When I first met her, in March 2014, the Ati Lady was with her husband, Narciso Valencia, the tribe elder. A happy wife and a mother but she didn’t say much. Narciso spend time talking to me about how to improve the lives of the Ati Tribe and give them a better future. I made a promise to him to help as much as I could and create some awareness of this village and his people.
Sadly Narciso passed away in April 2014, exactly a month after I photographed and spoke to him. It was due to heat stroke after working for hours during the hot summer months. He was only 68. That’s the last I’ve met him and I could not keep my promise when he was still alive.
On August 2014, they finally received the solar lights, the Ati Lady tells us about how her husband died and had left her alone today. She has lost that look she once had when I first met her, something about her disappeared.
Ati Tribe – Panay Island
