Badjao Villages Basilan Island, Southern Philippines

[Tullioz]

The Badjao are a nomadic tribe that can be found living on the seas and along coastlines of the Southern Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. The term Badjao means "man of the seas" and they are a sub group of a larger classification of people known as Sama. Here are a few pictures I took this week during a visit to Basilan. The first four pictures were taken near Isabela City and the last three were taken in Maluso. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rygar]

Thanks for posting Tullioz.  Must have been something to see first hand.  That is a different planet from east coast of the US.

[Tullioz]

Thanks for posting Tullioz.  Must have been something to see first hand.  That is a different planet from east coast of the US.

 

No problem, just wish I had a better camera as the quality is not very good. I may add pictures from different villages in this thread in the future. I actually work with the Badjao in promoting education and livelihood and have visited dozens of villages over the past couple of years. The island where these pictures were taken is a stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf and in a state of conflict so traveling there involves some risk.

 

When I take other people to visit the Badjao, they look around and say, “Wow, these people are so "poor", they have nothing!” People automatically think the Badjao are poor because they don’t have big multi-bedroom houses for their large families, cell phones, TV's, Computers, etc. They may be poor by our western standards, but  they live by the sea, many of the men spend their days fishing in their boats, the children get to play on the beach everyday, friends and neighbors spend the afternoons swapping stories and laughing and every evening at dinner time the entire family; in some cases four generations, gather all at once to eat even if it is a very simple meal. 

 

It often makes me wonder if it is not us instead who are "poor".