Guampedia Newsletter, April 2020 | Page 2
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Keep your young ones engaged and learning with the Guam Experience Activity Book If you’re looking for activities to keep young kids busy, entertained and learning while they’re cooped up at home, try the “Guam Experience Activity Book: Cultural and Silebråsion Activities for Young Children.” This 34-page activity book contains CHamoru- and Guam-centric stories, worksheets and fun activities to use in the classroom or at home. Also, check out fun, educational and locally made videos for kids at here. Nihi! is an indigenous production house based in Guåhan, committed to uplifting indigenous voices and stories from the Marianas and across Micronesia.
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said that over 80% of those who spoke Spanish perished because of the epidemic. For today’s elderly, it is not uncommon for Guam residents to not know who their great grandparents were. For those who do, they know very little about their lives.” Among those caught up in the epidemic was Jose Duenas, who had the arduous and dangerous task of keeping tab of the hundreds killed by the flu. He was the father of retired Federal District Court Judge Cristobal C. Duenas and pre-war Attorney Edward Duenas, and the brother of Father Jesus Baza Duenas, renowned both in war and peace. Another was Father Roman Maria de Vera (1878-1959), a Catholic missionary on Guam from 1915 until 1941. In addition to being one of the first important writers in the CHamoru language, de Vera, during Father Roman de Vera the influenza epidemic of 1918, took the leadership in visiting the sick and burying the dead. For these efforts, he was given a special commendation by US President Woodrow Wilson.
1856 smallpox epidemic According to Michael Levin, author and scholar of Micronesian migration, the The historical village of Pago was fronted by Pago Bay. The 1856 smallpox epidemic on Guam killed more than half the CHamoru of the people living on the island and two thirds of those in population Pago. The survivors were relocated to Hagåtña. reached its lowest point in 1786 although the mestizo population in censuses increased at the same time. Although Guam’s population had recovered to 8,207 by 1856, a devastating smallpox epidemic in that year killed over half of these people (down to 3,644) and essentially closing down the central village of Pago until it was briefly used in the early 1890s for a leper colony. Two-thirds of the villagers of Pago died. The survivors were relocated to Hagåtña and the mission there was closed. Also about this time, Sumay became a mission station dependent on Agat. One of those who survived the 1856 epidemic was Jose Bernardo The April 1940 edition of the Guam Recorder tells of the discovery of an Palomo y Torres, who was later 1856 graveyard in 1918, during ordained the first CHamoru excavations for the construction of a Catholic priest and was known as Marine barracks in Asan. Continued on Page 3
