Chelef's Hands
Chelef is someone from Guam’s history you may not be very familiar with. But the fact that we know his name had all, means he was a consequential figure. He lived at a time when Chamoru culture and the Chamoru people were under heavy assault by the Spanish, and being forced to give up their way of life in order to become Christians. He is not as famous as figures such as Maga'låhi such as Hurao, Matå’pang well-known for challenging the Spanish or even those like Maga'låhi Kepuha or So'on, who were allied with the Spanish. But he was nonetheless very infamous and notorious in his day and age. The story of Chelef often begins with the story of Dikike’ and her family. In 1676, Dikike’ was a young girl from the village of Orote or Uloti on what is today Navy Base Guam. Unlike most Chamorus at the time who were passively resistant to the Spanish, apprehensive or outright defiant, she was an eager and willing convert, even to the point of being willing to marry a...