San Pedro Cutud, a small village in the Philippines, is famous for the annual re-enactment of Christ’s Passion and Death . Strip down to their waists, hundreds of penitents, either carry crosses made from wood or choose to flagellate their wounded, bloodstained backs with strips of ropes tied with broken glasses or sharp objects. At the end of the agonising walk some of them will go to the length of having their hands and feet nailed to the cross. They do so in the serious belief that their participation is a way of atoning for their sins and open heaven’s door for them.Devotee have their head covered with a piece of cloth and to strengthen themselves would drink several bottles of beer but not to the extent of getting drunk. The lenten practice of the re-enactment of the Way of the Cross has been observed in the province since 1950s.
Philippines 2019 © Massimo Rumi
The discovery of pink sapphire in the early 90s transformed this desolate village into a bustling mining hub overnight.Thousands of people travelled to the little village of Ilakaka, South of Madagascar seeking their fortune, making the population to grow from 85 to around 100,000 inhabitants.
Sapphires of high quality were found in alluvial deposits, which means that to extract gems there was no need for industrial operations, as they were easily accessible to anyone willing to dig with picks and shovels.
Over the last 15 years illegal mining expanded across the village, resulting in deep holes and residents scavenging knee-deep in red clay.
Speaking to some diggers I was told that many people have lost their life, either because holes sometimes collapse without warning or because of the harmful gas in the sapphire pit.Outbreaks of diseases are also common, particularly cholera, due to lack of infrastructures in the overcrowded town.
Ilakaka has also a bad reputation for violence and during my stay i had to sleep far away from town, visiting the sites only at day time escorted by soldiers. However, I have to admit that it didn’t feel dangerous at all. When shooting around, people were very welcome and smiling and didn’t mind my presence.
Madagascar 2018 © Massimo Rumi
Manila is the most densely populated city in the world. Close to a quarter of is 13 million residents are illegal tenants. Manila North Cemetery, which opened in 1904, is one of the oldest and largest in the Philippines. Its elaborate mausoleums and endless stacked tombs are home to an estimated one million of the dead — and a few thousand of the living—mostly the city’s poorest. Yes, hundreds of families have made the cemetery their home! “ It’s safer than being in the streets”, one of the residents said. As I enter the cemetery I see clothes of various shapes and sizes hanging from the railings of the mausoleums. It’s like a fully functional residential compound. People live in the crypts and mausoleums of wealthy families . Illegal wires tap into the main electrical supply and power the homes whilst water is brought in plastic containers filled from a deep well inside the premises. I am very surprised and it’s somehow surreal to see people going about their days in a cemetery chatting, playing cards and watching soap operas on TVs mounted near headstones or ornamental crosses. Kids play happily among the tombs, and at night they sleep on top of them, unconcerned about ghosts. Most of these kids were born here and like many residents they will probably spend the rest of their life among the dead. Crypts owners are not concerned about these “informal settlers”. In many cases they let them become custodians, cleaning and looking after expensive mausoleums and crypts. Most people here don’t have an income, and they try to sell flowers to victims’ families, make headstones or build coffins to make some money. This is the kind of situation you might find yourself in if you’re poor, you have no job and you live in one of the world’s most notoriously crowded cities.
Philippines 2019 © Massimo Rumi
Vezo, which means “to live by the sea” is the name of an ethnic group, comprising some 70000 people, that live along the coast in the SE of Madagascar.Their population is both defined and sustained entirely by fishing. Migration for work in the mining sector and to escape severe droughts, have caused the population of the South Eastern Madagascan town of Toliara to double in the last 4 years alone. Population pressures have led to overfishing, which is forcing Vezu fishermen to take their wooden pirogues further out to sea and to dive deeper to the seabed to find fish. Sharks and sea cucumbers are the most lucrative catch possible because of the amounts Chinese collectors will pay for them.
Madagascar 2017 © Massimo Rumi
