![]() Research published in the journal Cell in 2018 found that the Bajau people have spleens 50 percent larger than the average human of neighboring areas. In fact, they've evolved to live on and under the water in ways that make them scientifically distinct from other human beings. ![]() They are able to dive down to depths more than 230 feet, can stay submerged 60 feet underwater for several minutes, and usually spend a total of around five hours a day underwater. Children learn to swim young and begin fishing and hunting as early as eight years old.Īs a result, most of the Bajau are expert freedivers. When they do live not on boats, it's typically in small dwellings built on stilts over the water.īecause the Bajau are exposed to the water so often and so early in life, they develop a mastery of the ocean that's hard to match. Residing primarily on the waters off Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, they usually come ashore to trade or seek shelter during storms. Making their living primarily off of fishing, the Bajau people live on long houseboats known as lepas. Wikimedia Commons A Bajau regatta in Semporna. ![]() But he survived, the fellow tribes gave up, and the Bajau people lived on. ![]() Neighboring tribes, jealous of the advantage he gave to his people, plotted to kill him by throwing poison arrows at Bajau. A very large man, his people would follow him into the water because his body mass would displace enough water such that the river would overflow, making it easy for the people to collect fish.Įventually, they came to call on him for the sole purpose of helping to harvest fish. One such tale that captures the thrust of their story tells the tale of a man whose actual name was Bajau. Without an official state record or even much of a written history to call their own, the story of the Bajau people is rooted in their own unique folklore and traditions, with oral history passed down from generation to generation. A migratory people, they drift from place to place and remain unattached in any official sense to any of the neighboring countries. They reside in Southeast Asia, in the waters southwest of the Philippines. While other "sea nomad" groups have existed in history, the Bajau may be the last seafaring people still in existence today. But we do know enough to trace the basic path of their story.Īn ethnic group of Malay origin, the Bajau people have lived almost exclusively on the water for centuries. The precise origin of the Bajau people remains unknown. YES, I want to learn more about how I can donate blood.Wikimedia Commons A chieftain of the Bajau people. Please make a commitment to donating blood today and help keep people with thalassemia – and anyone who needs blood – safe and healthy! Click the link below to learn more. People with thalassemia need blood that is as close a match as possible – and that can only happen if more people in the Asian American community donate blood. In the videos on this page, Radhika explains what it’s like needing lifelong transfusions and Ben shares a story about not letting thalassemia limit him. When they get blood that comes from people who share a similar background, the blood is less likely to contain the antigens that their body reacts against. And when a person gets blood that frequently, their body may over time react negatively to certain substances (called antigens) in the blood that is donated. Those with the most severe forms of thalassemia require lifelong blood transfusions, as often as every two weeks. Thomas Benton Cooley, who first diagnosed it), a genetic blood disorder that is disproportionately found among people of Asian descent. This is especially important for people with thalassemia (sometimes called Cooley’s anemia, after Dr. But it’s also important to make sure that the blood supply is diversified – that it comes from people of as many different backgrounds as possible. Resources on Adoption of Children with Thalassemiaīlood donations are critical for everyone, as maintaining an adequate and safe blood supply benefits anyone who needs blood – and someone in the United States needs blood every two seconds.Mobile Health Apps for Thalassemia Management.Thalassemia Webinars and Virtual Thalassemia Grand Rounds.
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