Analee Villagomez shows a necklace made from shells she collected in the Northern Islands.
Analee Villagomez was recently at Tanapag Middle School to give an inspirational presentation to school students.
NORTHERN Islands advocate Analee Villagomez had a message for Tanapag Middle School students on Tuesday: value the Marianas.
Villagomez is originally a resident of Saipan who spent time on Alamagan, Pagan, and Agrihan in 2012, 2013, and 2018. She originally was sent to the Northern Islands to collect government ballots for the Northern Islands’ Mayor’s Office. These days she uses social media to bring attention to what life is like among the most remote areas in the Marianas.
“The reason why I’m telling you about the Northern Islands is because you need to know about it,” Villagomez said. “What you don’t know about you won’t care about. I want you to know about the Northern Islands so you can start caring about it.”
Villagomez is against the militarization of Pagan. She asked students to consider how using Pagan for live bomb training could affect neighboring Agrihan to the north, and Alamagan to the south.
Her fear is that the military use of Pagan will lead to land loss for residents on all three Northern Islands.
Most of her presentation, however, was not related to her activism. Rather, it was focused on how empowered she felt as a Chamorro while living on Agrihan and Alamagan.
“I felt like it was a different world. I freaked out that it’s part of the Marianas. I’m Chamorro. I’m from here. I had pride,” Villagomez said.
She said she lost weight climbing the high elevation of Alamagan and had no processed foods to rely on while in the Northern Islands.
Villagomez showed video of her catching coconut crabs, making coconut oil, boiling seawater to extract sea salt, farming, fishing, and collecting spondylus shells to make jewelry, the sales of which supplemented her income.
It was a lesson on self-reliance for Villagomez, one that started when she was young. She said her parents were farmers and fishermen. “I was used to all those foods that are straight from the earth.”
After her presentation, Villagomez told Variety that she wants to continue to share the stories of the Northern Islands in other classrooms on Saipan, Tinian, Rota, and even Guam. She wants to share her story of empowerment with the youth. Her hope is that people will reach out to her on social media.
“You end up wanting to tell about these things that are beautiful because it makes people better,” she said. “Knowing that there’s a lot of stuff north of Saipan that you can actually explore, experience, and bring back — it really changes you. It’s a life-changing experience.”
Her message to the public: “Just go north and feel that peace of mind. Feel that peace of mind you can have there and bring it back to Saipan. You’ll say you’re so fortunate to be from the Marianas.”
