Justice for Micronesians
The article entitled, “The Case for Justice for Micronesians in Hawaii” by Victor Geminiani, published in today’s issue of the Honolulu Civil Beat is worth reading. The Executive Director of the Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice brings much needed light on the discrimination that continues in the government of Hawaii against legal immigrants from the Pacific...
Read MoreAmbassador Asterio Takesy
Congratulations to Mr. Asterio R. Takesy from the outer island of Onoun who recently presented his credentials to President Barrack Obama at the Oval Office as the new Ambassador of the Federated States of Micronesia to the United States. Affectionately known as Aste, Ambassador Takesy joins another outer islander Mr. James Naich from Pollap Island as the top diplomats at the FSM Embassy...
Read MoreHelp for Weipat High School
My alma mater, Weipat High School, located on the remote outer island of Onoun in Chuuk State officially made one giant virtual leap toward bridging the huge digital divide. They are now hooked up to the internet via a solar powered satellite dish thanks to Deacon Bill Hagen and a team from his Guam-based Cuthbert Project and TR Mori from Chuuk-based iSolutions.com which completed in a week what...
Read MoreTo Hell with Good Intentions
I was touched today by the following speech by social critic and philosopher, the late Monsignor Ivan Illich. In the speech, which he delivered in 1968 to the Conference on InterAmerican Student Projects (CIASP), he courageously challenged the American youth doing volunteer services in Cuernavaca, Mexico, to guard against paternalism. His words resonated with me on so many levels personally and...
Read MoreNorthwest funding…same old
FSM Congress has recently appropriated funds (Public Law No. 17-30 on December 29, 2011) to each of the Election Districts in Chuuk. The Northwest Election District #5 (Pafeng, Namonweito, and Pattiw) received a total of $200,000 for what appears to be an exact replica of the last appropriations. Once again, of that amount only $9,000 is set aside for education by way of financial assistance; the...
Read MoreSomeplace with a Mountain
I’ve just seen Steve Goodall’s film entitled, “Someplace with a Mountain” which left me speechless and flabbergasted. Having seen the YouTube trailer over the summer, I was anxious to see the film to revisit life as I knew it on Polowat and support the efforts to educate people on the real negative impact of global warming on low-lying islands such as the outer islands in...
Read MoreFSM Responds to GAO Report
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released a report which does not fully support Senator Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) overzealous efforts to curb legal migration of Pacific islanders from the freely associated states (FAS) to the U.S. Using the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the American Community Survey (ACS), the report from the investigative arm of the U.S. Congress...
Read MoreR.I.P. Masao Nakayama
We join the nation of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) in mourning the untimely passing of FSM’s Ambassador to the United Nations, His Excellency Masao Nakayama who passed away last night in Nevada where he has been hospitalized since he suffered a major stroke a few months ago. Papa Mas was survived by his wife, seven children and numerous grandchildren many of whom were at his...
Read MoreEnd Racial Discrimination
Senator Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) is exercising racial discrimination against the legal immigrants from the Pacific island nations of Micronesia, Palau, and the Marshall Islands. Ironically, Senator Inouye claims on his vimeo site to have been responsible for breaking the racist attitude and segration in the House of Representatives. Now he and his usually socially aware and compassionate leaders...
Read MoreXavier Micronesia launched
I’m happy to announce the completion of the website for Xavier High School, Micronesia (www.xaviermicronesia.org). I’m especially thrilled about this project because of my belief and support for Jesuit education in my home country of Micronesia. Having been a Jesuit myself for a good part of my impressionable years, I have some history with this small school. I spent three years as a...
Read MoreFanapi Center
The people in the Northwest region need a non-governmental organization (NGO) to centralize the services and resources for Pattiw, Pafeng, and Namonweito in the areas of educational opportunities, economic development, health care, leadership development, and cultural preservation. Governed by a diverse Board of Directors comprising political, traditional, religious, women, and youth leaders, the...
Read MoreEducational Reform
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....
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