Instagram picture

This is Willy Artates, age 47. I met Willy while delivering solar lights in his Mangyan village yesterday.

I first spotted Willy while climbing up a mountain path to reach his village. When I initially encountered Willey I was a touch intimidate do to all the “red liquid” around his teeth, lips, hands and chest. It was dripping all over him.

Although I really wanted to photograph him, I didn’t know if we had been given permission to take images of the Mangyans and wanted to respectful to any cultural traditions.

Thankfully, Willey came to our @wattsoflove distribution and I was able to interact with him and take his photo.

I was also lucky enough to meet his wife and 15 children! Yep, that’s right 14 girls and 1 boy!

Oh, and the red liquid all over him is called nga nga. It’s their version of chewing tobacco.