For Whom Miget Zooms

Every time I start a new round of my free Chamoru classes, especially since I moved them onto zoom, I always start off by talking to the students about why I offer these classes in the first place. 

 

I always tell them that I didn't grow up speaking Chamoru, or that I only knew less than 10 Chamoru words until I was 20 years old (unless you count food words). During the zoom class orientation last month I told the students the six main words I learned in Chamoru growing up, and that if I said one of the few words they know, put a "biba" in the chat. 

 

I listed off to many giggle and smiles in the zoom boxes: "dåggan...tåke'...fa'fa'...do'do'...mugo'...susu..."

 

When I glanced at the chat after going through a list mainly of body parts and bodily functions, I realized that more than a hundreds bibas had been typed into the chat. 

 

I continue to offer these free Chamoru classes, primarily because I feel compelled to, in order to honor those who helped me learn Chamoru and who helped me connect to this culture, language and people. This is why every series of classes is dedicated to my grandfather Tun Jack Lujan (familian Bittot/Kåtson), but also to my grandmother Tan Elizabeth De Leon Flores Lujan (familian Kabesa/Bådu). 

 

2023 will be 10 years since my grandmother passed away and 8 years since my grandfather passed away. I miss them everyday, but whenever I start a new series of classes I miss them more. 

 

This weekend I went through some of the photos that I collected after they died and started to scan some of them. I felt like sharing some of them this morning with everyone. 

 

Among these images you'll find one of my grandmother's parents Tun Guillermo Sablan Flores and Tan Rita Pangelinan De Leon Flores. I also found pictures of the wider Kabesa family, including my grandmother's siblings. There is one of my grandfather with my Auntie Eleanor in 1946, shortly after the end of the Japanese occupation. And finally one of my grandmother in 1941, when she was the Valedictorian of the last George Washington High School class before the outreach of World War II.