“When it rains, the river floods and even the boat can’t cross,” says Delia Rodriguez. “We can’t even cross the river to buy food.”
Delia comes from the Dumagat tribe, an indigenous people living within the province of Bulacan, a hard-to-reach region of the Philippines.
He adds: “Even we do not have electricity.”
Seeing the difficult lifetime of the indigenous people of the Philippines, he founded Bimboy Soque Brother’s Tribe conducting information missions in tribal regions, during which volunteers bring them food and college supplies.
Bimboy still remembers the shock of realizing that the boy he gave the cup of soup to was saving it so he could share it along with his family.
“We knew they hadn’t eaten for the last three days,” Bimboy recalled. “To think that nine people would share just one cup of soup.”
“If you live in the mountains, you’re considered very lucky if you can eat three or two times a day,” Biboy tells Our Better World, a storytelling initiative Singapore International Foundation.
UNDP estimated that the Philippines is inhabited by roughly 14-17 million indigenous people belonging to 110 ethno-linguistic groups. Access to education, nutritious meals and work is a challenge for people living in distant areas.
Reaching a tribal village like Delia can take anywhere from 4 hours to 4 days of trekking through dense forest, fast-flowing rivers, and up and down steep mountain slopes.
In addition to delivering supplies, the group can also be involved in community development, from bringing solar energy to villages to teaching farmers higher techniques to extend crop yields and maximize land use.
“We always complain about what we can’t have,” says Kathrine Mantala, one among the volunteers. “But when I went there [to volunteer]I saw how happy they were [the tribes] they were about simple things.”
These initiatives are financed by volunteers and citizen donations.
“But it’s still not enough to help the communities we visit. I think if we get more sponsors, we could help more communities in the mountains,” says Biboy.
Learn more about Tribu Ni Bro Hereand donate school supplies to assist tribal children go to high school Here.
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