Water Village part 2 of 2

It was 8:00 in the morning and the village was abuzz with activity. Six young men already had a rousing game of volleyball going on a net that was so threadbare that it could hardly be called a net. Several groups of small kids were scrambling around.

I left the dirt path and stepped up onto the makeshift boardwalk. I saw a young man in his early twenties standing next to the boardwalk on a small piece of foam on an equally small piece of terra firma. He was washing for the day up at a public water spigot. Sitting on the boardwalk at chest-level was his blue plastic bucket in which he had all his morning toiletries.

I am usually pretty uninhibited with my camera –to a fault- but I decided that today was a pretty good day to keep my camera in my backpack. I never for a moment felt unsafe. It just turns out that when it comes to social propriety –contrary to the rumors- even I have my limits. I decided that this morning, maybe I should just wander, observe, and absorb.

Northern Borneo is very close to Palawan Island, Philippines and the water village is predominately populated by Filipino refugees,. While there was running water and I did see a few signs of electricity, I suspect that the city of Kota Kinabalu was not officially providing these services. They certainly weren’t provided garbage pick-up services.

I became intrigued with the water village/slum and wanted to know more. Later in the week when I had internet access, I searched the web for more information. I’m pretty adept at finding what I am looking for on the internet, but for the life of me, aside from two other blog entries from fellow travelers and a few pictures on Flicker, I couldn’t find any information on the slum in the heart of Kota Kinabalu. I guess there is not only a big ten-foot green fence around the actual village, there is a virtual one as well. On the three or four maps of KK that I had, the village wasn’t even given a name. It was simply labeled “Water Village.”

Later in the week, I found out from an taxi driver that one of the new, high rise hotels just down the road was built on the site of a smaller water village. I realized that it was only a matter of time before the local government and developers prevailed and the water village would be pushed aside for yet another series of hotels. I don’t know if I will ever make it back to Kota Kinabalu. But if I do, I am guessing the water village won’t be there any longer.

But for now, I have a wife and two daughters back in the hotel who are probably waking up just about now and will be looking to start their day.

-Jack

(Note: as I made my way out of the village, I did slip my camera out of my back pack and managed to squeeze off a few pictures.)