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Reflection on “Boy Pusit”
The day starts early for a group of children at a remote coastal village in Masbate, an island province in the central Philippines. Even before dawn breaks, several children and a few adults line the seashore, busily preparing their boats and nets for a day of squid fishing. I-Witness' Sandra Aguinaldo meets three boys -- Jameson, Estoy, and Jason -- who at a very young age were taught by their fathers to dive for squids. The residents largely depend on the sea to make a living. There are no concrete roads, water comes from deep wells, and there is no electricity.
Everyday, they set out to sea. A boat’s crew is comprised mostly of children. The adult stays in the boat while the children do the diving. The kids wear improvised goggles and fins made of wood that are fastened to their feet by strips of rubber.
Diving in with the children, reporter Sandra Aguinaldo experiences just how exhausting the job is. The kids lure the squids into the nets by making noise hitting the water’s surface hard with their arms or getting rocks underwater and throwing them hard at the water’s surface. They then dive as the net closes in to secure the squids that were trapped in the net.
Children are considered important in these diving operations because they work fast and don’t get tired easily. In a day, they make an average of 20 dives. Most of the time however, they catch just a few not even enough to shoulder their family expenses in a day.
The children say they still have time to go to their classes, walking for hours through tall grasses along hilly landscapes to reach school. Their elementary school teacher, Melchor Rojas, though, says most squid catchers report to school only once or twice each week. Squid fishing takes up the kid’s time and when it’s harvest or planting season, there are the teacher reports even fewer students. Of the few squid divers who are his students, Rojas expects less than half would be able to pursue higher education.
The day starts early for a group of children at a remote coastal village in Masbate, an island province in the central Philippines. Even before dawn breaks, several children and a few adults line the seashore, busily preparing their boats and nets for a day of squid fishing. I-Witness' Sandra Aguinaldo meets three boys -- Jameson, Estoy, and Jason -- who at a very young age were taught by their fathers to dive for squids. The residents largely depend on the sea to make a living. There are no concrete roads, water comes from deep wells, and there is no electricity.
Everyday, they set out to sea. A boat’s crew is comprised mostly of children. The adult stays in the boat while the children do the diving. The kids wear improvised goggles and fins made of wood that are fastened to their feet by strips of rubber.
Diving in with the children, reporter Sandra Aguinaldo experiences just how exhausting the job is. The kids lure the squids into the nets by making noise hitting the water’s surface hard with their arms or getting rocks underwater and throwing them hard at the water’s surface. They then dive as the net closes in to secure the squids that were trapped in the net.
Children are considered important in these diving operations because they work fast and don’t get tired easily. In a day, they make an average of 20 dives. Most of the time however, they catch just a few not even enough to shoulder their family expenses in a day.
The children say they still have time to go to their classes, walking for hours through tall grasses along hilly landscapes to reach school. Their elementary school teacher, Melchor Rojas, though, says most squid catchers report to school only once or twice each week. Squid fishing takes up the kid’s time and when it’s harvest or planting season, there are the teacher reports even fewer students. Of the few squid divers who are his students, Rojas expects less than half would be able to pursue higher education.