Living 7 Days with the Bajo Tribe (Sampela Village, Wakatobi)

Living 7 Days with the Bajo Tribe (Sampela Village, Wakatobi)

What’s up you guys and welcome back to the channel.. My name is Kristian Hansen. In today’s video I’ve come to the far
and remote islands of Wakatobi in Southeast Sulawesi. And for the last 7 days I’ve been living with 
the Bajo tribe also known as the sea gypsies. Out in the middle of the ocean in 
their floating village called Sampela  In order to learn about their unique culture and their way of life. So let’s get started from the very beginning
of this incredible adventure, let’s go! Good morning guys, it is another beautiful 
morning here in Indonesia. And this morning we’re going to Wakatobi. So Mario, he just picked me up in his car because
I really wanted to bring Mario along for a couple of days as well. So I asked him if he had time and he was so happy. So we are right now just in front of his place,
because his mother wanted to join us going to the port. So uh, Mario is picking her up now then we
have a couple of hours to drive to the port.. Where we will take our first ferry of the day
so it’s going to be a good day. -Good morning, Bu.
-Morning. -How are you?
-I’m good. Great. -Have you watch my Buton video?
-Already. -Do you like it?
-It’s good. Wow thank you Ibu. Okay let’s go bro. All right guys around 2 and 1/2 hours later
and we have almost arrived here at Lasalimo Port. The rain is definitely not stopping, only getting worse.. Hopefully the ferry will still be 
here and take us to Wakatobi today, we will see. -Hallo, good morning.
-Yes, morning. So the ferry arrives here in a couple of 
minutes at 9:30 and we’re just paying for the ticket now. It’s Rp 105.000 per person to go to Wanci. What do we do now, we wait? Okay. While waiting, I bought some fried bananas
for Rp 5.000 a mere 30 us cents.. And a bit of breakfast for Mario’s mother. And it was then time to get on board. All right guys it is.. *I almost slipped* That was close. Well it’s slippery here it is 
almost 10:00 the ship is here.. Speed boat, fast boat, are we ready? -Yes.
-Let’s go. -Do you normally get seasick bro?
-No. Good, I do. The waves can get pretty big so if you 
have a tendency to get seasick then, best of luck to you. The ferry ride to Wanci port on 
Wangi-wangi island takes around 2 hours. And if you need a ride, several drivers are 
waiting at the port to pick up new customers. Hello. Hello Mister. Be careful your head, sir. All right guys we have made it to Wanci.. And got a good little nap thank God,
got rid of the seasickness. Now Mario has a friend that’s going to
meet us here that’s going to take us to a second port.. Where we will take the next 
boat to the Kaledupa Island. So we have around a 20 minutes car ride to the next port.. And then we had the ship leaves at 2:00 yeah? One or two. One or two we don’t know. In Indonesia we never know if 
it’s one or two or three. So here on Wanci, there is actually a very
famous Bajo Village called Mola Village. But the reason why I’m not visiting that is because.. That is kind of the the easy Bajo Village to
visit because it’s very close here to the port. That’s why we’re going to one that’s even further away. So in order to get to the next island
Kaledupa, we now have to drive to a port.. But depending on the wind, the boat going
there can be in two different small ports. So we’re at the first one now checking and
the boat wasn’t here. Which means the next boat is in another port. So yeah we are trying to get there now. And then the Bajo village that we are going
to it is out in the middle of the ocean. It’s a little bit more difficult to get to.. But yeah I also think it’s a little bit more
interesting when it’s even more difficult to get there. As you have probably already figured out
traveling to these islands requires a bit of planning.. Because at the moment there are no flights to and from Wakatobi. And it’s really hurting the tourism here. So your only options are ferries and smaller boats. Sometimes it’ll just be a wooden boat. But that day it was luckily a speedboat
which should take 1 and 1/2 hour to Kaledupa. And if you haven’t bought any snacks or food.. A kind Ibu sells a big bamboo full of rice for just Rp 3.000. But we had luckily brought our 
fried bananas from the Lasalimu port. Biggest mistake of the day guys.. Only buying three of these from Ibu at Lasalima? Ah Lasalimu port. If you go there make sure you buy a lot of these, it’s so good. But did the boat depart at 1:00? It most certainly did not. But once we did depart, I was entertained
by a local with a story from which I understood absolutely nothing. German is a developed country. Metropolitan. Developed city. German. -Developed city?
