Through the Kuwentuhang Karapatan sessions held last May 2022, Cartwheel Foundation engaged Sama Bajau community members from Zamboanga and Paranaque in a series of learning conversations on safeguarding children’s rights. These safeguarding sessions aimed to develop, share, and articulate how the Sama-Bajau value and protect their children.
Coming from these sessions, the Kuwentuhang Karapatan Komiks was created to show how Sama-Bajau parents practice child protection in their own ways. As part of our story validation process, the comic strips were read aloud to the Sama-Bajau parents. Many expressed pride and awe that their stories were being given value. As they said, Kuwento namin ‘to! (This is our story!).
Funded by Consuelo Foundation, the komiks have been distributed to Cartwheel’s schools in Paranaque and in Zamboanga. Cartwheel Foundation hopes that through the Kuwentuhang Karapatan Komiks, the wider Filipino community will not only learn more about the Sama-Bajau’s ways of caring for their children, but also improve their understanding of the Sama-Bajau’s identity as an indigenous group. Read the Kuwentuhang Karapatan Komiks here.
