The FSM Department of Transportation, Communication & Infrastructure (TC&I) has released the 2013 approved schedule for the Caroline Voyager’s trips to the nation’s outer islands. According to Mr. Francis Itimai, Secretary of TC&I, the dissemination of the complete schedule will enable FSM citizens from the small remote outer islands to plan their visits home. Click here to download the PDF format of the full schedule. For more information or questions about the schedule, please contact the department directly at transad@mail.com or (691) 320-2381/2865/5829.
Fanapi Center at Bayview Building
Linda Mori Hartmann, a member of the Board of Directors, has donated part of the waterfront Bayview building for use as the site of the Fanapi Center. The new location includes several large rooms for offices, conference room, clinic, a large balcony overlooking the Chuuk lagoon, docking place on the water for outrigger canoe demonstrations, and an outdoor place for an uut.
“I am delighted to offer this space to Fanapi Center to help in my dream to keep our traditional culture alive,” said Mrs. Hartmann. She continued to share her dream that her family complex is, “to have a Life Museum here where we can demonstrate our traditional cultures and customs.”
In a recent tour of the great location, Mrs. Hartmann confided in Vid Raatior, founder of the Fanapi Foundation, “I’ve been more confident and relaxing my poor head, knowing that if I drop dead tomorrow, you’ll make it come true and will continue (her legacy).”
Linda need not worry as the space will make it possible for the outer islanders to perpetuate the last remaining traditional cultures of Chuuk.
Fanapi Foundation sponsored by US public charity
The Chuuk-based Fanapi Center now has a US-based fundraising entity known as the Fanapi Foundation. Founded by Vid Raatior and a team of volunteer Advisory Board, the Fanapi Foundation’s mission is “to raise funds and provide technical assistance to support the Fanapi Center’s mission to promote self-reliance among the underserved outer islanders living in the remote Northwest region of Chuuk State, Federated States of Micronesia.” [Read more…]
Leaders unite over educational reform
On July 2-7, 2012, leaders from throughout the Northwest regions of Pattiw, Namonweito, and Pafeng converged at Weipat High School on Onoun island to participate in the first Northwest Educators Summit. Their goal: to explore ways to improve the quality of education for students of their region through the Chuuk State Educational Reform Plan. Instead the leaders took the plan further by adopting to take the decentralization goal a step further in building their own reform plan through the creation of a non-governmental organization to be called Fanapi Center. [Read more…]
Local Faith, Sustainable Church
Over 100 years ago, the Catholic faith was brought to the outer islands (fanapi). Today it has undergone a maturation process. It was brought to these islands by Spanish and German missionaries and expanded by American Jesuits after WWII. While the faith community continues to grow, the needs are also great. Yet the resources have shrunk to practically zero. When the Christian faith came to these islands, it also brought with it a dependency on foreign supplies to build more “permanent” church buildings. Those needs were met by benefactors from around the world. The American Jesuit priests who served these islands, for example, such as Fr. Angus Morrison, SJ and Fr. Kevin Fahey, SJ, were supported by the global Jesuit Order and their friends around the world.
When the Jesuits passed the leadership of the Church to the local Diocesan priests such as Fr. Florentinus Akkin, they took with them the global support system. The local leadership was left to fend for themselves locally. When the church buildings that the Jesuits built needed new roofs, the Diocesan priest had to depend on local collections. For the Jesuits, the renovation of a church can be accomplished in one single request to the expansive list of rich benefactors. The Diocesan priests like Fr. Akkin, on the other hand, have to rely on their parishoners. Their food, fuel costs, and personal needs come from local revenue.
Inside the newly built St. Cecilia Church on Unanu.
In the Namonweito islands where my high school and college classmate Fr. Akkin serves, this is especially challenging. Out there there are no jobs except for the few teachers. The average Sunday collections is about $1.25 total. Yes, that’s one dollar and twenty five cents. One single corrugated roof on the church costs $27.95 in Chuuk. And the gasoline to transport the single roof to the outer islands is about $6.00 a gallon.
The globally-based Catholic faith has truly become locally owned in the outer islands of Micronesia. On the outer island of Unanu, the St. Cecilia Church have decided to reclaim their local tradition by constructing their local church from local materials. Like their ancestors, the people of Unanu have valued their age old cultures and customs. They have realized that their locally produced materials are far more superior than foreign imported building materials. For one, their local huts are built from local materials and cost nothing to use or replace. A local hut built from local fibers, coconut palms, tree trunks cost nothing, abundant, and sustainable.