-Yeah. They have good soccer players. The girls are beautiful. Yeah very beautiful. Very beautiful. I have few family in Jakarta go to German for school. And after that wonderful conversation, we
were welcomed to Kaledupa with a little bit of rain. Well we have arrived guys and 
it didn’t exactly take 1 hour, it took 2 hours. But we are here now so, let’s go. Let’s go. Hello sir, its raining. That was the second boat, now we need to
find the third boat we’re almost there. All right guys now that we have made it to our second island Kaledupa, let me tell you a little bit about Wakatobi. So here in Wakatobi there are four Islands.. The first one we visited is Wangi Wangi. The second one we’re on now is called Kaledupa. The third one is called Tomia. And the fourth one is called Binongko.. And that together if you take the first two
letters of each island becomes Wakatobi. But now we need to get in the boat which
apparently doesn’t have a roof to get to Sampela. So we’re about to get wet. Are you going to be in this boat also? Where? We were then picked up by our homestay owner, Mr Duda. Who is born and raised in the Bajo Village of Sampela. The trip from the port luckily only takes around 10 minutes. And upon arriving, It feels like you’re 
entering a whole different kind of world. It’s like being in Venice in Italy. We were welcomed at our homestay by
Kefin, Mr Duda’s second son. And as the rain was pouring down we
spent a good hour talking with Mr Duda.. As we were here to learn and understand.. And I had a million questions before we started exploring. But the rain didn’t seemed to let up and we
needed to buy a few provisions before it got dark. But that would turn out to be a bit more
difficult than I had thought. I think this is slippery so be careful. Yeah, thank you. This is so cool. It’s taking forever just to go to the small shop. The tropical weather of scorching sun and
heavy rainfall.. Had taken its toll on these primitive paths. As it’s the nearby house’s responsibility
to changed them, they haven’t been so in the last 10 years. Okay we have arrived at the small shop. Let’s see what they have. Good afternoon. There are several of these small shops 
a.k.a warung where you can buy various snacks and drinks. They also have a small mosque which
seemed to be under construction. But the leader told me that they 
unfortunately didn’t have the funds to finish it. And before I started filming a whole lot,
I met with the head of the village Pak Gamis.. To ask for his blessing which he luckily approved of. All right guys it has been a very long day. And I think I can safely say for both Mario
and myself we are quite tired. Yeah. So we have spent the afternoon, evening
here basically learning as much as we can about Sampela.. The people, the village and I have so much
information about this place now. And I’m so excited about showing you guys all that I have learned. It is gonna be some incredible days here I know that for sure. And I’m so happy that Mario is here with
me for a couple of days to experience this together. But now Pak Duda has cooked a lot for us
so we are starving, let’s eat. And tomorrow we start exploring Sampela Village. Let’s eat. On that first night.. I couldn’t stop thinking about those bridges
so I made a post on my social media.. And just maybe it would attract some attention. At Sampela, we wake up when the 
sun rises to the subtle sound of small boat engines. My neighbors are already up and preparing for school. A woman stops by our homestay in her small canoe.. To sell freshly baked goods for our morning coffee. She continues on to the many other
floating houses who are also getting ready to start the day. Good morning guys it is another beautiful
morning here in Indonesia. Mario and I have arrived here at the
Sampela village at the Bajo village. And it is unlike anything 
I have ever seen before. It is so beautiful, it is so special. I don’t
even know where to start making video. And this morning when we woke up the
rain had passed, it was super cozy though. All night falling asleep you could just hear the rain over the roof. But this morning yeah it looks pretty clear,
Mario and I we got up and got our ourselves a cup of coffee. Talked a bit and planned here for the next days. So the thing is the bridges here in between
the small houses they’re in really poor condition. And we also saw the mosque yesterday.. Which they are trying to expand but it has
stopped because they don’t have enough funds. So there’s a lot of ways that we can 
help so Mario and I are trying to coordinate that now.. And um we’ll see what we can do. For sure it’s gonna be a very very special
week here on the channel. But let me just quickly show you 
our home stay in Sampela. Pak Duda has built this entirely himself.. By slowly buying materials whenever he
had a bit of money left over. It has two rooms and a big open porch
right in front of the ocean.. Along with a small common room in the middle. But the funniest thing is the bathroom.. As you feel like you’re going to the
bathroom in an aquarium. And as I was eager to see the village in
daylight.. We headed out as we passed Duda’s youngest son, Ali. Who is doing his morning karate. So this is the path they have to walk every 
day and yeah you definitely have to mind your steps. They tell me that so many people have fallen here.. Even sometimes the kids they will fall and
