“Ali'rha "Guinaiya" is now seven (7) years old and she can speak and read in the CHamoru language. Hurao has taught her so much from speaking, to learning about the legends of Guam, weaving, cooking, they even teach them how to kåmyo niyok. Hurao has done so much for her that she is able to say the prayers and sing in CHamoru. They go on fieldtrips to learn about our ancestors, and how they survived. This creates a picture in their minds about how things are different today.

Today we are still a part of the Hurao family. We have enrolled our youngest daughter Lin'isa 'Mina'lak" who is 2-1/2 years of age and is fluent as CHamoru is her first language. During the six weeks of Tiempon Somnak Lin’isa has also shown much progress to our surprise. She loves to sing and she enjoys imitating her older sister. I am just amazed by how far my girls have come. Without the Hurao program standing behind us 100% we probably would not be as advanced as we are today. Although Lin'isa is currently in a daycare she is my additional proof that this journey of ours is worth it all. She is constantly surrounded by the English language on a daily basis but still she always comes back with the Native Language and that for me is an amazing feeling.

My husband and I have been attending the Adult Classes with Hurao for the past 5 years now, which gives us the opportunity to learn without being ashamed or embarrassed when we make mistakes. Hurao is our safe haven because we are comfortable with one another, they give us that opportunity to ask questions, they are patient, and they make it a fun learning environment. We know what our kids are learning which goes hand in hand with our classes and in between we are learning about other things.

- Randy and Alisa Muñoz

It became imperative to cultivate in us this part of our culture that was missing by seeking guidance and help from those who had it... our language. We knew that we were missing our ability to understand and speak Chamoru, and that troubled us as we were raising our first child. How were we supposed to teach him our culture, our roots, if we barely knew our language?

We soon enrolled him in the Hurao Academy summer program and us in the parents' class. It was comforting to know that we were surrounded by parents we can relate to. We both had fears such as looking foolish in front of people by our pronunciation of a word. Class after class, we felt these fears slip away as we learned in a helpful and safe environment. We gained friends that became family, who we can turn to for help and support. We found inspiration in the families who spoke so fluently with their children. We found motivation in our son who was learning the culture with his friends at Hurao. It is a humbling and moving experience to be able to learn about our culture through our language and identify with our land and ancestors.

- Vince and Daria Calvo