But the support for their parish priest Fr. Floren is still a challenge. The people still have no jobs yet the parish priest still has to serve the other islands traveling by motorboat. He still has to travel over hundreds of open ocean to the main center for meetings, trainings, and to secure other services. He still has to travel to other outer islands for sacramental needs.
Fr. Floren Akkin holding the pwo made by St. Cecilia Church parishoners for their church fundraising to support the needs of the church.
How to Help
Deposit: Please deposit funds into Fr. Akkin’s bank account to help him meet the needs of the people in the outer islands. Any amount will help.
Bank Information
Name: Florentinus M. Akkin
Address: Onoun Island
Bank: Bank of Guam, Chuuk Branch #04
Account: 0204-299879
Pwo: St. Cecilia Church on Unanu invites people from the outer islands (fanapi) who are interested in winning the pwo to deposit their bid (minimum: $50) in the above bank account. The pwo will be sent to the highest bidder / donation. You can deposit your bid in the above bank account. The bidding process will stop July 30, 2012 while donations are still welcomed. The pwo winner will be announced here.
For more questions, please contact Fr. Floren Akkin (floakkin@gmail.com).
FSM Constitution Day Message
Today, May 10, 2012 commemorates the 33rd anniversary of the birth of our nation of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). In a special letter to the citizens and friends of the FSM, Mr. James A. Naich, who represented the Northwest Region in the last two FSM Constitutional Conventions and serves as the Deputy Chief of Missions in the FSM Embassy in Washington, DC, conveys President Mori’s message of “encouragement that, wherever we reside in the US, we continue to serve as “ambassadors-of-goodwill” for our country by being law-abiding, self-reliant, and contributing members of our respective adoptive communities. By living out the best qualities in us as Micronesians, I am confident that we will continue to earn the welcome and gratitude of our host.” Read the full message below: [Read more…]
Fanapi College Preparatory
The Chuuk State School System (CSSS), formerly known as the Department of Education for the State of Chuuk made a decision two years ago to turn the 2-year junior high schools in the outer islands into 4-year high schools without additional resources. While the decision was understandably based on the lack of qualified teachers in the entire State, it has become a major equity issue for the outer island students. The decision now means that fanapi students are kept out on the fringes of academic and social opportunities found in the high schools on Weno. Yet they are expected to be college-ready by the end of their elementary and secondary education out in the outer islands.
The Fanapi College Preparatory (FCP) is a yearlong charter school for the most academically advanced students from the outer island high schools (Pattiw, Weipat, Pafeng) to prepare them for the academic and social demands of college life. Located on Weno, FCP will enable fanapi graduates who have a strong aptitude for college success to take college-level courses while being provided with academic support services and other hands-on workshops that prepare them for college.
The FCP academy will start with month-long Summer Bridge Program on the Xavier High School campus in collaboration with the Jesuits of Micronesia, Jesuit Volunteers International, the Mercy Sisters, University of Guam, and University of Hawaii-Hilo. Participants will live on campus and undergo a rigorous academic program using the Xavier High School curriculum taught by a team of volunteer faculty with bachelors degrees or masters degree. In addition to rigorous coursework and academic support services, the FCP summer and yearlong academy will include a series of workshops including but not limited to:
- College Success
- How to Choose the Right College for You
- How to Get a Job in College.
- How to Successfully Complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)
- Managing Peer Pressure in College
- Managing Your Budget
- How to Write College-level Research Papers
- Understanding the Legal System in the United States
- How NOT to become Homeless, etc.
Educational Services
An educated citizenry is the key to breaking the cycle of disempowerment among the people in the Northwest region in Chuuk. No single issue deserves top priority in the outer islands today than the ensuring of adequate education for our children. It is imperative that our young generations of outer islanders are given all the available resources to survive in a globalized and fast-changing world. Without adequate education, the future of our State and its place in the global community will further decline into hopelessness.
Programs
- Support the Northwest Educational Service Center by providing help in the areas of curriculum development, funding allocation, staffing, leadership development, and strategic development. The Foundation will use its resources to ensure the State’s educational reform plan for the Northwest region is successful.
