pacific Northwest] is actually what got me started in blacksmithing."

NGO Donates Weaving Materials to Women’s Organization in Yap

2013-01-16T05:30:00.000-05:00

Loom weaving of traditional skirts is a labor-intensive process that holds special significance for women in the Caroline Islands (Micronesia).

While modern materials have mostly replaced the traditional banana and pandanus threads, the basic process persists unchanged. It requires skillful use of one’s body weight to tense the loom through a back strap and stretch delicate threads between a pair of bars.

Volunteers with Habele, a US-based charity, have provided spools of cotton and polyester thread to a consortium of women’s groups in Yap State Micronesia, hoping to help them pass those specialized skills and sense of heritage to a new generation.

The gift was presented through Regina Raigetal. She serves both as a Habele Director as well as with the Yap-based “Waa’gey.” Attending the presentation was Nils Winkler, CEO of Yapital, a European-based electronic payments company. Yapital donated the polyester and cotton fabric, as part of its ongoing partnership with Habele to support K-12 students across Yap State. The materials will help master weavers partner with high school aged young women who are themselves seeking to master the loom techniques.

Project coordinator Waa’gey is a community-based organization that uses traditional skills to confront the social, economic and environmental challenges faced by the people of Micronesia’s most remote Outer Islands. Waa’gey has made headlines for its revival of dugout sailing canoes in Yap State, but the group also pursues projects centered on skills traditionally practiced by women.

Ongoing efforts include preservation of weaving of so-called “every day” lava lavas, as well as the revival of the highly specialized loom weaving of “Machi” skirts, a specialized type of lava-lava that serves as an important ceremonial textile.

Acclaimed anthropologist Dr. Donald Rubinstein has explained the significance of this art form:

“… the machi holds a unique place, as the only textile which is never worn as everyday dress, but serves exclusively ceremonial functions, and has a special relationship to traditional island chieftainship... Although no longer used as regular chiefly tribute, nor at the inauguration of the island chief or the coming-of-age ceremony for young men, the Fais machi today retains two important cultural functions, as a burial shroud for senior men, and as the highest form of gift. Both of these functions rest on the preeminent status of the machi as the most valuable object of local manufacture.”

A photo blog documenting of Waag’ey’s progress is here and more information on the Habele Listening Tour can be found here.

Midwestern Family Renews Support for Micronesian Student

2013-01-03T14:22:00.000-05:00

Photo: Leona Peterson (seated) enjoying a coconut in TTPI-era Micronesia.

A Midwestern family has renewed their support for a Micronesian girl attending a small private school thousands of miles away in the State of Yap.

Orpha Hapdei is a seventh grade student at Saint Mary's School in Colonia. Her family is from the Atoll of Ulithi, a remote outer island of Yap, Micronesia.

Orpha began attending St. Mary’s in 2011, through the Leona Peterson (1926-2011) Memorial K-12 Scholarship. The scholarship pays for three-fourths of her tuition and expenses at the private school in Yap’s capitol city “Colonia.” The money was raised entirely by the descendants of Mrs. Peterson. This last Christmas, the family committed to do the same for the 2012-13 school year.

Leona Peterson was native of Waterloo, Iowa. She led the Department of Aging in the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI) during the late 1970s and early 80s. At that time Micronesia was one part of the larger US-administered TTPI which spanned the Central Pacific. In the 1980s, the region transitioned to political independence. Today, Yap and its outer islands comprise one of the four Federated States of Micronesia (FSM).

Following her death, Leona's son Paul Peterson sought a way to remember his mother's legacy by supporting the islanders whom she spoke so lovingly of. He reached out to Habele, a small US-based charity that provides scholarships to low-income children across Micronesia The group also funds after school projects and donates books to students and classroom teachers.

Photo: Seventh grade St. Mary's student Orpha Hapdei.

Peterson gathered financial commitments from family members living across Missouri and Iowa. "As the holidays approach this year I was struck with a notion. I would like to keep the named scholarship going year over year,' says Peterson. "To that end instead of sending out gift baskets to family and friends I'll make a donation to Habele in their name for the Leona Peterson scholarship fund."

