Tag Archive for: Tecpatl Kuauhtzin

By Tecpatl Kuauhtzin

Community organizations came together in Hagåtña at the legislature for a public hearing on financial support. Guam officials have cut funding to all community organizations, including the organizations that we are aiding as students. Our class nominated Kat and I to speak with and on behalf of the Håya Foundation, who are a community organization of traditional Chamoru healers. They are mostly elderly women who have taken it upon themselves to support their community, and they do it with no pay. As a non-profit organization, they need support from the government to remain open.

I spoke about the importance of healing and traditional medicine from my perspective. I shared about how much of my culture has been lost because of colonization and how dire it is for our youth to be surrounded by these healing practices. Intergenerational trauma and suicide rates of youth in both the Native American community and the Chamoru community are at an all time high, and I posed the fact that traditional medicine is counteracting this reality. I asked for the Speaker and chairman to support HÃ¥ya and the other community organizations with their requests.

Because today is Wednesday, it was field trip day! We visited the nature center in Litekyan today, and took a tour around the area. Our guides reminded us that this is where the Marines want to build their firing range, and that if they succeeded it would shut down access to the entire area. Furthermore, it would be such a large environmental impact, and the land there is sacred. In the nature center, our guides explained the importance of respect while we visit the sites in the area. They also shared that there are multiple caves with ancient pictographs and artifacts. We prepared ourselves for the hike by learning about the history of the area.

The first cave we visited, we made sure to ask for permission to enter. Our guides pointed out multiple pictographs and shared their current theories as to what they represent or what story they tell. They shared that they are not 100 percent sure about the representations. I appreciated how involved our guides were with the community. Too often in the United States, natural tours are conducted by non-Indigenous Peoples and there is a large disconnect they have with the land and its history. It is just science. For this reason, I was happy to be learning from people who came from the land and care for it.

We reached a site that was home to many Lattes and possibly housed over 300 people. Our guides explained that all around this area, there are remains of Latte stone and other kinds of structures. It was awesome to be able to visit this land and share space with our guides and my class.

Tecpatl studied abroad in Guam in Summer 2019. https://ieo.ucla.edu/travelstudy/asianam-guam/

By Tecpatl Kuauhtzin

My group got our assigned organization and I could not be happier! I was paired up with the Guam Preservation Trust (GPT) and met with Joe, Andrew and Charmaine. We visited our site at the Lujan House and talked about our group project, which consists of surveying Guam’s local population and understanding both general attitudes towards cultural heritage preservation and specific attitudes towards a new project by GPT in which ancestral land, previously owned by the oil company Shell, would be used to create Guam’s first cultural heritage preserve.

Uncle Joe explained to us that because we are going to work with Atan Tano, we need to get to know it personally. We need to visit and introduce ourselves to the land, so that is what we did.

The drive was about 30 minutes from the Lujan House, and I was fortunate enough to ride with Uncle Joe. The rest of my group drove with Andrew and Charmaine in the GPT van. On the way, Uncle Joe and I talked about my background, similarities in our community protocols, and what I hope to get out of working with the Guam Preservation Trust. I expressed to him that I was grateful to be part of these efforts and that I was hoping to learn about everything from how to manage land as a community process to how to work with legal documents pertaining to land. I was intrigued by how GPT was able to acquire this territory back from a corporation, and Uncle Joe explained to me that it was a divestment.

Upon arriving, we talked about the importance of safety and asking the land and spirits for permission to enter. We had a small group talk, and made our way to the trail. Charmaine and Andrew explained that students of the University of Guam came a week ago to begin clearing this trail out, which was previously started by wild boars. Funny enough, we found some boar droppings, lol!

I began documenting our journey with the intention of using the images to tell a story for our final presentation. Charmaine and Andrew taught us many things along the way about different plants in the area, and we even came across a plant called sleeping grass that shrinks when you touch it. Unfortunately, the plant is invasive.

The greenery, humidity and sounds in Atan Tano were all very new to me. It was an experience that I will never forget, and I am grateful to the land for taking care of us while we visited.

Tecpatl studied abroad in Guam in Summer 2019. https://ieo.ucla.edu/travelstudy/asianam-guam/

By Tecpatl Kuauhtzin

In class, we learned about a movement on Guam to protect a sacred site known as Litekyan. The local Chamoru community is trying to raise awareness and seize the destruction of the land by the United States Marines. The Marines plan to use a segment of Litekyan, which is currently open to all, to serve as a firing range. Although they will not use all of Litekyan, their environmental impact will damage the area and if they build their range, the entire land mass will not be available to the public, including the indigenous Chamoru people that have taken care of the region for thousands of years.

We were fortunate enough to engage in the demonstration and meet members of the community that were passionate about protecting their sacred sites. Being these reminded me of home and our Protect The Sacred rallies on the mainland.

I came across Amber, a Chamoru woman who was holding up a familiar sign. I introduced myself and my communities, explained what I am doing in Guam and asked her if I could take her portrait. Telling this story is important to me because it hits very close to home. Constantly, we are struggling against desecration of our sacred sites as Indigenous Peoples all over the world. Furthermore, we are constantly having to be at the forefront of environmental protection because it impacts our communities first.

It was beautiful to see families and youth demonstrating together. The signs the community was holding up were very thought provoking, and I was surprised to see that many cars passing by honked in support. The movement is growing.

By Tecpatl Kuauhtzin

We want to take advantage of our free time before classes start, so today we hopped in our rental cars and headed to a beautiful beach we found on google! It was relatively close, and it sure was beautiful. On the way there we told jokes and shared stories, getting closer with every passing minute.

There was a small island in the middle of the water, and I had the urge to try to swim to it. About 5 minutes out, I realized the shore was just not going to deepen. We ended up walking about 3/4 of the way to the island but some in the group were not comfortable swimmers so we decided to turn back and leave it for another day. We later googled it and found that on low tide, it is perfectly safe to walk to.

We then noticed a swing set in the water built out of wood and approached it. We figured it was there for the public to use and my classmates began doing photoshoots on it, haha. The tide was only knee high, so we were not able to use the swing set to jump, but nevertheless it was a good time.

Tecpatl studied abroad in Guam in Summer 2019. https://ieo.ucla.edu/travelstudy/asianam-guam/