About half of the population of Wali is T'boli. The other half are descendents of emigrants that the government enticed to migrate from other places in the country.

The T'bolis live either in their mountain villages or among the general population in the lowlands. The Wali T'bolis are those who have found life too difficult in the forest, wish to have their children educated or desire to earn income from labor. The forest T'bolis are those who choose to remain distant from other peoples, live off the land as their ancestors did and retain their ancient customs and religion. Many T'bolis still practice polygamy, though the national government has outlawed it. Aurea's grandfather had 23 wives. Most of her uncles had or still have multiple wives.

The people living around the mission represent this mix of cultures. T'bolis are treated by many Filipinos as an unpopular race, so intermarriage is not widespread among T'bolis and Filipinos. However, some T'bolis have married foreigners, as did Aurea when she married Dan.

The target of the mission work is both groups, plus the mountainous T'boli tribe members. The Desaville family has farmed the land commercially for many years, and it produces a small income that has placed them in the lower middle class, a couple of rungs up the social ladder from the general population of Wali. Many T'bolis and other poor people live on or around the family farm and constitute the village of Wali. The mission's work-for-food program will allow both the T'bolis and the local poor people to work a few hours on the farm and take home fresh vegetables to their families. The tribal elders have agreed to send men from the villages to the farm to work and return to the villages with vegetables for the entire village.