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The Bajau Laut are sea faring indigenous nomads who live off the coast of Borneo. None of Malaysia, Indonesia or the Philippines want to grant them citizenship. They have been living generation after generation in temporary stilt houses in the South China Sea. I visited the on a photo expedition and frankly it left me slightly conflicted. I was expecting happy children but instead I saw forced smiles, haunted looks and signs of poverty. The children were paid to pose for the camera, which is against my style of taking candid shots. Uneducated and malnourished, I struggled to find the romanticism of it all. I am not saying that they should be forced to abandon their lifestyles, but at least to be educated to a level and given a choice that they know what is out there in the world for them, if they wanted it. Anyway, there is now a project underway to rehouse these people on dry land, which is not without its controversy.
A dying breed indeed.