they will get really badly hurt. So yeah we have to do something about this bridge. The houses in Sampela are either built on
coral rocks and concrete or a cheaper version of wooden poles. The wooden bridges that connects them are only changed 
when the nearby families have enough to pull their savings. But it’s expensive and they often have 
to resort to cheaper options. And while the kids are in school the adults tend to their daily tasks. A fisherman has caught some parrot fish
and a trigger fish this morning using his spear gun. And several of the women spend the morning cooking. But what surprised me the most compared
to my previous village visits is the way that the kids play. I’ve yet to see any kid sitting 
alone and playing on their phone. The signal here is great and many have phones.. But somehow they seem more interested in playing with each other. So guys it is still the rain season.. So we’re kind of stuck in the rain under a house,
here in the middle of the village. And yeah that is what the people here tells us.. A lot of the days they will end up being like this,
if it’s just raining, raining, raining. There’s not much to do.   People are either sitting inside maybe
fixing an engine or yeah showering out in the rain. That’s one of the things I really love about the village life 
it’s pretty much controlled by how the weather is. Pak Duda’s father-in-law, Pak Bahar the guy in 
the red polo then introduced us to a guy who can help. Pak Laeto is a wood supplier in Sampela.. Who could sell me some wood for fixing
up a couple of bridges . And this way my money would go back into the community. His price was 3.5 million rupia or $250 per cubic meter. I quickly realized that my own funds wouldn’t be sufficient. But what I didn’t know at the time, was 
that my posts from last night were going viral. So while we were negotiating, donations 
were flooding in to help. So Pak Laeto gave me his best price and I
promised him to buy as much as I possibly could. And as we came back to the home stay I realised.. That the crowdfunding post I had shared with my followers.. Had already pooled nearly Rp 30.000.000 or $2,000. I talked with Pak Duda, Pak Bahar and the Mosque leader.. To discuss how we could put these funds to good use. All right guys it is lunch time here at 
our small home stay.. Yeah I feel like we have found a lot of the
places where the bridges, they need replacement. Now we just have to get it all started and
uh it’s actually a lot more than we thought we need. Was it 11 cubic? 11 cubic meters of wood. The only thing that’s slowing us down a bit
is that it’s raining all the time, and now it’s raining again. Let’s eat first. Even when it’s pouring the kids are 
still outside playing sailing in a plastic bucket.. Or using a piece of Styrofoam as a boogie board. The ocean is their playground. And there is no need to worry because they 
swim as well as the fish beneath them. And so with the donations continuing to 
come in, we bought our first five cubic meters of wood. And as the rumors had started to spread 
about our project, many had showed up to help. There are so many people helping.. And I had no idea what they were
talking about as they speak their own language Bajo language. But it looked like they were having a great time. Keep your spirit up! We had collected our first batch of wood
and it felt like a big step but this was just the beginning. The first day in Sampela had 
been fantastic and full of new impressions. So I fell asleep before the sun set. So I’d be ready bright and early to go fishing. The majority of the Bajo people are fishermen 
and women. They have a deep connection to the sea. Sometimes they’ll use nets, some days a spear 
gun, but this morning Pak Bahar is using his line. Traditionally the Bajo people are known
for their nomadic seafaring lifestyle.. As they used to live on small house boats. But in the 1960s the government helped
build the Samabahari Village also known as Sampela. In an effort to settle these nomads, this is a good thing Pak Duda tells me.. As their ancestors lifestyle was hard every day was 
a fight against the waves looking for fish. So they had something to eat. It’s 8:00 in the morning but Pak Bahar has
been up for hours hoping the rain would pass. He fishes nearly every day and sometimes
it’s enough to feed the family.. Other times he might be able to sell some as well. He drops his line down to 40 or 50 m depth. And from the micro vibrations in the line he
can feel in his finger if small fish are eating his bait. And today he’s lucky. Only after 15 minutes of fishing he pulls
out a 4 kilo GT or a giant travali. And that’s Rp 100.000 right there. I think we’ve been out for about 1 hour and
it is definitely a job that requires a sincere amount of patience. But at the same time it’s also not very
stressful because you’re just sitting here it’s incredibly quiet.. All we can hear is the raindrops falling on top of our rain jackets. It’s uh.. really nice and relaxing actually. However my legs are not made for the cross-legged position. And after 30 minutes of silence I got to do something. Luckily Pak Bahar, he loves my jokes. Hey I got it with bare hands. Nice. I then finally got to catch a fish, a leopard coral grouper. And as we had picked it up from 40 m depth.. The expanding air inside of it nearly makes
its tongue pop out of its head. And this is also why they become 
bouyant when they get close to the surface. -Does it still be able to eat.
