Partners
Prayer Partners:
10 Current
0 Needed
Total Opportunity:
$59,643 Funded
$147,455 Needed
Demographics
- Location:
- Philippines
- Speakers:
- 10,200
- Start Year:
- 2009
- End Year:
- 2014
Reports to Investors
Ayta NT Cluster
Video Updates
-
Ayta Ambala- How do you handle hardship with your disability? (2:28) -
Ayta Ambala- Describe one of your typical days. (3:16) -
Ayta Ambala- Tell us a story from your life. (7:36) -
Ayta Ambala- Describe the committee formation. (1:02)
Languages participating in this cluster:
- Ayta, Abellen
- Ayta, Ambala
- Ayta, Mag-Indi
Ayta families make their bamboo and thatch homes in the Philippine hill country around Mt. Pinatubo. They cut garden areas out of the jungles to cultivate root crops and other vegetables as staple foods. They also plant wild rice on the hillsides, moving their crops and their families to new locations periodically. Charcoal, made from local trees, fuels their cooking fires and offers warmth on chilly nights. The shared forest belongs to everyone; no one owns land.
In recent years, the Aytas’ lifestyle has come into conflict with mainstream Filipino culture. New highways have made it easy for land-hungry outsiders to acquire Ayta homelands. Officials are planning to change the resettled Aytas’ livelihood from their semi-nomadic forest lifestyle to a sedentary existence of raising fish in ponds. Ayta families express opposition and fear about their future, but they feel helpless as they watch the modern world encroach on their way of life.
When outsiders arrive with gifts, medical services or entertainment, a large crowd gathers, creating the illusion that many Ayta are Christians. In their homes, however, most of them still call on spirit mediums when family members are ill. They rely on appeasing the forest spirits before planting gardens or building their homes. Local churches don’t have the tools they need to reach Ayta hearts.
Mother-tongue Scripture can offer them real hope – the One who never changes – in the midst of fear and uncertainty. The Ayta people need to understand God’s love for them in the face of ridicule and discrimination.
News from the Field
- Feb18
Ayta of the Philippines
Officials are planning to change the Aytas’ livelihood from their semi-nomadic forest lifestyle to a sedentary existence. Ayta families express opposition and fear about their future, but they feel helpless as they watch the modern world encroach on their way of life. The Ayta sense discrimination from the wider Filipino culture—their skin is darker than that of most Malay peoples and their hair is curly. Education has not generally been highly valued; thus, literacy levels are extremely low. - Feb06
New Project for 2009
The new year is filled with uncertainty for the Ayta people, a group of thousands in the northern part of the Philippines. Modernization and development are changing their semi-nomadic life and their traditional farming methods will soon be impossible.