- Start a year-long Fanapi College Preparatory charter school on Weno to prepare academically ready high school graduates from the outer islands to participate in academic, social, and leadership training at Xavier High School and College of Micronesia.
- Fund scholarships for teachers to get their certification and credentials and return to teach in the outer island schools.
- In FSD schools that lack qualified teachers, recruit American college graduates to come out and volunteer in our schools until we have enough local teachers to take over our own schools.
- Engage the sons and daughters of the Northwest living overseas for their help in program development, curriculum implementation, funding sources, and other needs of the children.
- Instill an innovative community-based public school system that engages the goodwill of the island community, church groups, youth groups, clan system, and all aspect of the community.
- Build key partnerships with international organizations such as Guam-based Cuthbert Project, One Laptop Per Child (www.one.laptop.org/), Room to Read (www.roomtoread.org) and humanitarian organizations to help with all aspect of the school system especially in technological advancement of the schools with regards to computer technology, textbooks, libraries, scholarships, and school needs.
- Utilize the key strategies in the Chuuk Reform Plan – Vision 2020 to improve education in the outer islands.
- Have a systematic and transparent approach to awarding scholarships for highly qualified and needy students from the Northwest region to attend high schools on Weno and college.
- Partner with College of Micronesia, University of Hawaii, University of Guam and other institutions of higher learning for teacher training and certification programs for teachers and administrators from the Northwest.
Global Partnerships
Bridging Local Needs with Global Resources!
Since the Compact of Free Association went into effect, there has been a steady exodus of outer islanders in search of better life for themselves and their families. Many of our outer islanders living overseas in Guam, Hawaii, and the mainland have established their own base of resources. We need to organize each of these associations of outer islanders into a strong body to help the islands in terms of educational resources, financial remittances, economic development opportunities, medical care, and other social programs.
Programs:
- Create a safe and efficient electronic way for outer islanders living overseas to send money back to their relatives in the islands.
- Establish partnerships with businesses on Weno whereby outer islanders overseas can electronically pay for goods and services to be picked up by designated relatives on Weno.
- Establish a way for outer islanders living and working overseas to return to the outer islands to volunteer as teachers in the respective schools.
- Seek global partnerships with corporations and humanitarian organizations to fund programs or send volunteers to provide direct services.
Youth Empowerment
Energizing the Young Generation for Civic Engagement!
The youth have been the backbone of our community activities in the outer islands. Ironically, they have also been the least resourced. Their voices are not readily heard because of the cultural misconception that youth means inexperience rather than energy; that youth (hemirit) means lack of wisdom when in fact they bear creativity; that youth are undisciplined when in fact they are hungry for knowledge; that youth lack unnecessary challenge the status quo when in fact they are simply asking to do more for the betterment of their island community, family, church groups, and organizations. It is vitally important that the government and the island leadership strengthen its youth services to empower the young people to do more to help the island communities. In an increasingly changing island culture, the adults have to learn the necessary skills to manage the complex needs of the youth. Adults have the responsibility to set positive role modeling for our youth in areas of hard work, respect of others, dedication to taking care of each other and of being ambassadors for our beloved outer islands.
Programs:
- Improve the formal education of the youth by improving elementary and secondary schools in the outer islands.
- Create job training opportunities for the outer island youth to succeed in future jobs in Chuuk or overseas.
- Build or establish a Fanapi Youth Center on Weno which provides opportunities in sports, jobs, businesses, fundraising, college advising, job training, etc.
- Establish a Northwest Region Youth Commission comprising of youth leaders from all the church groups in Pafeng, Pattiw, Namonweito which will serve as the advocacy body for all youth affairs.
- Create a Youth Fund controlled by the Youth Commission which encourages creative community service projects.
- Establish a Fanapi Cultural Performance Group comprising of a select group of dancers, song writers, performers who would represent the traditional and contemporary performance arts from the outer islands at State, National, and International conferences.
- Seek international funds for an Outer Islands Scholarship to enable merit and need-based financial aid for outer island students to attend private schools on Weno and college.
- Establish a College Advising Office with volunteers from US colleges to help guide outer island high school students through the process of planning, selecting, applying, preparing, and succeeding in a college education.
- Establish an Internet Café on Weno to be used by college and high school students from the outer islands attending schools on Weno.
- Establish opportunities for the outer island youth to know the pros and cons of a career in the U.S. military service. For those interested, establish tutoring programs to better their chances of passing the entrance exam.
