FOR WHOM

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For a day's work in Ambalgan you would earn € 2.40 and, with that money, you would have to support your family of 4 or more. That equates to less than USD 1.25 per person per day, the "official" poverty line.

Ambalgan can be described as a poor community. Through discrimination, corruption and unrest in the past, unemployment is extremely high, and, as a consequence, poverty is prevalent.

People have just enough to survive, but do not have the opportunity to develop themselves (further education is expensive) or to invest money. It is practically impossible for the inhabitants, numbering around 2,000, to climb out of this poverty trap, let alone being able to make significant investments.

The majority of the community are Maguindanaos (65%); the village is the only one in the vicinity that is led by a Maguindanao village chief. The remainder of the people are Illongos (35%).

WHERE

Ambalgan is situated on Mindanao, the largest island in the south of the Philippines. In terms of its surface area, this island is 2.5 times larger than the Netherlands. The village has a rural location, 4 to 6 hours drive by bus from the island's capital city. It is near to the slightly larger town of Surallah, in the province of South Cotabato. The barangay is located in the municipality of Santo Niño. Below you can see the location on Google Maps.


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