Chuuk Campus

I took a quick trip down to Chuuk this weekend with the Liebenzell regional director and PIBC board member Harald Gorges. The purpose of our trip was to meet with the Evangelical Church of Chuuk Board, including our ECC board member Switer Eter, and discuss the decisions of the latest board meeting which took place a couple weeks ago in Palau. The main issue that we needed to discuss was the crisis situation on our Chuuk campus. I have mentioned this situation in past posts and it has been discussed on the PIBC web site. Basically the biggest issue there is our inability to recruit either local or ex-pat teachers to teach on our Chuuk campus. The last few years we have had about 60 students on this very remote campus. (The campus is about 14 miles from the district center of Chuuk - about a 45 minute speed boat ride- and is on a beautiful tropical island. While there are plans to develop the area, right now we have to supply all our own services there including power, water, sewer, medical etc. On the positive side there are no roads or cars and we have internet and cell phone service.)
For the upcoming school year the situation has become even more acute. LMI missionaries Siegbert and Baerbel Betz have returned home to Germany leaving us without a business manager and an academic dean, who also taught several courses and could fix the generator. Another faculty member then had to go to Hawaii for medical reasons leaving us with only one full time teacher on the campus. Even with a volunteer teacher coming out this year to teach English we are far short of what we need to run this campus this Fall (and even more so in the long run). We have a business manager coming from the Philippines but her immigration status is delaying her arrival.
Lack of staff has been an ongoing problem on our Tol Chuuk campus, though it has never been this critical. With this in mind, (also because of the need for large investment in the infrastructure on the Tol campus and the uncertainty about just how much costs will go up with rising gas prices- diesel is $7 per gallon, rising and with uncertain future availability.) the PIBC board decided to phase out the Chuuk campus on Tol over the next two years with the 40 AA (20 2nd year and 20 new students) students already accepted for this year. We would cease offering our academic program there in May of 2010. PIBC would continue its Chuuk operation in the district center of Weno which currently has about 40 students. With enough staff that facility could accomodate about 100 students.
Of course it is not an easy thing to shut down a program that we have been operating throughout the history of the school. The campus does provide a good place for Chuukese students to begin their college studies, be discipled and prepare to handle college work and the multi-cultural experience of the Guam campus. Thus, Harald and I wanted to hear the response of the Chuukese church leadership to the board's decision. ECC leadership was against the decision but understood the nature of the crisis. They asked the board to reconsider the decision and give them time to look for the funds and the faculty needed to run the campus. I shared my concern that we may not even have the resources to run the campus this year. We also discussed some alternative ways to use the campus facility for leadership training.
I would ask for your prayers as we deal with this crisis. We are confident that the LORD is leading us into what He would have us do to prepare students to lead the churches and societies of Micronesia and the Pacific Islands in the 21st century.