By KUAM Intern, Irie Quitugua

Prugråman Sinipok, a two-week immersion program focused on the revitalization of the CHamoru language and culture, is bringing a fourth cohort back to Guam from Southern California this July 7 to 19. 

The man who started it all with former student June Pangelinan, Michael Bevacqua said, “It is from the community. It is from Ginen i Korason. It's from the heart, from people’s passion, and it has only grown in that way. So it just started off with one of my students who said, ‘We need places, or people who don't have practice partners, don't have family members, don't have resources to learn CHamoru. Where can they turn to?’

“Let's create a program where they can level up their CHamoru. And four years later, it's still going strong. And it's completely community run. So no one has paid to work in the program. It happens because of sponsorships, it happens because of people volunteering their time. And so that's why four years later, I am immensely proud that we're still carrying it out,” Bevacqua added. 

“You can't just look up CHamoru, like it's a   recipe. You can't just buy CHamoru like it's a necklace. You can't just tattoo fluency on your body. If you want the connection that your language represents to your people, to your past, you have to submit yourself to learning it, which takes time. It means to study. It means you have to sit with elders and listen to them talk. It means that you might have to sacrifice some of the things that you enjoy doing in life, to spend time with older people, to spend time studying, to go to class, to do this and that. And so what we want people to understand is that culture, there's so many ways that you can be CHamoru. There's so much, so many ways that you can show love of your people, your islands. But, your language is a very special, it is a unique, and it is an irreplaceable way,” Bevacqua adds.  

Prugråman Sinipok’s purpose is to uplift CHamoru speakers and learners. 

Bevacqua says it goes beyond knowledge, and into the deeper connection of the culture.

“Sangan i guaguan CHamoru,” which means ‘Speak the wealth of CHamoru.’ Sangan i guaguan mu. When you speak your language, you are speaking the wealth of your people. And so that's one of the things that we teach people is when you are learning the language of your people, you are learning the treasures of their past and their history,” he said.