Habele Literacy

Young Island Readers Advancing Youth Literacy into Yap’s Remote Outer Islands

More than 500 children across Yap State, from birth to age five, are receiving a book each month from Young Island Readers The program, a partnership between US nonprofit Habele and the Imagination Library, aims to foster a lifelong love of learning and literacy but introducing small children to the joys of reading in their own homes.

This week boxes of donated YIR books were packed aboard the Yap State field trip ship, starting the long journey to Yap’s remote Outer Islands, including Woleai, Ifaluk, Lamotrek and Satawal.

Young Island Readers” is a book-a-month donation program that provides children in Yap State from birth to age five a new age appropriate each and every month. In mid-October the 3,000th booked reach the Post Office box of a family on Yap. By the spring, over 550 children across Yap State had signed up to participate.

The heart of Young Island Readers is Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library (DPIL). The Imagination Library was founded and created by songwriter, musician, actress, author and business-woman, Dolly Parton, in her hometown of Sevierville, Tennessee in 1996. She envisioned a community-based program providing children with free, home-delivered books from birth to their 5th birthday.

Habele is the “local affiliate” or on-the-ground partner for DPIL in Micronesia. Established by former Peace Corps Volunteers, Habele is a US nonprofit, invested in the future and potential of Micronesian students since 2006. Though the program is both effective and efficient, there are still ongoing costs borne by Habele and these are generously provided by the individual Americans who support Habele.

On Yap Proper, generous logistical support has been provided by the Yap State Hospital and the Yap Community Health Centers, which raise awareness of the program and collect sign up forms. Families living on Yap have their children’s book delivered directly to their own Post Office boxes. Children in the remote Outer Islands receive their books through support of the Yap State Department of Education’s Neighboring Island Coordinator’s office, as well as the in-kind donation of cargo space aboard airplanes of the Pacific Missionary Airline, which serves those Outer Islands that have paved runways.

Babyor ko btir rom u Habele!

Habele ea bayi pii ko bitir rom bake babyor ni yu puul, nge mada’ ko ngiyal’ nike gamane lal eduw rok’ ni dariy pulwon. Gamad be a thapeg ni ra ilal ma baadag e bieg babyor. Kugoged ni be’eg babyor ko bitir, ma gubine bitir ni baye duuw rok’ ngatanggine laal, mara yog ninge sign faun ngay.

Ba’ba form ni bay ni pii ngom ningam fill nag mag fulweg ko chaan nike piingom, fa min moen’ ngalangin ere box ni baaray ko “Young Island Readers Dropbox.” Fa gara yan kore website ne baaray www.habele.org/read mag yiloy fidingam u online. Faan ra gamaa paru dakan e nam nu Waab, ma Habele ea bayi pii yuke babyor ngom ni yu puul u P.O. Box. Faan ra gamaa paru Ulithi, Fais fa Woleai, ma ra yibe yuke babyor nem ngomu sikokiy ko PMA. Faan ra gama paru yugrebe donguchen yu Waab, ma ra I yib e yuke babyor nem ngom nikan tay nga mail bag u barkow.

Yal titi babior mirel Habele!

Pangal meram nge Habele yebe fange seew buuku ngali laum saari gasiyee yela gola lago mena galimouwal yaal birthday. Yetoar paluwel iye book kale. Sitipeli be saari laum yebe mesaigeti gare geshangi geragireg iga yebe fefetaltag. Si faseongiu be “Young Island Readers.” Ye tai tiwegil semaliu saari ye chiil ragil faal limou raagi nge yebe mewl tabeye gare fateofato itale.

Gemaneo shagiu babiyor yeel nge gosa gatefali ngali yaremate la ye ganooge, gare iselilong lani Habele Young Island Readers kagool. Gare golago woal www.habele.org/read be gobe siine longo iyange. Gare go kasog woal Yap, nge yebe seew meram nge Habele yebe fange buuk reel yaamu PO Box. Gare golog woal Ulithi, Fais, Woleai nge PMA yebe gasine tage. Gare golog woal meratag, nge rebe fange tag shiul waafaliuw lani tutul mail.

habele Literacy

Books headed to schools on Woleai, Fais and Eauripik

Schools across Micronesia need books for classrooms and school-based libraries. Habele pairs individuals and groups who have books with educators in the FSM who are seeking them. We’ll even pay the postage!

Micronesian schools make specific requests for books to Habele, most often elementary or high school level reading books. Volunteers, donors and other friends of Habele gather and box the books. Habele pairs requests with donations and provides postage and paperwork for the book donor to simply drop the boxes off at a post office. The process is easy.