-Yes. Pak Duda had told me that when he was a kid there 
were so many fish plenty to eat and plenty to sell. But today is a little bit different.. Each year they have to travel
further and further away to find the fish. A big problem for the future as no 
fish means no money to buy rice. People here think mostly about what they need today.. And not so much about what the kids need in the future. They don’t have that luxury, Pak Duda says. All right guys it’s lunch time here in Sampela. And now Pak Bahar he has actually cooked
the big fish that we caught. So uh yeah we’re going to have it now for lunch. We asked if he wanted to sell it and his
comment was.. “Yeah sometimes you have to enjoy it as well”. So that’s what we’re going to do now. And some really good news.. It is Monday now, 12:00 and in just one and
a half day we have raised 60 million rupiah. We are checking the account like every
second hour and it just keeps growing. When we first started raising the funds.. We thought yeah maybe we can get 5 or 10
million or something like this.. But now 60 million. It’s gonna be good. But first a quick nap to the calming sound
of the ocean below me and the rain outside my window. As the kids eagerly wait for me to wake up. All right guys we have come to Mainland
for the first time in days.. Because we’re trying to find a bank where we can potentially take out all of this cash that we have to use to buy the wood. And actually my father he asked me today why 
don’t you just transfer the money to the guy who has the wood? And I would. Would. The problem is almost no one on Sampela
has a bank account, that’s why we have to pay in cash. But after visiting the small bank branch we
realized that we could only take out 10 million Rupiah per day. So it’ll take us nearly one week to withdraw it all. But on our way back we got a phone call.. The wood supplier told us that there might
be someone in his family who had a bank account. And I thought we had solved our biggest
problem but this was just the beginning. So guys this afternoon we have conveyed the small council here behind me because we have a bit of a problem.. The wood that we had already ordered
supposed to come in just a few days. But now they’re saying that it will probably
not arrive until after I have left. And that’s not really an option because I
want to be able to see the work being done here. So right now I have no idea what we’re gonna do. Hopefully we can find some kind of solution. Because finding large quantities of wood
on a remote island is not easy. But I had already 
started this project so we had to keep going. And the next step was finding 
someone who would help us build it. -So many people here are very happy
because all of you are helping to build this bridge. So apparently the word is already spreading that 
Thursday we’re going to start construction and.. It seems like everybody is just happy and ready 
to get started so ah that really brings up my spirit. So to my surprise I barely 
had to do any promoting..   Because everyone was ready and happy to 
work for free for a better Sampela. We have found four cubing more. Good! One of the elders then came to find me to
ask if I could please have a look at the bridge near his house. At this point I wasn’t even sure that we
would have enough money.. Or if we could source all of the wood we needed. But I promised Bapak that we would fix this bridge as well. And it wasn’t just Bapak who was grateful.. Because as we continued, I was offered a few girlfriends as well. -Maybe if you have time, can you help?
-Yes we can. Great, we’ll provide foods and drinks. There’ll be widower as well. Widower. Because we’re all widow. And as everyone would be working for free.. We went to buy supplies to ensure that
everyone would have enough food, drinks. And most importantly 
cigarettes during the build. And we visited several different shops so that the money we spent didn’t just benefit one shop but went back into the community. -Ready for thursday?
-Ready! I was so excited about this project. And we were then called to the head of the
village which I assumed would be to offer help.. But I could quickly tell from the vibe that something was not right. We did not film during the meeting.. But every time I looked over my shoulder I
could see a full crowd trying to overhear the verdict of this meeting. -All right guys..
-it’s been really long day. It’s been a really long day, the project almost fell apart today. Umm I will not go into great 
details about it but I will just say that.. Because of some netizen comments about
foreigner taking action.. We were almost not allowed to do this project. But luckily we found a good solution and
today we bought a ton of material.. And they were so excited, all the people. Can’t wait, can’t wait thank you 
thank you, can’t wait, thank you. Good job today bro. -Eat?
-Eat. And actually I have one more special surprise. Let’s just say that the last day of
construction is gonna be a big day. Mario is a rather famous tour guide for 
his trips around Buton, Wakatobi and Labengki Island.. So he unfortunately had to go back to work.. But I didn’t have much time to feel alone. -Good morning.
-Morning. -Good morning.
