NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

  2025 was the 10th year of existence for the Guam Bus , a creative company that my brother and I started to publish Chamoru language books, comics, flash cards and other products for learning the Chamoru language and telling Chamoru stories.    Our first book released in 2015, written by me and illustrated by Jack was "Sumåhi and the Karabao" featured my oldest Sumåhi hearing karabao stories everytime she rides Siñot Aguon's karabao at the Chamorro Village. Although it wasn't the plan to always have the children of the Guam Bus be the stars of the books, that is how things have evolved in the decade since.    "The Adventures of Akli'e'" followed in 2017, and featured my second oldest Akli'e' as the star of the book, learning about traditional Chamoru tools from his great-grandfather and Chamoru legends and history from his great-grandmother.    Sumåhi, Akli'e' and then my third oldest Lulai would be the main characters in "An Tå...

Recently the Guam Cultural Repository, which is located on the campus of the University of Guam, officially became a part of the Guam Museum and the Department of CHamoru Affairs. We have been preparing for this transition for a while, and despite some bumps in the road, it remains exciting in terms of what it will means for the museum and also allowing the many collections and artifacts from our island's past to be rediscovered and researched anew. Last month, we welcomed one such collection to the Guam Museum that really exemplified this.       On June 2, 1690, the Spanish treasure galleon Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Zaragoza y Santiago sank in the lagoon near Cocos Island, off the coast of Malesso’. All on board survived, and despite some conflicting accounts, nearly all the treasure on board, which included perhaps 2 million silver coins, was assumed lost.   In 1991, a salvage operation began, seeking to recover the galleon’s lost treasure and any artifacts...