Vietnamese immigrants make up the majority of the 7,000 who live in Tonle Sap Lake floating village. Most make a living fishing or selling food and clothing on boats.Thanhnien
July 22, 2008
A community of Vietnamese immigrants in Cambodia eke it out on boats on the Southeast Asia’s largest fresh water lake.
Tran Van Thanh removes fish from a net on a small boat in Tonle Sap, also known as the Great Lake, in Cambodia.
He says he followed his father there from the southern province of An Giang in Vietnam when he was 10.
Now almost 70 years old, he says he misses his hometown.
“Other people leave their home country and come back rich, but as for me, I don’t have the money to return just once to worship my ancestors,” Thanh said.
“I don’t even know whether my children can afford to bury me when I die, maybe my body will be left to rot and feed the fish in the lake,” the old man said.
Thanh is one of 7,000 living at a floating village on Tonle Sap in Pursat Province, the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia.
There were about a thousand houses built from bamboo and most of the residents were Vietnamese, president of the Pursat Province’s Overseas Vietnamese Association, Huynh Luy, said.
Luy said 95 percent of the population made their living fishing while the rest ran small food or clothing businesses on boats.
Although Tonle Sap is one of the most productive fisheries in the world, it is not easy for poor people toearn money there.
Resident, Ly Minh Doi, said lives of fishermen like him rose and fell like the tides on Tonle Sap.
In the last few months, many families had sold their houses and moved in search for work, only to return in the rainy season which is good for fishing, he said.
“That is our fate and we can’t change it no matter how hard we try,” said Doi.
Nguyen Thi An, who has spent almost all of her life on the lake, said her family had returned home to An Giang Province only once.
They decided, however, to return to Tonle Sap because fishing was the only job they could do, she said.
Now an old woman, An couldn’t remember how many grandchildren she had, although she was certain that they were living somewhere on the lake.
She said she never blamed her children for leaving her alone because they were all too poor to take care of her.
Many fishermen can’t afford their own boat so they work for other fisherman.
Ghet, for instance, works for the owner of a trawler and his main job is to dive into the lake to check the nets.
The water is cold and he said he knew of two divers who had drowned, but he only earns about 10,000 riels (US$2.4) a night to buy food for his family.
He doesn’t have a stable income because his boss doesn’t always need him.
He would rather work for himself but fishing permits cost 1 million riels ($240), which is beyond his reach.
At sunrise fishermen start sailing their small boats back to the floating village, with dark circles under their eyes after a night on the lake.
Le Minh Trung, a young man who comes from the southern Tay Ninh Province, said, “The lake was calm last night and I was able to catch more than 20 kilograms of tiny shrimps.”
He would go to the local market and sell those shrimps for 12,000 riels ($2.90), enough to feed his family for two days, he said.
Many times when the family had nothing to eat, Trung has wanted to take his wife and small child and move somewhere else.
But with no money, he said he didn’t know where they could go.
So it is that thousands of Vietnamese fishermen like Trung live day to day at the floating village in Cambodia.
July 22, 2008
A community of Vietnamese immigrants in Cambodia eke it out on boats on the Southeast Asia’s largest fresh water lake.
Tran Van Thanh removes fish from a net on a small boat in Tonle Sap, also known as the Great Lake, in Cambodia.
He says he followed his father there from the southern province of An Giang in Vietnam when he was 10.
Now almost 70 years old, he says he misses his hometown.
“Other people leave their home country and come back rich, but as for me, I don’t have the money to return just once to worship my ancestors,” Thanh said.
“I don’t even know whether my children can afford to bury me when I die, maybe my body will be left to rot and feed the fish in the lake,” the old man said.
Thanh is one of 7,000 living at a floating village on Tonle Sap in Pursat Province, the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia.
There were about a thousand houses built from bamboo and most of the residents were Vietnamese, president of the Pursat Province’s Overseas Vietnamese Association, Huynh Luy, said.
Luy said 95 percent of the population made their living fishing while the rest ran small food or clothing businesses on boats.
Although Tonle Sap is one of the most productive fisheries in the world, it is not easy for poor people toearn money there.
Resident, Ly Minh Doi, said lives of fishermen like him rose and fell like the tides on Tonle Sap.
In the last few months, many families had sold their houses and moved in search for work, only to return in the rainy season which is good for fishing, he said.
“That is our fate and we can’t change it no matter how hard we try,” said Doi.
Nguyen Thi An, who has spent almost all of her life on the lake, said her family had returned home to An Giang Province only once.
They decided, however, to return to Tonle Sap because fishing was the only job they could do, she said.
Now an old woman, An couldn’t remember how many grandchildren she had, although she was certain that they were living somewhere on the lake.
She said she never blamed her children for leaving her alone because they were all too poor to take care of her.
Many fishermen can’t afford their own boat so they work for other fisherman.
Ghet, for instance, works for the owner of a trawler and his main job is to dive into the lake to check the nets.
The water is cold and he said he knew of two divers who had drowned, but he only earns about 10,000 riels (US$2.4) a night to buy food for his family.
He doesn’t have a stable income because his boss doesn’t always need him.
He would rather work for himself but fishing permits cost 1 million riels ($240), which is beyond his reach.
At sunrise fishermen start sailing their small boats back to the floating village, with dark circles under their eyes after a night on the lake.
Le Minh Trung, a young man who comes from the southern Tay Ninh Province, said, “The lake was calm last night and I was able to catch more than 20 kilograms of tiny shrimps.”
He would go to the local market and sell those shrimps for 12,000 riels ($2.90), enough to feed his family for two days, he said.
Many times when the family had nothing to eat, Trung has wanted to take his wife and small child and move somewhere else.
But with no money, he said he didn’t know where they could go.
So it is that thousands of Vietnamese fishermen like Trung live day to day at the floating village in Cambodia.
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