Aug 18, 2007
By Hao-Nhien Vu
Nguoi Viet (Calif., USA)
There are at least 500,000 Vietnamese living in Cambodia but despite having been there for generations many do not feel welcome and live on boats instead of land. Nguoi Viet's Editor, Vu Hao Nhien recently visited Cambodia and has this report. Photos By Hao-Nhien Vu
TONLE SAP LAKE, Cambodia — Here, as soon as the tourists appear at the souvenir shop on the bank of the lake, the tiny boats rushed over. All were women and children, all with the permanent tan of someone who spends entire days in the hot sun.
They were selling things — bottled water, soda, beer, bananas. Each selling for ''one dollar,'' they clamored, pronouncing ''dollar'' the way people all over Asia pronounce it: a hard ''d,'' a round ''oh,'' a flat ''ah'' and no trace of any ''r.''
I ventured something in Vietnamese. ''Chuoi gi mac vay?'' Why are the bananas so expensive? That did it; they answered back in Vietnamese.
They were clinging on to the side of the shop, but none climbed up. It then struck me that the scene was reflective of the entire Vietnamese village here — all living on the water, with no access to solid ground.
Right in northwest Cambodia, where the Siam Reap River meets the Tonle Sap Lake, on the far end of the country’s border with Vietnam, there is a populous village of expatriated Vietnamese whose origins lie lost in the memory of the locals. Everyone lives on boats and form a floating village.
Vietnamese are the most populous of the people in the floating village. ''Vietnamese, Cambodians, Muslims live here,'' our Cambodian guide said. Our tuk-tuk driver had said the same thing, in that same order.
Most of these 3,000 Vietnamese have been in Cambodia for two, three or even four generations. Most have never been to Vietnam.
Some families have been living here since the middle of the last century. Some had fled to Vietnam in the 1970’s to escape Lon Nol-era anti-Vietnamese pogroms — in which ethnic Vietnamese may be attacked and killed by radical Cambodians — and, later, Pol Pot’s killing fields, but then returned, feeling more attached to the place in which they’d been born and grown up than to the land of their ancestors.
''So, if you’ve all been here for generations, how come your Vietnamese is so good?'' I asked, in Vietnamese of course.
They answered in a perfect accent of the Mekong Delta. ''We all live with each other — song chung het ma chu.''
''All Vietnamese,'' one proudly added, ''no Cambodians.'' Decades of bloodied conflicts have resulted in still simmering resentment.
This same resentment also resulted in laws that have kept the Vietnamese villagers on the water. As foreigners —even though they’ve existed here since the time of the grandparents or even great-grandparents — local Vietnamese are not allowed to own land.
''We all live on the water,'' one young mother whose name I could not catch told me. ''Most of us raise fish or sell things to tourists for a living.''
Raising fish in the Tonle Sap is the local equivalent of raising chickens in your backyard. You keep a large net under the water, attached to the bottom of your boat. You throw in a batch of small fish, and keep them there while they grow up and multiply; a hole in the floor of the boat gives you access to the fish which you feed several times a day.
The people who can afford a fish-raising boat can make a comfortable living. Our guide pointed to the roof of one such boat where two antennae stood. ''That antenna, TV. And that antenna,'' he said, pointing to one long pole shooting straight upward, ''telephone.''
The electricity that runs the TV comes from car batteries. Once the batteries are discharged, they need to be recharged. That service is provided by a boat (what else?) that is connected to a land-based power line.
But many of the Vietnamese living here cannot afford a fish-raising boat. They scrape together an existence doing odd jobs, mending other people’s nets, for example, but mostly by selling things to tourists.
''One dollar'' seems to be the only English they know. There’s a boat that serves as an English school, taught by a Cambodian teacher. As knowledge of English opens up opportunities as well-tipped boat guides, such lessons are at a premium. Our guide paid the equivalent of $20 for a month of teaching.
In contrast, Vietnamese education is rudimentary. Lam Nguyen, the producer of the film ''Journey from the Fall,'' had been in the area for a few weeks, working on a Van Son music video production.
''The Vietnamese school here teaches kids just enough to read Vietnamese, and to do enough math to count money accurately,'' he said.
The school is subsidized by a Vietnamese charity, but the teacher still charges. ''Two hundred riels. That’s about five U.S. cents a lesson. If you have five cents today, you go to school today. If you don’t, you stay home and if tomorrow you have five cents, you go to school tomorrow,'' Nguyen said.
Near the Vietnamese school is a Cambodian school, a gift from a Japanese charity. In addition to the large classrooms, it also has a fenced-in playground on the roof.
''The Japanese school is also more solid,'' Nguyen said. ''It’s built of steel. The Vietnamese school has a bamboo bottom. Whenever a large boat passes by, the whole school swings and sways.''
The same thing happened with the boat-cum-pool hall, a local hangout for Vietnamese and Cambodians alike. Latched tightly against the bank of the lake, the pool table still swings and sways with each passing boat. The table surface, as a result, is not the usual smooth felt but some rougher fabric. It may make for a more difficult and unpredictable shot, but at least the balls don’t easily move from their position.