Photo: Habele Directors meet with Timothy Moon, Principal of Saint Mary's School.

Habele worked with educators and local volunteers in Yap to select Orpha as the initial recipient of the Peterson Scholarship. According to her sixth grade teacher, Molly Walag, Orpha earned a GPA of 3.57 for the 2011-12 school year. Her mother proudly mailed a copy of the girl's honor roll certificate to Habele and the Petersons, who've sent a post-Christmas check to Habele for next school year’s tuition.

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Traditional Carolinian Canoe Launched in Yap

2012-12-27T05:00:00.000-05:00

A high tide, calm waters and a light wind made for a beautiful scene as the “Rose of Lima” slipped into waters of the Pacific for the first time.

A team of master carvers and the young men they are mentoring crafted the canoe, a traditional hand-carved dugout outrigger. The work was organized by Waa’gey, a community-based organization that utilizes traditional skills to confront the social, economic and environmental challenges faced by the people of Micronesia’s most remote Outer Islands. This is Waa’gey’s second large sailing canoe in the last twelve months, and only the second Outer Island style canoe ever carved on Yap Proper.

Among those at the shore for the launch were members of the Habele 2012 Listening Tour. Habele Directors Regina Raigetal and Neil Mellen explained that their organization had provided financial and material support for Waa’gey. They relayed how parents of participating students reported a positive impact on classroom achievement and the students’ self worth.

Raigetal further noted that Waa’gey had been partnering with both independent and public schools on Yap to provide instruction on cultural skills and traditional technologies to a larger pool of children through hands-on tours and lectures.

Also on the Listening Tour, and observing the canoe launch, was Nils Winkler, CEO of Yapital, a European-based electronic payments company. Yapital helped to provide fuel and tools for the carvers, as part of its ongoing partnership with Habele to support K-12 students across Yap State.

Historic Canoe Returns to Micronesia

2012-12-18T15:58:00.000-05:00

Photo: James Hapdei holds a model canoe in Yap, Micronesia. The model was a gift from his father to Francis Wilson, Chief Pharmacist’s Mate, who helped treat a Yaws epidemic during World War Two.

A two-foot long model canoe has returned to Yap, Micronesia, where it will be restored and preserved by a local group of carvers. Included in the group is the son of the man who first made the model for a special US Sailor seven decades ago.

The canoe has traveled thousands of miles on its journey home. It was carved as a gift for a US Navy sailor who served in the Pacific during World War Two. Chief Pharmacist’s Mate Francis Wilson was one of a pair of sailors who helped to battle an outbreak of yaws, a crippling tropical infection, on the Atoll of Ulithi during the war. The other was physician and author Dr. Marshal Paul Wees.

According to 1950 article in the "Saturday Review," “Dr. Wees was sent by the U. S. Navy to cope with a terrible scourge of yaws with which the people of Ulithi were afflicted... With a minimum of medical supplies and no assistance but the aid of a pharmacists' mate, Dr. Wees accomplished his mission and eliminated yaws.”

Photo: Master and apprentice carvers from Waa’gey examine the donated canoe model and prepare plans for its restoration and display.

The islanders gave Pharmacists Mate Wilson the canoe along with other gifts of thanks and friendship when the two Navy men left Ulithi. The model is over two feet long and nearly a foot wide from the edge of its outrigger to the hull line. Wilson’s son located the canoe among his deceased father’s effects earlier this year and coordinated the donation through “Habele,” a US-based nonprofit organization that supports students across Micronesia.

Habele reached out to long-time partner “Waa’gey,” a local partner group in Yap that preserves and revives traditional island skills such as carving and weaving. Waa’gey has been crafting full size traditional canoes by pairing older master carvers with high school aged students. Among their volunteers is James Hapdei, the son of the man who first carved the canoe model for Wilson during the war. The group offered to make repairs to the slightly deteriorated model and display the canoe for islanders and tourists to enjoy.

