| |
The BADJAO
People Group Name: BADJAO
Primary Language: Badjao (Samal or Sinama or Sama Central)
Alternate Name(s): Samal-luwaan, Sama-laud
Population: approximately 209,000 (2000 census 42,601)
Location: Sulu Archipelago, Mindanao; Visayas; Davao City,
Cebu City, Metro Manila, Palawan, Subic in Zambales and Batangas
Religion: Islam-animist
Percent Christian: <1%
Scripture: New Testament in Sinama dialect
IDENTITY: The Badjaos are a Filipino Muslim Ethnic group
of sea gypsies: groups of boat-dwelling people. They are
one of the largest Sama people groups. Their ethnic neighbors,
the Tausugs and the Samals, often call them Samal-luwaan
(“outcasts”) or Samal-laud or Pala-u (“people
of the ocean”). They are the poorest ethnic group in
Sulu. They depend mainly on fishing for their survival. Badjao
communities fall under the category of government DDU areas:
depressed, deprived, and underdeveloped. Those that move
to urban areas often become beggars.
 |
LOCATION: In Sulu Archipelago,
Badjao communities are situated on the shallow
reefs near the seacoast or along coastal areas
in Sulu, Siasi, Sitangkai, Sibutu, Sangga-Sangga,
Bongao, Tapul and Tawi-Tawi Islands and to a smaller
extent in Basilan Island and in Zamboanga City,
Mindanao. Several hundred Badjao families are scattered
around the Visayas. They are also found in sizable
numbers in Davao City, in Cebu City coastal areas,
and in Metro Manila, Batangas and Subic in Luzon. |
CUSTOMS AND RELIGION: Badjao families have been age-old boat
dwellers but now they live on floating houses built on stilts
above their boats and fishing paraphernalia. As a sea-oriented
people, they are experts in fishing and pearl diving. Their
lives revolve largely around the fishing industry. Several
Badjao rituals having religious significance combine animistic
and Islamic beliefs. In general, however, the Badjaos are not
very pious. Most Badjaos are so busy just trying to survive
that religion often does not play a major role in their lives.
CHRISTIANITY: In the 1950’s Protestant American missionaries
came to the small islands in Sulu Archipelago to work among
this group. Later a church was built for the Badjaos but the
congregation did not grow because the Badjaos kept moving from
one place to another. Many Badjao families have relocated to
urban areas such as Davao City, Cebu City, Metro Manila, Subic
and Batangas. In these places they are much more open to the
Good News and many have become believers
| Pursue
God's Heart for the the Badjaos |
| Prayer Points |
| 1. Praise God for the significant breakthroughs of
the Good News that have occurred among the Badjaos
who have moved to urban areas! Pray for continued
openness and for churches to take advantage of
this.
2. Pray for God to create receptive hearts to the
Good News.
3. Praise God for the fellowships! Pray that they
will grow and remain strong in their faith. Pray
that they will send several of their own people back
to Sulu to reach their Badjao brothers and sisters
there. Pray that these Badjaos, in turn, will become
key instruments for reaching other Filipino Muslim
groups.
4. Pray for God to raise up Badjao men for leadership.
Pray too for work opportunities among the youth and
children.
5. Pray for the workers working among the Badjaos.
Ask God to send more workers to all current Badjao
locations in the Philippines.
|
|
|
THE
LORD’S PRAYER FOR HIS DISCIPLES
"I have revealed you to those whom you
gave me ...and they have obeyed your word. ...and
they accepted them. ...and they believed that
you sent me. I pray for them...for they are yours...but
they are still in the world... Holy Father, protect
them by the power of your name… While
I was with them, I protected them and kept them
safe by that name you gave me. None has been
lost except the one doomed to destruction…”
"My prayer is not that you take them out of
the world but that you protect them from the evil
one… Sanctify them by the truth; your word
is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have
sent them into the world.” John 17:6-19NIV
Brethren, let this be our prayer too for all
the frontline workers to the Filipino Muslims.
Pray the same for the believers coming from all
the Filipino Muslim background. Pray that our
Mighty God will be their strong protector against
those who are hindering the testimony of the
Good News, the workers and the believers.
|
|
|
