Sea village in Sulawesi, Indonesia : NPR
Far-Flung Postcards is a weekly series in which NPR’s international team shares moments from their lives and work around the world.
After a six-hour drive on the island of Sulawesi, my colleague Adi Renaldi and I arrived at the entrance to a village in the middle of a secluded cove.
From there, our water taxi – a motorized wooden rowboat – took us down a narrow waterway, where we saw mangroves thriving in the murky salt water. As our boat turned into the sunset, the village of Torosiaje came into view, with its colorful stilt houses perched on the Moluccan Sea.
The indigenous Bajau people of Southeast Asia are historically known as nomadic maritime fishermen. Many Indonesians now live more settled lives along the country’s coasts, but Torosiaje is unique: it was founded in 1901 and built on water. The sea lapped below as we crossed the bridges connecting the village’s houses, shops and schools.
The people of Torosiaje recognize the importance of mangroves for their livelihood and survival. We came here to speak to the manager of the conservation efforts. By cultivating mangroves, the Bajau were able to bring back fish whose habitats had diminished and protect the coastline from erosion. We learned about their traditional uses for mangroves, using the seeds to make soap, medicine, skin care and even flour for cakes.
The origin of the Bajau is not precisely known. Legend has it that a sultan’s princess was kidnapped and the sultan sent his strongest men to search for her. They did not dare return without the princess, so they wandered the seas as nomads, and the Bajau settled here among the mangroves.
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