H Å FA ADAI E VERYDAY | APRIL 2019  | Volume 8, Issue No. 1
GVB’s Ko’ko’ Kids Fest Provides
Ultimate Kids Experience
Guam Visitors Bureau President and CEO Pilar Lagua ñ a and Guam Visitors Bureau Vice President Bobby Alvarez , celebrate 10 years of the Håfa Adai Pledge Program alongside the newly inducted Håfa Adai Pledge Kids at the 2019 Guam Ko'ko' Kids Fest.
In celebration of Mes Chamorro and the Håfa Adai Pledge Program’s 10 th   anniversary, Guam Visitors Bureau hosted a special Håfa Adai Pledge ceremony open to all children at the first Ko’ko’ Kids Fest on Sunday, March 24, 2019, at the Gov. Flores Memorial Park in Tumon. More than 30 children took the Håfa Adai Pledge to protect Guam’s culture and signed a larger than life HAP certificate.

GVB invited teachers and practitioners to offer interactive activities in the Ko’ko’ Kids Fest’s Cultural Zone. The Hurao Academy taught children in CHamoru and English how to weave coconut leaves and make coconut candy, complete with the experience of husking and grating coconuts.
Sweet Things and Lullabies, a HAP member, hosted cultural peg doll painting. The Guam Museum and Sling Guam featured the art of slinging and treated kids of all ages to live demonstrations and instruction in the Sling Guam’s practice cage. The University of Guam’s Sea Grant provided information about reef-safe activities and taught children about the sea turtles of the Pacific. The Department of Agriculture discussed the positive strides made in increasing the population of Guam’s flightless bird, the ko’ko’ bird and had a special appearance by a live ko’ko’ bird. GVB provided a fun photo booth in the Ko’ko’ Zone where kids could take photos with the ko’ko’ mascot.
Santa Barbara Catholic School Continues Mes CHamoru Spirit with Håfa Adai Pledge
Student representatives from Santa Barbara took the Håfa Adai Pledge on March 25, 2019 in celebration of Mes CHamoru. Guam Visitors Bureau Vice President Bobby Alvarez , and Guam Visitors Bureau Cultural Heritage Officer Dee Hernandez , administered the pledge signing alongside Santa Barbara Catholic School Principal Sister Maria Rosario Gaite .
The Guam Visitors Bureau had the pleasure of welcoming the faculty, staff, and students of Santa Barbara Catholic School into the Håfa Adai Pledge Kids Program during their Mes CHamoru celebration.

GVB was honored to join Santa Barbara Catholic School for their Mes CHamoru celebration. Santa Barbara Catholic School’s dedication to preserving the CHamoru language was evident with the entire student body reciting prayers and singing songs entirely in the CHamoru language. The celebration ended with the entire student body, faculty, and staff joining the student representatives on stage with a giant Cha Cha dance.

We thank Santa Barbara Catholic School for their commitment to the preservation and perpetuation of our CHamoru culture by becoming responsible members of our island community. The school plans to carry the Mes CHamoru spirit beyond CHamoru month by upholding their Håfa Adai pledges to greet one another with Håfa Adai inside and outside the classroom, say prayers in CHamoru, incorporate CHamoru story time in the classroom once a month, and designate Friday as CHamoru Fashion day where students will be allowed to wear native flowers and traditional necklaces.
Andersen Air Force Base Force Support Squadron Facilitate Håfa Adai Pledge for
Base-wide Youth
The Airman and Family Readiness Center took the H å fa Adai Pledge on March 16, 2019 in celebration of their first Mes Chamorro event. Guam Visitors Bureau Tourism Industry Relations Kisha Garrido administered the Håfa Adai Pledge singing alongside NCOIC Community and Recreations Manager Sgt. Marcel Palomo , and Work/Life Specialist Dolores Naputi
The Guam Visitors Bureau (GVB) joined Airman and Family Readiness Center during the organization’s Mes CHamoru event at Anderson Air Force Base, Yigo. 

Tao’Tao Guahan was the first base-wide Mes CHamoru celebration held on the Anderson Air force Base and hosted by the Andersen Air Force Base Force Support Squadron. Over 25 kids joined the Guam Visitors Bureau on stage to participate in the signing ceremony. 

The Guam Visitors Bureau would like to thank organizations such as the Andersen Air Force Base Force Support Squadron for holding the perpetuation and promotion of the island’s culture paramount in their organizational operations.
M.U. Lujan Elementary School continues to live out the Håfa Adai Pledge by promoting the CHamoru culture throughout the school year. The school's cultural dance group continues to promote our culture through performances for our island and our visitors. The school also hosts a number of cooking demonstrations for students featuring dishes such as Coconut Titiyas.
The students of Santa Barbara Catholic School celebrate Guam and the CHamoru culture with their village-themed classrooms. Each upper grade division was assigned a village of Guam where the students decorated their classrooms accordingly and hosted a number of cultural and educational activities for the lower divisions.
Living the Håfa Adai Pledge:
Vincent "Ben" Sablan
Ben Sablan, a driver for Triple J Five Star Wholesale Foods lives by the standard, "Beyond the call of duty!" Sablan seizes every opportunity he has to go beyond what is asked of him by sharing the Håfa Adai Spirit to everyone he interacts with.

During one of his shifts, Sablan came in contact with an injured driver at the Dededo 76 Gas Station while driving back from his deliveries to the Triple J Five Star warehouse.

The injured driver was pinned between a fuel tank truck and a concrete wall. Without hesitation, Sablan rushed over to help. While many witnesses were too shocked to aid the victim, Sablan took charge and used his knowledge of vehicle operations to back the fuel tank truck away, releasing the victim for first responders to reach the victim to take to the hospital.

Ben Sablan is a living example of the Håfa Adai Spirit. His motto, "Beyond the Call of Duty" ties into the teachings and spirit of Inafa'maolek, "to make good." He shows us to go beyond what is expected of us in order to make things good for our island, community members, and our visitors. We thank community members like Ben Sablan for making Guam a better place to live, work, and visit.

Tourism Work s f or Theodore Ka'ai
Meet Theodore Ka'ai, Recreation Supervisor at Outrigger Beach Resort Guam. One of Theodore's main roles at the Outrigger Beach Resort Guam is to ensure everyone visiting the hotel is having fun and being safe by exemplifying the Håfa Adai Spirit. See how tourism works for him and the Outrigger Guam Beach Resort.
#instaGuam Heart Auction
As part of GVB’s mission and goals for Visit Guam 2019’s #instaGuam campaign, we’d like to reach out to our members and local businesses to take a greater part in our ongoing efforts for island beautification and support of the arts. GVB recently teamed up with local artists to create iconic art pieces and we’d like auction one off to you!

The proceeds will go directly to the Tourism Education Council’s W.A.V.E. Clubs on Guam. We will also include the awarded company as an ‘instaSpot’ on our #instaGuam digital map. This map identifies art spots around the island and will be promoted to both locals and visitors.

If you are interested, please contact mmariano@bigfishcreative.com . The deadline to submit has been extended to May 15, 2019 .
LEARN CHAMORU:

Let's Eat!
Ta fañocho!