A morning on an island, somewhere in the Celebes Sea, off the coast of Semporna. She was alone at home, sitting with both her legs dangling by the sides of the prow of her lepa-lepa. With her long pole, she slowly pushes her home forward on the water along the beach to a water village. Cradling on her lap in the shade of her body is her baby girl. She has no one else to babysit her baby, while she propels her home forward.
Behind her,in the midsection of her lepa lepa is the empty thatched hut where she lives with her family, just like any other nomadic sea Bajaus families, roaming this part of Sabah.
To these Sea Bajaus,their boats or lepa-lepa as it is to them, is their maritime home sweet home.
They do just about everything on this floating home. Only when they need to get their staple food (tapioca or sagu flour), fixed their boat and bury their dead, only then they would set foot on land.
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