-Good morning. We have a morning karate battle. It’s a regular monday morning in Sampela
and the village is slowly waking up. And other way the residence of Sampela
makes an income is from seaweed. They sell it to Bao-bao and it’s a big
industry in Indonesia as roughly 250,000 households depends on it. But it’s a hard job because the prices fluctuates a lot. And at the moment.. They can only sell it for Rp 10.000/ kg dry
weight and they have no bargaining power with the traders. That morning I wanted to visit their 
school and on our way we passed the mosque.. We had raised a lot but I knew it still wouldn’t be 
enough for both the bridges and the mosque. But luckily good deeds rarely goes unnoticed and 
as I looked at my phone I had received a very special message. At the moment 2,180 people 
lives in the floating village of Sampela. And 50% are kids. But only 500 of them are choosing to go to school. They have primary school all the way up to senior high school but only 18 students attend the senior high school.. As they get tired of studying. -Assalamuailakum.
-Walaikumsalam. The teachers travel from Kaledupa Island and 
this morning the teacher is not happy with her students.. Because over the weekend the children 
have played inside the classroom and made a mess. So before teaching starts.. They got to make up the classroom and
they do so right away without any complaining. But there aren’t a whole 
lot of teachers on Kaledupa island.. And if they are late, the kids they have to wait. And if they’re out sick, no one shows up. Similar to their hospital that hasn’t 
been open since the day I arrived. But Adelia, she comes in early anyway because 
one day she wants to be a police officer. The bridges in Sampela are not the 
only thing that could use a bit of fixing. So one of the things about the life in the 
Sampela Village is that it’s difficult for them to collect rainwater. And yeah they can’t exactly 
drink the water from the ocean. So several times a week every week they
have to go to Kaledupa the nearby Village here to buy water.. Fresh water both for drinking and for showering. And they bring these jargons of 10 L each
and they fill them up and each jargon is Rp 500 for 10 L. So it’s quite cheap but it requires quite a lot
of work to get your water. So it really makes you think when 
you’re showering “am I using two scoops or three scoops?” Because the more you can save, the less 
times you have to go out on the ocean to buy new water. -You always go to Kaledupa to buy water?
-Yes, always. Always yeah. -So you became strong?
-Yes, I’m strong. Haha, nice. I became this tan because I have direct
contact with the sun and the sea water. Oh yeah. The more time I spent in Sampela.. The more I realized just how many places
that really needed some form of restoration. And the bridges were definitely the right place to start. So we went out to buy more wood. This morning guys we’re out picking up 
another 5 cubic here. And then soon as we’ve brought that back to the village.. we’re going to go to another village and
we’re going to get another five or six cubic more. So we’re really starting to get quite a lot of wood collected 
together. Because we start in just 2 days. We have now collected nearly 20 cubic
meter of wood when we were almost ready to get started. But the day wasn’t over just yet because this afternoon 
I would get to experience something truly unique. But before heading out Kefin first had to
get a gillete haircut as they called it. All they use is a gillete blade and a comb as this 
is a cheap and fast way to get a fresh fade. So don’t get a haircut before coming to 
Sampela, just ask Unduk to give you a gillet haircut. All right guys it’s the afternoon and the 
tide is very very low here in Sampela Village. And that means that everyone is going out
to look for small fish that has been trapped. So uh I see at least 100 people now just walking around.. And they are using these long sticks to
kind of try and catch the fish. So of course we got to 
try that as well. Hey. Can I see bro? Good job Bro! Everyone walks in a long line 
with a big net trying to pull the fish together. With something sharp in their hand and a
bucket tied to their waist to store the fish. And once the tide gets low enough, it’s every man for himself. This doesn’t happen very often so 
once it does they’ll try to catch as much as they possibly can. And the kids absolutely loves it. I was tempted to give it a try.. But with my feet sinking into the cool and 
mushy ocean floor, I chose to soak up every moment of this view. Feeling grateful to be standing right 
in the middle of this unique cultural phenomenon. And just as you think this vibrant sky is
about to fade as the sun sets.. It suddenly erupts into a burst of colors. Even after the sun sets, 
they soldier on with torches. Just another incredible day in 
wonderful Indonesia. Good afternoon guys so if there is one thing the 
Bajo people are known for is fishing. But if there’s one thing I haven’t tried 
before, it’s spear fishing. There’s an island right here next to Sampela called 
Hoga and over there it’s supposed be really good to do spear fishing. So let’s grab the gear and let’s go.. And see how good the bajo people they really are at 
holding their breath and spear fishing. Lauda is quite famous for his spear fishing skills.. He doesn’t use diving equipment like fins or a tank. He simply uses a pair of goggles 
he made himself from wood and two pieces of glass.. His spear gun and that’s it. He takes a couple of deep breaths and
then dives down to 7 or 8 m depth. A bit different from typical diving 
standards, he walks barefoot on the ocean floor. But the fish are quick.. And he’s got to go 
back to the surface to reload. Today there aren’t a lot of big 
fish and it’s a lot of effort and physical work.. For the small fish he 
eventually catches. After more than 1 hour.. I was just treading water above him 
and I can tell you it was exhausting. But adults are not the only ones who 
enjoy spear fishing.. The kids they do it as well for fun. They make their own mini spear guns from a
rubber band and a thin needle like stick. And they catch a lot more than Lauda and I did. You got it? Woohoo. Pak Duda then thought that it was time 
for me to try a local delicacy. Something he called Bajo sushi. He first cleans the fish 
and then cuts it into fillets.. The meat is then chopped into small pieces. He adds a little bit of salt and squeeze the juice from three limes. And voila, Bajo sushi. Hopefully this will not give me belly ache. No. We try. Rice. So delicious. Wow, okay delicious. You got this fish since this morning ya? Yes. Please eat a lot. Definitely first time I’ve tried 
eating sushi with a local tribe in Indonesia. Later I’ll update you if I get 
a really upset stomach but hopefully not. -Thank you.
