ABOUT

Our islands and our people are bracing themselves for a massive change in tides. We Are Guåhan is a multi-ethnic collective of individuals, families and grassroots organizations concerned with the future of our islands. We Are Guåhan aims to inform and engage our community on the various issues concerning the impending military build up. We Are Guåhan aims to unite and mobilize our people to protect and defend our resources and our culture. We Are Guåhan promotes peaceful, positive and prosperous change for our island. We envision a sustainable future for all of Guåhan’s people. All are welcome and necessary!

A JUST BEGINNING

In November of 2009, the Department of Defense (DOD) and Joint Guam Program Office (JGPO) released the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), an 11,000 page document that outlined DoD’s plans for a massive military build-up on Guåhan.

Brought together by a common concern about their island’s future, a group of volunteers began to meet on a weekly basis to divide up the reading. As they shared their DEIS readings, these volunteers realized that many other people wanted to know about the DEIS but needed assistance in navigating and understanding it.

We Are Guåhan capitalized on one of its central strengths of the initial volunteers (many of whom have been or are teachers): the ability to read the DEIS, and produce accessible summaries and analyses to the public about it.

Over time, We Are Guåhan has also expanded the dissemination of DEIS-specific materials to centralizing other information about the military build-up in a few locations: this web site and a public discussion board.

FACTS ABOUT WAG

• WAG volunteers have put into 4,000+ hours into research and informing Guam’s residents about the build-up
• 2,000 people on Facebook page and 2,000 on the mailing list
• WAG volunteers had personal conversations with 10,000 people who signed our petition demanding Obama come off-base to speak with Guam’s residents; another 1,000 signed up online through our website
• WAG has hosted two educational events called We Are Ocean and the Valentine’s Day Clean-up
• Outreached at several community events and meetings including the Yigo Raceway, Chamorro Calendar Festival, University of Guam’s Charter Day,
• Been invited speakers at meetings for Rotaract, the Soroptimists, and UoG Social Work Conference 2010