Where are the students?

Many of our Guam campus students are missing. They just didn't show up for the beginning of the semester. Likewise on our Tol campus in Chuuk they've been running short, too. We've all been scratching our heads trying to figure out what happened.

However, one of our in-the-know staff members pointed out that the government boat which usually goes around to pick up students from the islands before the beginning of school didn't run the same route this year -- bypassing most of the islands. Apparently, the FSM government couldn't afford the cost of the gas (over $7/gallon). So, many of our students are stranded on their islands.

What does this mean?

If people are unable to move around in Micronesia in the manner to which they've grown accustom I'm guessing that once they do catch a ride out they may decide to not return to their islands. The current estimated population of the Federated States of Micronesia is about 108,000 people. But there are about 30,000 FSM citizens living elsewhere in the US. And while the birthrate in the FSM remains high the net population growth is about -1% annually.

The largest concentration of Micronesians living abroad is in Hawaii. Guam, California, Oregon, and Texas all have major gathering points, too. It will be interesting to see if emigration picks up. I'm suspecting it will. Hawaii and Guam can expect a new wave of Micronesian immigration.

For PIBC Guam this means that we're predicting a $3,000 $30,000 per month short-fall. And as with many missionary operations there is not really any kind of reserve to speak of. I don't know what this means for the Tol campus. We haven't finished crunching those numbers, yet. Will it even be possible to keep the campus open? Tol is itself a fairly isolated island and we have to boat in the supplies to run the school there.

Keep PIBC -- and all of Micronesia in your prayers.