-You’re welcome. For the project that we will make tomorrow.. All people in the community will work together. They’re so happy that we can help with the woods. With nail, foods, and cigarettes. Later we will divide the woods and count
how many woods we need for first place and second place as well. For the rest of the places, if we got everything done already.. We can find the woods that are not suitable for the places. We can find another woods to suit another
places so the woods will be enough to fix all the places. It’s been a long time so the woods is
broken due to rain and sun. And the woods isn’t strong enough exposed to the sun. And after the rain, it dries and rots. Tomorrow we can walk at new bridge. We don’t need to watch our steps anymore
cause the bridge has a hole or nearly broken. Tomorrow we can walk freely even with our
eyes closed without thinking that we might fall. Good evening guys.. It has been another fantastic day and I can
finally say that we are fully ready for tomorrow. So I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep
tonight I’m so excited about tomorrow. So many days of planning buying
materials double checking everything. Hopefully tomorrow everyone is ready 
to work and do their part to make this village even better so.. I really have to go to bed now 
because tomorrow we start at 7:00. Good night guys. Good morning guys it’s thursday morning it is 6.18. And Pak Duda he just told me “I’m sorry I think you got to eat fast because everyone has already started working.” So let me quickly throw in some fried rice
and uh yeah let’s get started with the day as well. I’m just happy that they are excited about getting started. Let’s go it’s gonna be a good day. -Good morning.
-Good morning. Let’s build bridge! Everyone is so happy. -Good morning.
-Morning. It already started ya? Yes it already started, thank you very much. Yes, I’m so happy that I could help. We can walk freely without worrying it
might be broken or we might fall.. No longer broken and it”s already fixed
because of you so thank you so much. You’re welcome. Yes. As they’re taking off all of the old wood now.. You can really see all the all the boards that is holding this 
bridge together underneath is completely rotten. So it’s really good that we are changing everything. Good morning. This has truly become 
a team effort everyone is helping.. Even the grandmas, the grandfathers, the
young kids, the mothers are cooking and.. Fantastic to see everyone is just 
engaged and helping each other. Team work. -Still strong?
-Still. I will tell you this, the Bajo people sure
knows how to work fast when they come together as one. They call this Gotong royong
and it means mutual assistance. It’s a concept deeply rooted in Indonesian culture. It embodies the idea of working together
for the common good where everyone contributes to.. And benefits from collective efforts. And just as everything was going so 
well I noticed that the kids were waving at the ocean.. That was because a tornado was heading our way. So we all took cover fast. Hurry Kris! Let’s go. Besides our safety, I was now
worry what would happen to our project. But my faith was quickly restored 
as I saw Kefin continuing to work through it. The tornado luckily passed and 
everyone got back to work. Okay guys! The build was going well and it was going fast. But as I started checking out our progress.. I was suddenly starting to doubt whether it
would even be enough. As soon as we finish one piece of 
bridge.. Then everyone comes over very fast and
like oh yeah but we also have a piece here.. And we also have a place here where we could make it better. So as much happiness as these bridges
are bringing that we are building today.. It’s not nearly enough for what they need. That is reality of it. We are maybe making 15 or 20% of this village bridges better. Hi guys! But they could use so much more help.. And it kind of makes me think.. There has to be some kind of institution,
that are supposed to help with stuff like this. So private people shouldn’t have to pay for
an entire village restoration. But for now I’m just so happy 
that we can help when there is no one else to help. So while we have been working in the other side of the village. We have now come over to the more eastern part of the village.. And they have made a lot here already! So good to see! So now we’re trying to coordinate and figure out.. Do we have more wood left on the other
side of the village so we can bring it here. So we can fix even more here. So, a lot of coordination but.. So nice to see that all of this 
planning and all of this hard work is paying off. From having to watch every single step 
you took when I first arrived here.. It was amazing to see that even before we were finished.. People were now walking around freely
without any worry about falling. And we then all took a small break. So guys the status is that we are almost finished 
