By Shaylin Salas (CHamoru)
My name is Shaylin Salas, and I am a CHamoru woman from Guåhan, Mariana Islands. Guåhan (popularly, Guam) is the southernmost island of the Mariana Islands chain in the western Pacific Ocean. The Indigenous Peoples of this region are the CHamoru and the Refaluwasch communities. In 2022, I was a Cultural Survival Indigenous Youth Arts Fellow. For this, I was invited to attend the 23rd session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York in April 2024.