Thus far in January, Habele volunteers have gathered, donated and sent:

  • 4 boxes of elementary school aged reading books for Woleai Atoll
  • 1 box of elementary school aged reading books for Fais Island
  • 4 boxes of early childhood aged reading books for Eauripik Island

In addition to donations for schools and school-based libraries, Habele also provides books directly to young children on Yap.

Young Island Readers offers all children born in Yap the opportunity to receive one new, age-appropriate, book through the mail each month until their fifth birthday.

Young Island Readers is made possible by the Dollywood Foundation’s Imagination Library which partners with local nonprofits to provide age-appropriate books every month to children up to age five. Habele also collaborates with the Yap State Hospital and Yap Catholic High School to ensure all newborns are signed up. Books are sent, individually wrapped and addresses, through USPS Media Mail.

Established by former Peace Corps Volunteers, Habele is a 501(3) nonprofit supporting Micronesian students.

habelefund Weaving

Micronesian Looms: Weaving Connections in the US (6)

This is the sixth in a series of posts dealing with Weaving Connections, a project of Habele to sustain and preserve Micronesian backstrap weaving traditions among Island populations who’ve migrated to the United States mainland. More here.

Ongoing Work

Habele continues to build and send warping boards, loom frames, and weaving tools based on its published designs posted on the WeavingConnections.org website as it receives request from Remathau weavers in the mainland United States who are otherwise unable to build one or have one built for them.

Habele continues to update the design guides on WeavingConnections.org to reflect feedback received, lessons learned, and improvements.

Habele continues to examine and experiment with possible solutions to the challenges of procuring, crafting, or developing a sufficient substitute for weaving swords.

Opportunities for Evolution and Expansion

-Migrant Community on Guam and Hawaii

While half of FSM migrants now arrive in the US mainland, the other half are primarily located in the US Territory of Guam and the State of Hawaii. The strong and unanticipated volume of requests for support in creating and obtaining weaving equipment and tools from Guam and Hawaii indicate that those communities have the need and interest for further support.

This is particularly true among female migrants under thirty years of age, who are less likely to be cohabitating with, or be situated near, older men who historically have been the one to produce or procure these items.

-Weaving Swords

The Weaving sword, or hapop, remains the only item which we have been unable to produce and or publish a guide for fabricating, owing to the very unique characteristics of the tropical wood from which these have long been fabricated. The qualities of these hardwoods are necessary for the function of the tool, and the hapop is an essential and specific tool necessary for women to weave.

-Documenting the Lavalava

In the process of identifying and analyzing documentation about the fabrication and use of Caroline Island woven skirts, we failed to locate any text detailing in much depth the specifics of the skirts themselves. Most treatments were either very brief, or focused on the skirts’ role in cultural practices.

On the other hand, weavers recounted to us much about patterns, symbols, and other variable characteristics of the garment, indicating there is a broad, important, and as-yet undocumented realm of knowledge about the lavalavas and the cultural meaning contained within their design.

This is the sixth in a series of posts dealing with Weaving Connections, a project of Habele to sustain and preserve Micronesian backstrap weaving traditions among Island populations who’ve migrated to the United States mainland. More here.

habelefund Weaving

Micronesian Looms: Weaving Connections in the US (2)

This is the second in a series of posts dealing with Weaving Connections, a project of Habele to sustain and preserve Micronesian backstrap weaving traditions among Island populations who’ve migrated to the United States mainland. More here

Cataloging of Materials and Equipment

Habele and our technical leads began by listing all the items needed to weave as well as each item’s sub-components. After examining historic and contemporary English naming conventions used for loom weaving, we selected preferred and secondary English translations for each item and developed a taxonomy for all the equipment and materials. We also settled on preferred spelling for each item in the three distinct Austronesian languages of Ulithian, Woleaian, and Satawalese.

Item by item, we matched photographs and sketches we had gathered, and further solicited and sought additional photos and specimens. We began the process of identifying which variations were most common, and which parts and components would be most difficult to obtain (or fabricate) among our intended target audience of FSM migrants in the mainland United States.

Finally, we considered and systematized the place-based differences between Ulithian, Woleaian and Satawalese weaving, most notably in the configuration of the warping board pegs, and considered what, if any, design patterns and decisions could account for these variations in a simple and standardized way.

This is the second in a series of posts dealing with Weaving Connections, a project of Habele to sustain and preserve Micronesian backstrap weaving traditions among Island populations who’ve migrated to the United States mainland. More here