More than 50 tall trees at our farm will soon be cut down – for an amazing purpose.
In the picture I am choosing the trees that are good straight wood in an area that will become a play area for the kids here. But that's not the main reason.
The finished wood will be used in a massive project to help the Badjao people, building a new walkway that joins all their homes built out over the sea. Theirs is currently rotting away.
The Badjao are a people group here on Palawan and found across the Philippines and Malaysia, They are a sea gypsy people that that make their living on the sea, fishing or collecting pearls. They are a very poor people living in poverty in houses built out over the sea.
The main central bridge walkway through the middle of their village is needed for most of the community to reach their houses or boats, and is in very bad condition. The bridge (as they call it) is falling apart and is patched up with whatever they can find, but people are regularly hurt or fall through. So, we will use the timber from our farm to replace the bridge. Working side-by side with the local Badjao people, a team from KNA including myself will section-by-section replace the bridge over a couple of months.
Currently, our ministry to the Badjao people is mostly working with a group of youth, bringing them to the farm each week for education work skills training and Bible study. However, after the bridge is finished they have said we can build a meeting area in their village. They rarely allow outsiders to build among them; it is a great honour and a massive opportunity for us. It is an exciting time and opens a door for us to do many more activities with them and help them more.
At the same time, our kids at the farm will benefit from a new climbing obstacle course that I will cut from selected trees made in to posts or cut into slabs. This will be one of my big jobs here at the farm over the coming months – as I have experience in using a chainsaw, I will be doing the cutting.
