A VISIT TO HUMÅTAK

I have great memories of Humåtak, where I was pastor back in the 90s.

Benny's mom went to Mass every day that there was Mass.  Sometimes it was just me and her at Mass, and, although she always walked to Mass, I always drove her back home, which took ninety seconds by car.

All my life I have heard that the three villages of the Deep South : Malesso', Humåtak and Inalåhan, all had the tonåda, or the sing-song accent.  But I actually heard it from just a tiny number of people, including Benny's mom.  Benny, too, has the accent which, I believe, is the genuine Chamorro way of speaking, as it is found in the south and in Luta; places which, historically, had less outside contact.

In this clip, Benny talks about his daughters and granddaughters, and about the importance of God and religion.

In Humåtak, I learned how some people refer to the priest as i amko' (the old man), even if he was in his 30s, as I was!  And how some people refer to God as i amko' (Benny says this).  In human terms, God certainly is old.  But, strictly speaking, God doesn't age.  He's eternal.  But God is called i amko' out of respect, because, for Chamorros, everything old is respected.