Badjao Bridge had its origin in Hayward in 2009, when home-grown Dan Johanson returned from 10 years of living in the Philippines with a heart to provide hope and opportunity for "children living on the sea."
Dan founded the nonprofit organization to help children of the Badjao tribe using board members collected from the Hayward and Castro Valley communities. Today, there are boards in both countries focused on helping advance literacy, provide dry land to live on, and clean drinking water for the tribal people on three islands.
Men of the Badjao tribe are famous for their ability to stay underwater for long lengths of time while spearfishing, an occupation increasingly denied them by the government. A video at the organization's website gives a good look at badjaobridge.org.
Dan and his family live in Castro Valley, and headquarters for the nonprofit is at the First Presbyterian Church of Hayward. Dan is conversant in Tagalog, Visayan, and is learning Badjao. His wife Hazel is from the Philippines and they have two children.