Anita Francis first came to Guam to visit in 1986. Again, in 2018, to see her kids and grandkids who had been here on Guam working and going to school. With the help of her retirement as a janitor from Chuuk International Airport, she finally decided to stay. 

Francis did not speak a lick of the English language. So, in 2023, when she first heard her own tongue of Chuukese spoken on the air, she just had to tune in and listen. 

“That was when we were still living in Agana, (Guam),” she said (Now, they’re down in the southern village of Agat), “My grandson found this very old beat up ‘black box’ laying around in the house. He cleaned it up, and brought it to me. He said, ‘Here is a radio for you to listen to when we’re all gone to school and work.’”   

Right away, she started to scan her radio dial for the first time. She said she was stunned. The old black box crackled and her Chuukese language started to tumble out. She couldn’t believe it! 

“I thought something wrong, a mistake in the wiring of my radio or something,” she said of her old transistor 

radio, “Because I was here on Guam, and I found a Chuukese radio station speaking Chuukese.”

It was Pwipwi Souleng (Christian Brother) radio that Francis had picked up. She, instantaneously, locked the frequency of her transistor radio to Pwipwi Souleng’s KICH 630 AM.

It hasn’t moved!

“That happens to folks who are surfing the radio dial in their car, also,” said Maverick Namelo.  

Namelo is assistant radio station manager, originally, from Welo, Chuuk; he managed the Chuukese radio station, while station manager, Matt Dodd, takes care of the English speaking Joy FM. Namelo has heard from many of his listeners do this over the years. 

So, as Francis and I sat and talked, the station continued to belt out some Chuukese Chrisitans songs. 

“Nothing,” said Francis, beaming with a smile, “is compared to the feeling you get from listening to your own language on the air.”

She added that the irony was what had initially made her feel so proud, she said, ended up causing her echo and her sense of pride to deflate. 

“That’s what happens when Jesus finally comes into your heart,” she also said.

Shaun Rhowuniong, 

another Chuukese listener and former Pwipwi Souleng employee also agreed.

“One of the interesting things to Chuukese listeners on Guam,” said Rhowuniong, “is the fact that it’s the only radio station speaking Chuukese—even the Carolinean speakers up in Saipan, they do understand Chuukese.

And with people of Chuuk that speak English, like myself, Pwipwi gives them a sense of pride that they are Chuukese.” 

Rhowuniong added: They like it when they can clearly understand what’s being said in an English speaking island, and when their language is heard on the air. 

Who wouldn’t?  

“I am also very proud,” added Rhowuniong, now a helicopter mechanic at Fort Wainwright; Fairbanks, AK. He is originally from Moch, Chuuk; neighbor to Francis’ home island of Kuttu.

Kuttu is one of many outer islands in Chuuk. Strewn across the east  

and west of Chuuk Lagoon—from north to south—are these two major clusters of outer islands, the Mortlocks and the Northwest regions. Within these two major gatherings of islands are three other sub-groups. However, in the Mortlocks, you have the Lower Mortlocks, Mid-Mortlocks and the Upper Mortlocks. And Kuttu is in the furthest bunch from Chuuk Lagoon— the Upper Mortlocks.

During the Age of Exploration long ago, the islands were first sighted by the Spanish expedition of Álvaro de Saavedra in 1528, according to Wikipedia. Centuries later, Captain James Mortlock rediscovered two sets of islands when he was sailing from Port Jackson to Whampoa in Young William on the 19th and 27 November 1795.

Hence, the groups of islands east of Chuuk Lagoon are called the Mortlocks Islands.

Francis has the distinction now of being very different from her big family; especially, with going to church on Saturdays. She just became part of Seventh-day Adventist faith—a religion that is considered a cult by the mainstream denominations.  

“Everybody hates me now,” Francis said, a hint of regret in her voice for seemingly 

going a different way from her children. “I wish they knew what I know now.”

Since she came across Pwipwi Souleng, she has been studying with them in person and on air. She is beginning to understand a lot of things. But there is a lot, too, she does not understand. That’s why she’s still listening to Pwipwi Souleng. She is very grateful to God for reaching her through the radio station.

Francis knows, she has found the truth of the word of God. It matches the written word coming off the pages of her well-worn Bible. She’s on fire for the Lord! And wants to share the word of God to anyone.  

Francis is not alone! There are others who have started to come out of nowhere, said Namelo.

“There is an auntie,” said Namelo, “of a young man at the University of Guam from Sokehs, Pohnpei. Her name’s Beuty Warren. Her nephew said she found us on the Internet and started listening to us.”

Beuty invited her daughter, Pensis Warren Chiren, to listen. And after a while the pair went to a series of Evangelistic meetings. They got baptized at the end of those meetings.

“She found a Church in Pohnpei,” said Shaquille Nimea, the nephew who told the story. “Wait, till I tell her that I’ve spoken with you. She just won’t believe it.”

Warren, according to Namelo, recently moved to the states, but stayed glue to her YouTube channel on her smartphone. 

The typical Chuukese won’t tell you or comment on your social media posts, when they are following you on the radio, Namelo also said. They sneak into the room and sit and listen, until they are convicted by the Holy Spirit.  

Only then, would they come out of the woodwork, he said. 

“Like, right now, we will never know who is listening.”  

Pwipwi Souleng has only been on the air since 2021. Dodd said its existence has been an answer to prayers. Numerous people have been praying for this. 

Pwipwi can be heard on Saipan as well, 132.97 (213.99 km) miles up north. Also as the sole Chuukese speaking radio station in the CNMI— Tinian, 

100 miles (160 km) north of Guam; Rota, about 120 mi (190 km). It is still low powered to reach the islands of Chuuk. Once fully powered, it will have the capability to reach the scattered islands of Chuuk and Yap.

“We’ve been dreaming of a way to reach the islands of Chuuk for years,” said Dodd. “We’ve planned for several years to build an FM station there, but to get land is very difficult and complicated. 

He said about a year ago, a friend called to ask why they had not tried to use shortwave to reach the islands Chuuk. Shortwave radio is expensive. He said they had suggested an AM station, but it’s too technical. Plus, licensing is very difficult to obtain. Miraculously, we learned that local radio station KUAM-AM would be shutting down their AM station in May 2020. After some discussion, they agreed to donate their license and their old transmitter. 

What a blessing that was!

“Our sister broadcasting ministry, Adventist World Radio-Guam,” said Dodd, “offered to host the AM station at their site!”

They have been on-air since April (of 2021), Dodd said, adding that they’re poised to provide coverage for 46 un-entered islands in the Chuukese group.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination with several distinctive beliefs, including: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. They believe in Sola Scriptura, a “Christian doctrine that states that the Bible is the only source of authority for Christian faith and practice.”  

The Mortlock Islands remain relatively a bit more traditional than the inner lagoon islands. They are also, slightly different, than those of surrounding outer island languages… the Paffeng, Namonweitos, and the Pattiw (the Northwest region).

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PWIPWI SOULENG RADIO STATION

☆☆☆ 8 people on Guam are baptized as Seventh-dayAdventists as a result of listening to ‘Pwipwi Souleng’ radio station on Guam

☆☆☆ 2 in Pohnpei have also been baptized because of ‘Pwipwi Souleng’

☆☆☆ And 12 other people on Guam have been exposed to the truth of the Bible  

☆☆☆ Also, numerous others have listened elsewhere to Pwipwi Souleng’s program, ‘Paipel A Apasa’ (Bible Says), and other sermons program online

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