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The floating life of Vietnamese children on Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia

The floating life of Vietnamese children on Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia

Monday, September 28, 2015, 08:45 GMT+7

Most people of Vietnamese origin on the Tonle Sap Lake are stateless for leading an isolated life in Cambodia and do mainly two jobs: fishing and begging.

>> An audio version of the story is available here

Generally, men earn their living by going fishing and women by begging.

A century ago or so, their ancestors made a living by fishing in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam.

They were homeless and just lived on their fishing boats.

They cruised upstream the river and dropped anchor anywhere to catch fish.

Time elapsed and they went to Tonle Sap, the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia.

From generation to generation, their boats have become both their home and means of livelihood, and their children have been born on the ships without any official papers.

Despite having lived there for at least ten years, they have not made good integration into the local community in Cambodia and are not fluent in Cambodian.

Leading such a life, they have had no personal papers and become stateless.

Begging eyes

One day Vietnamese woman Nguyen Thi Tuyet rowed a small boat to a pillar of a floating restaurant by the bank of the Tonle Sap Lake, where a delegation of tourists had just visited.

She was standing on her boat, looking up at the visitors with her grieving eyes, and spreading her fingers in front of a tourist to beg for money.

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Kids have their meal at a support center on the Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Her eyes looked so sad, as much as the atmosphere of a gloomy afternoon in the immense water.

The context led people to think of the seemingly endless poverty of Vietnamese immigrants living on the 15,000 square kilometer lake.

Tuyet said in her native Vietnamese language, “Please give me a thousand to raise my children.”

One thousand Cambodian riels is equivalent to VND5,500 or 25 U.S. cents.

The tourists, mainly Vietnamese, looked at Tuyet worriedly and could not help opening their wallet to give her some small change when they saw two small kids on the same boat.

Her three-month-old baby was sleeping in a hammock put in the boat and her four-year-old son was sitting looking up at the tourists with his imploring eyes.

Tuyet told the tourists that she has four children altogether and she only begs for money after her alcohol-addicted husband abandoned her.

Her life story was briefly recalled in gloomy lines.

She was born 27 years ago, also on a fishing boat on the Tonle Sap Lake in Siem Reap Province.

Her father was a Saigonese, who came to the Tonle Sap Lake and married a local woman.

He earned his living as a fisherman like most other Vietnamese people on the lake.

Tuyet never went to school and are so illiterate.

At the pillars of the floating restaurant in Siem Reap, Tuyet and her children are not lonely since many other beggars of Vietnamese origin are anchoring nearby to live on the kindness of tourists.

Each boat has a Vietnamese woman and some kids.

Since Cambodian authorities impose a six-month ban on the lake to preserve aquatic resources, male fishermen are often drunk the whole day to see their wives take children on boats to beg for money.

A charitable school

Feeling pity for the poor people living on the Tonle Sap Lake, Thai Van Tu from the southern Vietnamese province of Tay Ninh decided to help those needy children by setting up a school to give them an education.

Initially, the parents of the kids ignored the school because they thought it was time-consuming and created no other benefit.

Tu had to raise funds from his friends, local businesspeople, and tourists to give the kids not only education but also breakfast.

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This row of classrooms were built with donations from soldiers and officials of the 7th Military Zone, an army unit in charge of defending Ho Chi Minh City and the surrounding provinces in Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Those parents accepted him and more kids have attended his class since.

Now donations from philanthropists are enough for Tu to give the kids three meals a day and his classes have a total of 314 enrollees at the moment.

Two sons and a daughter-in-law of “teacher Tu” help him run the classes.

Currently Tu is under treatment for his heart disease at a hospital in Ho Chi Minh City.

Soldiers and officials of the 7th Military Zone, an army unit in charge of defending Ho Chi Minh City and the surrounding provinces in Vietnam, have lent a helping hand by contributing money to build a row of new classrooms.

Some South Korean priests have built a church to give the kids spiritual help as well.

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