The model is a faithful and detailed representation of the Caroline Island dugout sailing canoes that are emblematic of Yap and appear on the Yap State flag. It is believed to be the oldest Outer Island style canoe model in all of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM).

“Waa’gey is receiving a valuable artifact from an interesting period in Ulithi’s past, when model outrigger canoes were not just souvenirs for tourists but taught young people how to make real canoes.” explains Anthropologist, Barbara Wavell, an expert on Caroline Island carvings and author of “The Arts and Crafts of Micronesia.” “Model canoes were also used in traditional rituals or as toys for young boys.”

The medical work of Francis Wilson and Dr. Marshall Paul Wees were chronicled in the 1950 book “King Doctor of Ulithi.” The text makes specific mention of the model. The canoe model is also nearly identical to one depicted in “The Ulithi Encyclopedia,” a text authored by US Navy Lt. John Loudon Vollbrecht and other sailors in 1945.

“Holding this canoe feels like one has reached through time and touched the past,” explained Larry Raigetal the founder and director of Waa’gey. “As modern day canoe builders, it gives us an incredible sense of motivation and participation in our past. We are so grateful to Luke Wilson and Habele for this donation, and this trust”

Photo: Canoe depicted in the "Encyclopedia of Ulithi," a booklet of history and cultural information compiled by US Navy sailors while stationed in Ulithi Atoll, Yap State (present day Federated States of Micronesia).

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Donated Dictionaries Reach Students in Remote Yap

2012-12-14T09:32:00.000-05:00

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.

Nearly half of the books were sent to students attending schools in the remote Outer Islands of Yap State. The majority of these reached their destination in September aboard the Yap State transport vessel, the MV Hapilmohol, whose captain and crew worked with Lorenzo Sartilug. Sartilug serves as neighboring island coordinator for the Department of Education. On Yap Proper, the Education Department Director Vincent Parren and his staff simultaneous distributed boxes to schools throughout Colonia and Yap’s ten municipalities.

The final boxes, slated for the islands of Ulithi (the closest Outer Island to Yap Proper) reached Falalop, Ulithi in November, aboard a Pacific Missionary Airline (PMA) flight. These parcels were received by Lazarus Ulith, who arranged transportation for the books and members of Habele’s Listening Tour within the Atoll. On each of the Atoll’s four islands, Habele Directors held meetings with educators and parents to solicit feedback and answer questions about Habele’s tuition scholarships, library donations and extracurricular programs.

Also in the meetings was Nils Winkler, CEO of Yapital, a European-based electronic payments company. Yapital sponsored the Statewide Dictionary Project, delivering the 1,000 dictionaries to middle school students, as part of its ongoing partnership with Habele to support K-12 students across Yap State. Following the discussions, the boxes of dictionaries were presented to each island’s school principal.

Traditional crafts kept alive on Yap

2012-12-13T09:08:00.001-05:00

Many of the people of Yap in the Federated states of Micronesia are leaving the outer islands for the more urbanised big islands at the centre of the group and in the process they can lose parts of their traditional culture

Waa'Gey incorporated is an organisation dedicated to ensure the skills involved in traditional canoe carving and weaving are passed on to future generations.

It's helped in its work by the small American based charity Habele that provides materials and some funds for its extracurricular activities for school students.

Regina Raigetal, is a Habele Director and the C-E-O of Waa'Gey and explained its work to Steve Rice.

Presenter: Steve Rice

Speaker: Regina Raigetal, the C-E-O of Waa'Gey in Yap

RAIGETAL: Ah it's currently focused on a particular weaving that we want to preserve it, and it went slowly for the past year, very few people remember all the intricate patterns that go onto this, and so we're trying to revive it and sustain it by teaching it to the younger generation, and the same idea was canoe carving.

RICE: I believe the weaving on Yap involves looms?

RAIGETAL: Well the looms are handmade and it's all manual, nothing electronic to it. The whole loom itself is made of wood and every little work done on it is done by the person who has structured the loom.

RICE: What sort of yarns do you use in the weaving?

