Richard Hogan: What I learned from working with families in the Philippines for 16 years

An emotional trip to the Philippines gave Richard Hogan an insight into a people who face much adversity, but refuse to submit to it

Richard Hogan with locals and representatives of the sponsor Aercap on his recent trip to the Badjao community in the Philippines

I am sitting in Davao Airport in the Philippines in an atmosphere of dry heat, noisy travellers, the sweet, pungent smell of durian in the air, and security guards, armed to the teeth, shouting about god knows what. 

It’s just a regular Sunday morning in the Philippines.

I am returning home after 10 days of visiting the Badjao community. I have been fortunate to work with Badjao families for 16 years as the founder and chairperson of the charity EMBRACE Badjoa. 

It is one of the great privileges of my life to be invited into the community as a ‘bagay’, or ‘friend’. They are a notoriously shy and quiet people, with a remarkable sense of dignity in the face of hardship. 

This year was a particularly difficult trip because the community has been devastated by a fire. Their entire way of life was burned down by an electrical fault.

The Badjao have no running water, zero sanitisation, poor education, and now their shelter has disappeared.

I walked among the embers of what was once a bustling, tight-knit community. It was disheartening for an outsider.

Words often fail to articulate the complicated emotions we feel about injustice and inequity. I can’t imagine the hopelessness and pain they have gone through in the last several weeks.

The school we built in 2023 — to educate Badjao children and provide vital food supplies — is now no more.

For a marginalised people on the fringes of their society, this latest struggle just seems incredibly unfair.

However, what struck me the moment I met them was their sense of humour about it all. The Badjao have an incomprehensible capacity for laughter. They jokingly asked if I had seen the smoke signal they had sent me in Ireland.

Richard Hogan with locals and representatives of the sponsor Aercap on his recent trip to the Badjao community in the Philippines

On the first day of our visit, my daughter Lizzy and I went to Paradise Island with 60 members of the community for a day of swimming and rest.

It’s something we always do when we are there, because the Badjao, like so many poor indigenous tribes, never get to experience their own country like tourists do, because they can’t afford the fee to swim or eat there.

When we first brought them to Samal Island, all those years ago, the children were all looking around in amazement. I didn’t fully understand what was going on, but then they explained they had heard about the island all their lives, but never dreamed they might come and enjoy it, like foreigners.

I have reflected on that moment many times and contemplated the utter privilege we take for granted and the inequity at the core of so many communities across this planet.

Of course, we have inequity in Ireland, too; plenty of it, unfortunately, but when you see it so blatantly in front of your eyes, it’s hard to turn away. It is certainly hard to go back to your life and complain about food not arriving as swiftly as you’d like.

On that first day, as I watched them playing and joking with Lizzy in the water, they were quick to tell me how they needed a day off from the fire and all of the difficulties. 

They laughed and tried their best to be joyful, but I could sense a collective trauma. There was a sadness and embarrassment that they all shared.

They have been living in temporary rescue facilities. They were self-effacing about their clothes. I was there when the government came to give donations to them to help with their needs. For a proud people, it was hard to watch.

But in all of that adversity, I did feel a profound sense of hope as I sat down for a meal with the Badjao community and members of our sponsors from AerCap.

They saw, first-hand, the plight of the Badjao, and they were asking important questions about how to really effect change for this beautiful community.

It was an emotional experience.

Aercap organised a team, from Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific, to come over and help for the week.

That’s an example of busy people, who are living busy lives, taking some time to be with the Badjao children.

That was the first moment I felt I had the right people in the room to help the children and families of the Badjao community, despite running this project for nearly 20 years now.

The Badjao have a resilience that is truly remarkable.

As I surveyed the ashes of what was once their proud homes, we looked at each other and I said: “It will be bigger and better this time.”

They all cheered, "Salamat manong"; "thank-you old man".

There have been moments in my life where I have felt close to something that you might call a higher power: Being with my children, seeing them being born.

Sitting with the Badjao community and chatting about life. I feel close to something I don’t have words for.

Maybe it’s love.

We shall build again.