Hafa Adai! I would like to acknowledge and thank the volunteers who helped to clean up the access road to Gadao’s Cave in Inalahan.
The response from the community, civic organizations, and government agencies was awesome and very inspiring. From manamko’ to young children and all ages in between, males, females, and all the colors of our multi-cultural community came out to address what should have been a disgrace to begin with.
The amount of trash that we dump on a very short dirt road is unbelievable. Two refrigerators, a toilet, old propane containers, bags of trash, and thousands of cans from the road that leads to Gadao’s Cave, one of the most culturally and historically significant sites on Guam.
We are lucky to have such a beautiful island to share with visitors, but more importantly, to enjoy ourselves. Visitors come to Guam to experience what we have — the pleasure of living with everyday. When someone throws their trash out a car window or dumps it in the jungle, it’s a slap in the face to all of us who call Guam home.
I don’t expect you to become involved in community clean up efforts; it’d be nice if you did but it’s not your responsibility. However, it is your responsibility to clean up after yourself and that doesn’t seem like too much to ask. Guam is a gift and we should treasure her, not trash her. Fortunately, the number of people who gave up their Saturday morning to pick up very smelly trash in the sweltering heat of Inalahan led me to believe most of us do feel responsible for our island.
I send out my most sincere thanks to everyone who helped, all of the citizens who volunteered, the Historic Inalahan Foundation, GVB, and the Guam Preservation Trust who supported our efforts, the Department of Parks & Rec’s Historic Preservation Division, GEPA for donating bags and gloves, and mostly, the Department of Public Works. DPW not only waived the tipping fees and offered to sort the garbage for us. When no one came to pick up the trash as promised, DPW came to the rescue and with the help of the Inarajan Mayor’s Office staff, cleaned away last of the mess.
I received a message this morning from a resident of Inalahan, who said the drive past Gadao’s Cave is now a very pleasant experience. Driving anywhere on Guam should be a pleasant experience and we can all pitch in – simply clean up after yourself!!!

CINDY HANSON
Tumon Heights, Guam