already with all of the bridges. So uh here at 1:00 or 2:00 we’re taking a small break.. We’ll finish the last part in the afternoon. And then tomorrow I’ll show you how the
finish result look like. But I can tell you that the people here are very happy. Hello guys. Hello. Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. There’s a fish! Hello. Hello my friend. Thank you so much. It had been another incredible day in Indonesia.. And it seemed like this gotong royong had
sparked a light of positivity all across the village. As everyone seemed to be in a fantastic mood. Pak Duda had even made a small surprise for 
me which he thought would fit well on the new bridge. We finished the day by 
adding a small extension to the home stay.. So when you come to visit one day you can walk 
straight from the homestay onto the main bridge. And as the sun set over Sampela, 
we finished the last part of the bridge. This is it, a lot of hard work, a lot of hours a lot of planning later. This is the final nail and the bridge is finished. Okay good job bro. Thank you. All the generous donations have now been 
put to good use and it was time to rest up.. And prepare for my last day in Sampela. A day full of surprises and one epic celebration. Good morning guys it is unfortunately my
last morning here at Sampela.. And it started just perfect. Woke up in the morning and my friend Yan
was already outside waiting for me to come out. And together with Pak Bahar and Pak Duda.. We sit together in the morning and have
coffee in front of my small room before the day starts. But my last morning here is a special morning.. Because for the last 8 days now I’ve been
waking up every morning.. Coming out looking over the ocean and
seeing this small house next to me. And this house, 
they don’t really have a lot. First of all, they don’t have a bridge. So every time they need to go 
somewhere they need to get into the boat. This family also has five kids. Four of the kids are still living in the
house and it is quite expensive having four kids. And that means that 
they don’t even have a full roof on the house they only have half. So yesterday I asked my mother in Denmark, her husband.. My father in Denmark and his wife if maybe
they were interested in helping a little bit.. Because we already spent all the money on
the bridge and they said yes. So yesterday afternoon.. Duda and his family they helped me buy a
new roof and this morning we broke the news to Pak Latali.. And he was so grateful. His job is to collect all the trash from the village 
and burn it when there’s a low tide. And when I saw his T-shirt this morning I nearly cried 
he has no idea what the meaning is. When I saw that I was like, this is a sign. So let’s help this family get a roof on top of their house. Pak Latali got started right away but I called a 
few friends so Rudi, Dedi and Ardi.. They came over to help out as well. And Pak Latali said that it was 
okay I gave you guys a small tour of his house. Yeah, thank you Pak. Good morning. Can i come in Bu? Sure. Hello little brother. You don’t have a roof here as well ya. Yes. When it’s raining, the water comes inside the house. Yeah. So cute. So guys small change of plans after I came over here.. I realized that the floor here is made from
very old bamboo and it’s completely broken. One wrong step and you’ll just fall through. And the guys they told me you can get one long 
bamboo to make a lot of floor for only Rp 25.000. So we have just ordered five bamboos from Kaledupa which we’ll pick up later so we can fix the floor as well. Fix the floor of an entire house for Rp 125.000. We got to do that. Even with heavy wind gusts 
the guy started fitting the thin metal roof. This simple style of roof can last nearly 10
years and keep Pak Latali and his family dry at night. For the mere cost of 3.5 million rupiah. Hey bro, happy? Happy. Nice. All these happy kids made such a 
massive impact on my experience in Sampela. So as it was my last day we spend a couple
of hours playing around in their favorite element. So guys it is my last time here in Sampela
village with the Suku Bajo. And it really makes me think about just how much I have experienced over these last couple couple of days. I came here just because I wanted to visit
them and learn about their life.. But it ended up becoming so much bigger than that. I’ve really gotten to know several more Indonesian families here.. And especially become close with Pak Duda’s family. This has been beyond 
any expectations I ever had. Don’t forget to visit this place it is truly unique.. The people are so kind and you will get an
experience unlike anything you have ever had before. It is a long way 
to come here but it is so worth it. And I can tell you this I won’t be forgetting
this experience anytime soon. And I don’t think they will either. The gotong royong project had been a success. Because more than 300 kind souls from
various parts of the world.. Had helped this small Indonesian Village
