Chamorro Youth Day

While I was in San Diego attending graduate school I worked with alot of the Chamorro community out there, in particular the non-profit group CHELU Inc. CHELU stands for Chamorro Hands in Education Links Unity and it was created to support the Chamorro people and the maintenance of their health, their language and their heritage. I served briefly as a board member to CHELU, during which time I helped write for them a $100,000 ANA or Administration of Native Americans Grant, to study the state of the
Chamorro language in San Diego county, which hosts the largest population of Chamorros anywhere outside of the Marianas. The grant was called Tungo' i Estao i Fino'-ta, and despite the group being rejected for the same grant the year earlier, with my help we received it and the study was conducted.

When I helped organize three Famoksaiyan conferences in San Diego and the Bay Area, many Guam clubs or Chamorro groups were not supportive and sometimes openly hostile of what we were doing. The leadership of CHELU, recognizing that we were  young, intelligent, creative students, many of which wanted to re-connect back home or just find a way to improve things that we saw as being wrong, found many ways to help us out. During the first Famoksaiyan conference held in San Diego in 2006, the leadership of the Guam club where we were holding the conference refused to even come in and see the conference which was attended by more than 70 people. Members of CHELU did attend and told those of us who had gathered there the importance of what we were doing.

For our 3rd conference Guma'famoksiyan held in 2008 in San Diego, we had trouble finding a fiscal sponsor so we could accept donations, and CHELU stepped out. We unfortunately did not receive many donations, but it was really the support that mattered. As it was two years earlier, the leadership of the main Guam club was against the conference we were organizing in San Diego despite our wanting to use their clubhouse for our activities and thus help bring more youth into their community. CHELU lobbied on our behalf that we should be able to use the clubhouse free of charge since we were doing a service to the community. We lost that battle due to the petty politics that sometimes plagues Guam clubs in the states, but the support from CHELU was much appreciated.

When I moved back to Guam in 2008 to finish my dissertation and later start working at UOG, I really couldn't help much with CHELUs activities, which included cultural festivals and casino trips to raise money. I still receive regular emails from my Auntie Janice who has long been the backbone and spiritual core of the group and I've been so impressed with what they've done. Biba CHELU!

I got one such email this morning, about an event taking place this week called "Chamorro Youth Day" or "Diha Para i Chamorro na Manhoben" on June 4th. The flyer is posted below for those who want to know more:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Chamorro Public Service Post #15: Pues Adios, Esta Ki

A lot of people end up visiting this blog because they are searching around the internet for lyrics to Chamorro songs. Over the years I’ve pasted a couple here and there, but haven’t really kept up with it as much as I should. I complain all the time about there not being enough internet presence for the Chamorro language and for Chamorro thoughts and so I feel bad when I inadvertently contribute to that absence. På’go, gaige yu’ gi i gima’ iyo-ku grandfather. Desde i ma’pos’ña na mes, kumakatre gui’. Kana’ hineart attack gui’, ya sumaga’ gui’ gi i espitåt para tres meses. Mana’huyong gi i ma’pos na mes, ya sumåsaga’ gui’ gi i gima’, lao ti ha hulat tumohgue sin ayuda. Kada na puengge måtto yu’ gi i gima’-ña para i tetno-hu pumulan gui’. Gi este na tiempo, tåya’ internet, pues siña hu usa este para bai hu fanhasso. Manhasso yu’ put i lina’la’-hu pat i guinife-hu. Buente i chinathinasso-ku siha lokkue’. Tonight, I was trying to figure out what would be the best song to share the lyrics
Read more

Tuleti

Image
I was racking my brain recently to determine what was the first ever Chamorro song that was featured in a motion picture. Noon Sunday was the first every motion picture to be filmed primarily on Guam, prior to that some minor filming had been done on Guam for World War II and Godzilla films but nothing substantial. Noon Sunday was not set in Guam, but it was the first film to feature extensively the island of Guam. Guam was the locale for a fictional Pacific island that was being taken over by a menacing Asian power. Almost all the speaking roles went to people from off-island (from the US or the Philippines), and Chamorros ended up playing most of the "extra" roles. As a result the film didn't feature any Chamorro music. You do find documentaries and television programs, all locally produced that feature Chamorro songs of at least Chamorros singing songs. Guam's History Through Songs, made by the late Carmen Santos is a perfect example of this. For those of you u
Read more

Guam: The Movie

Image
During the pandemic lockdown on Guam, I was feeling at various points, like so many, stressed and anxious about the world and what was happening and what might happen. I was fortunate to still have a job during the lockdown, and because of technology like zoom and social media, I could still keep up my community work, by teaching classes in the Chamoru language and also history. I also was able to keep up with Fanachu! the podcast for Independent Guåhan. Because of so many people sheltering at home, our audience grew exponentially. One thing that I found myself doing more, like most people with a certain level of privilege and comfort, was watching more things online, on laptops and on my phones. Movie theaters were closed, but Netflix and Youtube were always open, so long as I had data on my phone and wifi in the home. As most people were locked down, sheltering in place, only encouraged to go out and explore for essential tasks or errands, things in general started to shift to becomi
Read more