Trisha Melai C.

Cruz NSTP 2

BT301 October 02, 2021

Reaction Paper on “Paraisong Salat”

A paradise it may seem but underneath the beautiful facade of blue waters and white sand,
“Eleven Islands” of Zamboanga Peninsula painted a heart-wrenching picture of poverty and lack of
resources for the basic necessities of the people living there. “Paraisong Salat”, a documentary by Kara
David of GMA’s I-Witness, delved into the life of the Bakil family in an island where there was no water
supply, electricity, schools, or health centers. The documentary also followed Sarfaina and her younger
siblings as they coped with the different difficulties that came with living in an island far from the
mainland.

Even from the beginning of the documentary, it was already evident that staying at “Eleven
Islands” won’t be an easy sort of vacation at all. Also dubbed as “No Man’s Land”, the island was far
from civilization and had no access to clean water, electricity, schools and health centers. When the
Bakil family was finally introduced, one couldn’t help but feel pity and sadness for the family’s situation
in the island. There were nine children in the family, and Sarfaina, being the oldest among the children,
had to shoulder most of the responsibilities and help out their aging father.

Due to how difficult life was in the island, the children also had to work at their early age in
order to help their family survive every single day. It was both amazing and saddening to see them
diligently paddle towards another island just to sell the fishes that their father caught before going to
school. Even more importantly, the siblings never complained no matter the problems thrown at their
way, whether that be the hole at the bottom of their boat, being late to their classes, eating root crop
almost every day, or paddling to another island just to fetch usable water. With everything that the
family had to go through, I almost expected them to be full of complaints and negativity, but they
showed neither even with the limited resources that they currently have.

Watching this documentary definitely made me realize just how privileged I was compared to
the Bakil family. I might have my fair share of difficulties in life but honestly, none of those would come
close to what they had to go through everyday just to survive. It was a bit hard to watch especially when
Sarfaina and her father became a bit emotional, because I could only imagine how they felt all the time.
It was also awe-inspiring how they never once complained because they had long accepted that
complaining would get them nowhere, which is why they would rather work hard and hope that
someday, their lives would get better.

In conclusion, this documentary is an eye-opener that everyone should watch. Showing

documentaries like this one will definitely help raise awareness for those living far from civilization,
where the government’s help alone wouldn’t be enough to alleviate their situation in life. Another
important thing that I got from this documentary is that not everyone has the same privileges that many
of us have, because some might be stuck in a situation similar to the Bakil family. Watching them
overcome their daily struggles without any complaints was like having a reality check. Although
comparing struggles is not a good thing, having our eyes opened to what other people might be going
through definitely helps bring things into perspective and make us be a bit more grateful of what we
already have. More importantly, it helps us acknowledge our privileges and be able to put them into
good use, like towards helping the less fortunate through whatever way we can.