raised Rp 75.000.000 in 3 days. Because of you.. These lovely people can now more safely
get to work go to school or simply run around the village. We tried our very best to put your donation
to good use in the places that needed it the most. Thank you for your trust. We then only had one 
thing left to do and that was to celebrate. Good afternoon. Hello. Hello my friend. Dancing. Okay, thank you bu. As a thank you, the mothers offered 
to cook for everyone with the supplies we had left from the bill. And it was then time for a proper village party. But I had saved a special surprise for this occasion. So I then told them all that the foundation
Kita Bisa had heard our story.. And donated 50 million rupiah 
to help rebuild the mosque. We then spend the rest of the 
afternoon dancing and enjoying the delicious coconut rice pudding.. That the lovely Ibus had made for us all. -Happy eating. Perfect ending to a perfect stay. Delicious? Wow so cool, that’s nice. Thank you so much. Anytime bro. It was time to say goodbye to Sampela. But before leaving I made a small visit to Pak Latali
and his family who had now finished installing the new roof. And they had received the bamboo for the new floor. Thank you so much ya. The 50 million Kita Bisa has 
donated will help a lot but we still have a long way to go.. Before being able to finish 
the restoration and the ongoing expansion. As the mosque is simply too small to fit
everyone when Ramadan come. So if this video has inspired you.. We have created a campaign on Kita Bisa’s website.. Where it’s possible to help support this
mosque building project. I will put the link in my YouTube video description. I thought that Pak Duda would just drop me off at the Port. But a few more friends had shown up to see me off. So from the bottom of my heart.. Thank you to all of my Bajo family for an
experience I will never forget. One thing is for sure.. We will meet again. So actually I have a special song for our captain 
here Pak Duda and it goes like this..

In this episode, I embark on an unforgettable adventure to the floating village of Sampela on the islands of Wakatobi, Indonesia, to live with the indigenous Bajo Tribe for seven days. This heartwarming, adventurous, educational, and inspirational documentary vlog takes you deep into the life and culture of the “Sea Gypsies” of Indonesia.
The people that inspired James Cameron for Avatar 2 – Ways of the Water.

Support the Bajo people and help them rebuild their mosque here:
https://kitabisa.com/sabangtomerauke

During my stay, I immerse myself in the daily life of the Bajo Tribe at Sampela, learning about their unique habits, rich culture, and the struggles they face. From traditional fishing techniques to their profound connection with the ocean, every moment is a unique experience.

One of the most touching aspects of my visit is witnessing the poor condition of the bridges connecting their floating houses. Moved by their situation, we initiate a large community project, known as Gotong Royong, to rebuild these crucial structures. Watch as the entire village comes together in a remarkable display of unity and resilience to improve their community.

In this video, you’ll experience:
– The adventurous journey from Buton Island to the remote Wakatobi islands.
– An in-depth look at the Bajo Tribe’s daily routines and cultural practices.
– The challenges faced by the community and their resourceful solutions.
– The Gotong Royong project to rebuild the village bridges, showcasing the power of community spirit.
– Heartwarming interactions and stories from the tribe members.
– Breathtaking views of the ocean and vibrant marine life around Wakatobi.

Join me in this inspiring documentary vlog as we celebrate the strength, unity, and rich heritage of the Bajo Tribe in Wakatobi, and witness the transformative power of community collaboration.

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► CONTACT & COLABS
Get in Touch (commercial inquiries or collaborations):
Endorse: +62 852-1052-6788 (Sharyn)
Email: Sharyn@khp-indonesia.com

▬ Contents of this video ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

0:00 Intro
0:53 Traveling to Wakatobi
03:42 Wangi Wangi island
07:45 Arriving on Kaledupa Island
09:19 The Venice of Indonesia
13:05 First impressions
15:06 Bajo Diver Homestay
15:39 Sampela Village tour
18:18 Can we make a difference?
22:22 Fishing w. The Bajo people
27:18 Problems to overcome..
30:04 Recruiting workers
32:44 Cancel the project?
34:46 Making a living from Seaweed
36:06 Go to School
38:16 How to get clean water?
39:30 Let’s buy some more wood!
41:04 Gillette haircut
41:46 Low tide fishing
44:29 Bajo Spearfishing
47:11 Tribal sushi
48:28 This is the plan!
50:47 Project Gotong Royong
1:00:48 One house no roof
1:04:59 Reminiscing
1:06:52 An Epic Celebration!
1:10:03 Do you want to help?
1:11:11 We will meet again
1:12:05 Thank you

#bajo #tribe #wakatobi #indonesia