Bathing Buffalo

Water buffalo are a precious commodity in Mindanao, the largest island in the southern Philippines (and the 19th largest island in the world). Buffalo can plough land, drag heavy loads, and produce milk. So, people take care of their buffalo. The west coast of Mindanao has been plagued by a long running conflict for many years now. I worked there for a few months and was lucky enough, even in an insecure environment, to be able to see a lot of the area while observing food distributions.

The area on the opposite side of this river was experiencing shelling on the day this photo was taken; we could hear mortars exploding in the distance, probably only a few kilometres away. We were conducting an assessment on food needs for people who had left their homes on the other side of the river the week before, and were now living in makeshift shelters, with bamboo frames and walls made of sarongs or old rice bags. We could tell these people had already been displaced by fighting before, as many of them already had rice bags marked with the logo of the agency I was working for. I heard stories of people who'd been forced to leave with only the clothes on their backs, and perhaps some cooking utensils if they were lucky. A number of women told me that their husbands had returned to their homes to try and save the livestock, and they were worried that they wouldn't make it back to safety.

This man had managed to bring his buffalo with him, and it was obvious how precious they were to him as I watched him brush the water off their backs after their bath.