Travel Photography > Photos tagged as badjao
THE BADJAO PEOPLE The Badjao people are a minority, often despised by their already-poor "superiors." Their homelands have been taken from them, and their culture is slipping away. Originally, they were peaceful sea-faring people living on the Sulu Islands, who have become both war and economic refugees. They are war refugees, because over the years, they have been caught in the violent crossfire between Muslim separatists and the Christian-backed government in Manila. Economically, they have been victims of over fishing by other groups using everything from dynamite to high-tech fishing trawlers. Now, they are holed up in a seaside slum in Bawing, near General Santos.
A view of a Badjao Village, located on a little stretch of beach on Sarangani Bay that nobody else wanted, just a few km south of General Santos in southern Mindanao, the Philippines. More of a slum with pathetic living conditions, the village is a seaside risk - a single storm can wash out the village. But the Badjao people accept the harsh reality of life mired in abject poverty.