Two children walk past the historic Talusangay Mosque, built in 1885, in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner)ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 18 Dec) – While politicians in the southern Filipino port city of Zamboanga brag about a robust economy and more development projects than ever, many Muslim enclaves here still remain poor compare to Christian areas where much of government projects are diverted.
“Where is equality?” many Muslim villagers ask.
“Many of our children are uneducated because we don’t have enough schools. There is no opportunity for us to live a descent life. We are discriminated and have no government support,” one Muslim man tells the Mindanao Examiner.
In the Muslim village of Taluksangay, about 30 kms east of Zamboanga, male and female students crowd four small rooms at the Ma’had Da’wa Al Islamie School. “We have no enough rooms. This is taboo. We cannot be together with the boys, but there is nothing we can do,” a female student says.
Their school rooms are dilapidated. They have no library, not even a computer set for each room, not even a wall clock.
Villagers live a naïve life in the Taluksangay, site of one of the oldest mosque in the Philippines, but many Muslims say they are hungry and there is not enough food for everyone in the family. Worse, there is no opportunity for a descent job, they say.
“As you can see, we live a simple life here. We sell corn and vegetables and fish and we pray a lot that help would someday come to us and education for our children,” one Muslim woman, Amina, tells the Mindanao Examiner. “Life is hard, real hard for Muslims in Zamboanga, she says. (Mindanao Examiner)
“Where is equality?” many Muslim villagers ask.
“Many of our children are uneducated because we don’t have enough schools. There is no opportunity for us to live a descent life. We are discriminated and have no government support,” one Muslim man tells the Mindanao Examiner.
In the Muslim village of Taluksangay, about 30 kms east of Zamboanga, male and female students crowd four small rooms at the Ma’had Da’wa Al Islamie School. “We have no enough rooms. This is taboo. We cannot be together with the boys, but there is nothing we can do,” a female student says.
Their school rooms are dilapidated. They have no library, not even a computer set for each room, not even a wall clock.
Villagers live a naïve life in the Taluksangay, site of one of the oldest mosque in the Philippines, but many Muslims say they are hungry and there is not enough food for everyone in the family. Worse, there is no opportunity for a descent job, they say.
“As you can see, we live a simple life here. We sell corn and vegetables and fish and we pray a lot that help would someday come to us and education for our children,” one Muslim woman, Amina, tells the Mindanao Examiner. “Life is hard, real hard for Muslims in Zamboanga, she says. (Mindanao Examiner)
1 comment:
really hard to blame them. There are just so much negative image. It is hard to get them to come develop.
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