Empowerment and Protection: A Bajau Woman Weaves a Future for Her Family and Community
Empowerment and Protection: A Bajau Woman Weaves a Future for Her Family and Community
Ina Biri happily shows how she transforms fresh pandan leaves into a beautifully woven mat, crafting this traditional piece right in the comfort of her home.
Ina Biri began weaving at just 13 years old. She learned the patterns from her mother, who in turn had learned them from her own mother. Today, at 55, she leads 78 women through the Magtetepoh Women’s Organization. ‘Magtetepoh,’ a Sama‑Bajau word for weaving, reflects both their craft and the cultural heritage they collectively preserve. The organization empowers its members to create high‑quality products made from woven pandan, such as bags, accessories, small purses, backpacks, and laptop cases, providing them with a stable source of income to support their families.
“I am grateful to do what I love most, weaving, while helping other women in my community earn a living and support their families,” she shared.
Long before the group formally organized in 2009, Ina Biri worked tirelessly to support her seven children. She washed clothes to earn a modest income while her husband, Morgan Bahali, relied on fishing for the family’s daily needs. They earned up to 2,500 pesos a month, stretching every peso to keep food on the table.
Hope arrived when the Claret Samal Foundation, Incorporated (CSFI) began working with Sama‑Bajau communities in the area. Through literacy and numeracy classes and livelihood initiatives, the foundation opened doors for families living in stilt homes along the coast.
Maria Wendy Parajinog, CSFI’s Program and Administrative Coordinator, recalled that the support for the Sama Bajau community began with adult education.
Describing the intervention, “It is a way of reaching those who had long been on the margins, making sure they felt seen, supported, and never left behind,” she added.
CSFI also helped communities understand how weaving could both honor their traditions and generate income to provide for their needs and obtain important legal documents. With guidance on securing birth registration, families learned how to access essential government services often unavailable to them in the past.
Knowing how crucial a birth certificate is, especially during medical emergencies, Ina Biri made sure that all her children, and her 13 grandchildren, were registered at the local civil registrar’s office.
Through these interventions, Sama‑Bajau families found renewed hope for social inclusion. Children could finally attend school, and families, especially women, could sustain their livelihoods with dignity.
Yet the journey was not always easy. Ina Biri still remembers the prejudice they once endured. Yet the journey was far from easy. The Sama Bajau communities have endured discrimination, bullying in schools, and the painful belief held by many that they have no future. Today, she speaks with confidence and pride:
“I hope people will not see us that way anymore, because we, too, now have the chance to study, especially our children.”
Members of the Magtetepoh Women’s Organization join UNHCR, Relief International, the Local Government of Maluso, and CSFI for a photo opportunity during the formal turnover of the drying facility and livelihood support implements.
Ina Biri joyfully takes part in the ribbon‑cutting ceremony along with UNHCR, Relief International, and CSFI, celebrating the turnover of the new drying facility and tools that will help elevate their weaving ventures.
Ina Biri explains how the newly provided implements will help her and the members of their women’s organization produce high quality products such as bags, accessories, small purses, as well as backpacks and laptop cases.
One of the highlights of the activity was when Ina Biri signed the Memorandum of Agreement, symbolizing the strengthened cooperation of the Magtetepoh Women’s Organization in further nurturing and growing their livelihood.
With a bright smile, Ina Biri is grateful for the support reaching the women in her community, giving them the opportunity to showcase their skills and keep their cultural traditions alive.
Weaving takes time and skill, and the women of Maluso, Basilan show their strength and creativity through every piece they make.
Her pride is well earned. Two of her children have already become professionals: Belbita, a political science graduate who now teaches Sama‑Bajau preschoolers at the Yellow School of Hope, and Juday, who recently completed a degree in criminology.
Her youngest, Paula, is studying at a community college in Basilan and dreams of becoming a teacher.
Seeing her children succeed only strengthens her belief that other Sama‑Bajau children can flourish with the right guidance and support.
With the new tools and drying chamber turned over to them, the women of the Magtetepoh Women’s Organization are now better equipped to produce quality woven products, preserve their cultural heritage, and build sustainable livelihoods together, with resilience and pride.
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, with support from the Government of Japan, is working with Relief International to strengthen the livelihood initiatives of Ina Biri’s group through the Initiative in Promoting Digital Birth Registration, while also ensuring protection by safeguarding the rights and identities of vulnerable individuals, preventing risks of statelessness, and promoting access to essential services.
A component of this project directly supports select Sama‑Bajau communities in the island provinces by helping families establish sustainable sources of income and build self‑reliance, addressing one of the key reasons many families are unable to register births, the financial constraints.
For many families, the initiative is more than just a program, it is a lifeline. By giving communities legal identity documents, it opens doors to rights and opportunities that were once out of reach. Complementing CSFI’s intervention, it strengthens livelihoods by providing raw materials as capital and building vital infrastructure like a drying facility, which helps Ina Biri’s group preserve their woven products and sustain their work.
Ina Biri is a driving force behind the project’s birth registration efforts, motivating unregistered families, especially children, to obtain their documents. By doing so, she is helping to shield her community from exclusion and statelessness and opening the door to the rights and services they deserve.
Because people naturally turn to her for guidance, many regard her as a Panglima, a role traditionally reserved for male leaders. Yet she humbly declines the title, believing that serving her community does not require any formal position.
As Ina Biri puts it, “For me, helping my community, the Sama Bajau, does not require a title. What matters is that I am able to support them in my own simple way.”
With her leadership, Ina Biri has been walking alongside other women in their livelihood organization, helping them support their families with unity and resilience. Within this group, they gain not only a source of income but also a sense of protection and belonging. The initiative empowers them to produce quality woven products while ensuring that every woman is included, respected, and safeguarded as they carry forward the traditions of their community.
In every piece they create, they honor their heritage and nurture hope for a brighter future.