RAIGETAL: We use banana and hibiscus fibres. For the younger girls we use cotton thread or polyester thread, because it's less brittle and we can teach it to them when they get to know that and adjust do it, then we provide them with the banana and hibiscus fibres.

RICE: How do you do that?

RAIGETAL: Well the banana, we peel the whole trunk of banana, because the banana tree the trunk is layered, and deeper within the banana tree trunk is whiter fibre, that's the ones that we use, and then for the intricate patterns that we add on and form the pattern into the actual loom or the lavalava we use the hibiscus fibre, which is soaked in water and then dried in the shade and then dyed.

RICE: What do you use to make the dyes?

RAIGETAL: Well we have natural dyes, but most recently we've been using imported dyes.

RICE: What were the natural dyes made of?

RAIGETAL: Well plants, roots and then we even used the husk of the coconut, we mash it and we squeeze the juice from it.

RICE: How old is the weaving culture?

RAIGETAL: I think the weaving actually involved in the Polynesian Islands, because there are studies of some anthropologists who've found that they have similar patterns drawn onto tapa cloths in the South Pacific.

RICE: And how many women are left that know all the skills of the weaving and how to do it?

RAIGETAL: I think less than 20, and so that is why we're working hard to preserve it and teach it to the younger generations.

RICE: And how many people of the younger generations are now interested in this art form?

RAIGETAL: A lot are interested and they are even some who are currently taking college courses, and so after their classes they come home and they join the group. And each student has their own loom. We currently have about ten students and two teachers.

RICE: Ok and what are the finished products used for?

RAIGETAL: The traditional uses are many, but this particular weaving or this pattern that we're focussed on, it used to be and still is a Chiefly, so we would call it the royal fabric and we weave it for funerals, they were used as mats and shrouds.

RICE: How many traditional patterns are there?

RAIGETAL: There are many patterns for wearing.

RICE: And that's for everyday life is it?

RAIGETAL: Yes every day. We sleep in them, we don't wear pyjamas or a nightdress, we wear the lavalava day or night, whatever in the water or on land, it's part of the culture.

RICE: And tell us about the canoe building?

RAIGETAL: Here the society has very defined gender roles and the women have their work, which is to garden and weave, and the men have their's, which is to fish, and so that's where the canoe comes in, because not everybody in the smaller islands have a motorboat, and so they still fish today using canoes. We're trying to teach it also to the younger generation so that they appreciate the art, and then also we have paddlers to come and paddle the ones that are already done carving, just to get a feel of it and know that it's usable and it's right there and it's theirs.

RICE: I believe that recently a new canoe was launched that had been carved out of a piece of Philippine mahogany?

RAIGETAL: Yes, yes, and they used that for the canoe festival. It won several races, and right now there's another log that is being carved.

RICE: So your organisation is dedicated to keeping alive the traditional handcrafts?

RAIGETAL: And the purpose for that is of course the migration of the neighbouring islanders to the main island or to the centre, and currently they choose to migrate here but soon with climate change and the sea level rising the way it is going, there'll be forced migration. And so they're coming in here and having their own settlements, they're losing their culture because they're meshing it with a more modern one here in the centre, and so I hope to pass these traditional activities so that other kids from the outer islands continue to learn it.

[This is a transcript of an interview conducted November 30th, aired on Radio Australia. The audio file can be found here].

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Islanders Say "Thanks" for Donated Dictionaries

2012-12-10T09:46:00.001-05:00

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!"

The statewide donation of student dictionaries was orchestrated by Habele, a small US-based based charity that has been serving students in Micronesia since 2006.

The texts were donated by The Dictionary Project and funding for delivery was provided by Yapital, a European-based electronic payments company. Hard working educators at the Yap State Department of Education and seamen at the Yap State Government Sea Transportation ensured the donated texts reached each and every middle school across Yap and all its outer islands.

Habele also awards K-12 tuition scholarships, supports traditional arts and crafts, and develops after school programs that serve students in Yap State and across Micronesia.

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US Navy Partners with Traditional Canoe Carvers in Yap

2012-11-26T20:55:00.000-05:00

High tech met traditional tech when a group of US Navy Seabees pitched in to help the Waa’gey traditional canoe project in Yap, Micronesia.

The sailors, stationed on Yap as part of a construction civic action detail, used their powerful lifting equipment and wide-bodied truck to ferry a massive log to the traditional boat house where it will take shape as a sailing canoe.

Over the course of several weeks, Master Carvers and youth volunteers with the Waa’gey program had fallen, and carved out, a log in the jungles of Yap. It will serve as the hull for a traditional Carolinian sailing canoe. The dugout log -still weighing hundreds of pounds and measuring more than twenty feet long- was pulled up a trail from the depths of the jungle to a dirt road by a team of twenty boys using a rope. The next leg of the trip, the fifteen-mile road into Colonia where the Waa’gey’s boathouse sits at the edge of the lagoon, seemed an insurmountable obstacle.

“Thankfully, the US Navy was ready to help!” explained Larry Raigetal of Waa’gey. “They accomplished in a few minutes a lifting feat that would have taken us months,” Raigetal continued. “It was a great chance for us to share information and compare notes on our respective building techniques and technologies.”

The US sailors raised the hull onto a truck, drove it into Colonia, and delivered it to the boathouse. Young men and women presented the sailors with floral wreaths and gifts of local foods to convey their gratitude.

Waa’gey is a community-based organization. It aims to uses traditional skills to confront the social, economic and environmental challenges faced by the people of Micronesia’s most remote outer islands.

Waa’gey receives financial and material support from Habele, a US-based charity, which was holding a “listening tour” meeting at the boathouse when the log arrived on the Navy’s truck. Also present for the delivery was Nils Winkler, CEO of Yapital, a European-based electronic payments company. Yapital had donated chainsaws, adze blades and fuel for the Canoe Project through its ongoing partnership with Habele.

The US Navy Seabee civic action team is working on Yap to fabricate schools and hospitals, continuing a decades long tradition of American Government’s investment in core infrastructure for the people of Micronesia.

Radio Australia Features Charity's Work in Micronesia

2012-11-15T09:00:00.000-05:00

An ABC Radio Australia program that covers news and events in the Pacific broadcast an interview with Neil Mellen, President of the Habele Board of Directors.

Presenter Steve Rice explained how the small US based charity called Habele, which operates in Micronesia, has been officially praised by Yap State Legislators for its work there.

"The Speaker and Governor both communicated their belief that targeting support for students in intermediate and high school grades remains the best use of the charity's limited resources.

"The Council of Tamol and other traditional leaders encouraged Habele to expand its mission to serve all economically disadvantaged students, rather than only those from outer and distant lagoon islands.

"Habele's directors and supporters have just completed their 2012 listening tour in Yap State, to assess how the projects are working and how they can be improved."

The full audio clip of the interview is posted online here.

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Students Visit Waa'gey Canoe Project

2012-11-12T09:35:00.000-05:00

Eighty students from the College of Micronesia-FSM and Yap High School visited the Waa'gey canoe carving project at the Living Museum canoe houses yesterday, Thursday, November 8th. Volunteer and coordinator of the project, Larry Raigetal gave a brief description of the project and basic instructions, including simple measurements on canoe carving. Principal Domingo Techur of Yap High School said he is "very happy the students had this opportunity to visit the project as Yapese culture and traditional skills such as canoe carving are just as important to learn."

Yap High School teacher Ms. Stephanie who coordinated the field trip for the High School students said the trip was "a success and a students learn a great deal of stuff."

Waa'gey is a locally chartered community based organization which actively works at the grassroots and community level to promotes use of traditional knowledge and skills. Some of its current projects aside from canoe carving include learning the skills of traditional weaving of royal fabrics for the girls and fish trap making for the boys.

Funding for this canoe project is made available from the Australian Government through its Small Grant Scheme. Waa'gey also receives support from Habele Outer Island Education Fund, a US-based charity.

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