Smaller children had a fenced-in basketball court to play on, also a gift from Japan. But the sport, invented by a North American, has not caught on with the local little ones. They play soccer on it.
Nguyen’s dream is to build a place where local Vietnamese can relax and enjoy themselves. ''I want the children to have a playground, and the grownups to have a place to watch films. Real movies. Maybe I can combine them into one.'' It would cost around $20,000 or $30,000, he said, ''but if I want it to be solid like the Japanese school, it would cost some more. But I want the people to have a life, enjoy life. Right now, they’re just living day-to-day, and they’re sad all the time.''
There may be a reason why the people don’t seem to have a life: When even five cents for schooling can be hard to come by, the pressure to make a living weighs on everyone in the family, even the smallest child.
Charlie Nguyen, director of ''The Rebel,'' told of his experience visiting the floating village with a group of Vietnamese-Americans.
''There are these kids, they were begging us for money. They’re tiny little kids, not even four feet tall, and they were hanging on to the side of our boat, asking for money in Vietnamese. 'Chu cho chau mot ngan di,' they’re asking for us to give them a thousand riels, which is only about a quarter.''
Then the captain of Charlie Nguyen’s boat started the engine.
''We then started to go back to Phnom Penh, and the kids were still hanging on. We kept telling them, 'Jump down, or we’ll be too far away' but they won’t quit. They kept hanging on to the side. Our boat kept leaving the floating village farther and farther behind; we kept telling them to jump down before it’s too late, and they kept asking for money. Finally we gave them the money. They thanked us, tucked the money in their shorts, and jumped back in the water.''
''I don’t know how long it took them to get all the way back to the floating village. We were pretty far away,'' Charlie Nguyen added.
All that for a quarter. But that would mean five days of Vietnamese lessons, and who knows how much food and lodging or improvement to the roof over their heads.
TONLE SAP LAKE, Cambodia — Here, as soon as the tourists appear at the souvenir shop on the bank of the lake, the tiny boats rushed over. All were women and children, all with the permanent tan of someone who spends entire days in the hot sun.
They were selling things — bottled water, soda, beer, bananas. Each selling for ''one dollar,'' they clamored, pronouncing ''dollar'' the way people all over Asia pronounce it: a hard ''d,'' a round ''oh,'' a flat ''ah'' and no trace of any ''r.''
I ventured something in Vietnamese. ''Chuoi gi mac vay?'' Why are the bananas so expensive? That did it; they answered back in Vietnamese.
They were clinging on to the side of the shop, but none climbed up. It then struck me that the scene was reflective of the entire Vietnamese village here — all living on the water, with no access to solid ground.
Right in northwest Cambodia, where the Siam Reap River meets the Tonle Sap Lake, on the far end of the country’s border with Vietnam, there is a populous village of expatriated Vietnamese whose origins lie lost in the memory of the locals. Everyone lives on boats and form a floating village.
Vietnamese are the most populous of the people in the floating village. ''Vietnamese, Cambodians, Muslims live here,'' our Cambodian guide said. Our tuk-tuk driver had said the same thing, in that same order.
Most of these 3,000 Vietnamese have been in Cambodia for two, three or even four generations. Most have never been to Vietnam.
Some families have been living here since the middle of the last century. Some had fled to Vietnam in the 1970’s to escape Lon Nol-era anti-Vietnamese pogroms — in which ethnic Vietnamese may be attacked and killed by radical Cambodians — and, later, Pol Pot’s killing fields, but then returned, feeling more attached to the place in which they’d been born and grown up than to the land of their ancestors.
''So, if you’ve all been here for generations, how come your Vietnamese is so good?'' I asked, in Vietnamese of course.
They answered in a perfect accent of the Mekong Delta. ''We all live with each other — song chung het ma chu.''
''All Vietnamese,'' one proudly added, ''no Cambodians.'' Decades of bloodied conflicts have resulted in still simmering resentment.
This same resentment also resulted in laws that have kept the Vietnamese villagers on the water. As foreigners —even though they’ve existed here since the time of the grandparents or even great-grandparents — local Vietnamese are not allowed to own land.
''We all live on the water,'' one young mother whose name I could not catch told me. ''Most of us raise fish or sell things to tourists for a living.''
Raising fish in the Tonle Sap is the local equivalent of raising chickens in your backyard. You keep a large net under the water, attached to the bottom of your boat. You throw in a batch of small fish, and keep them there while they grow up and multiply; a hole in the floor of the boat gives you access to the fish which you feed several times a day.
The people who can afford a fish-raising boat can make a comfortable living. Our guide pointed to the roof of one such boat where two antennae stood. ''That antenna, TV. And that antenna,'' he said, pointing to one long pole shooting straight upward, ''telephone.''
The electricity that runs the TV comes from car batteries. Once the batteries are discharged, they need to be recharged. That service is provided by a boat (what else?) that is connected to a land-based power line.
But many of the Vietnamese living here cannot afford a fish-raising boat. They scrape together an existence doing odd jobs, mending other people’s nets, for example, but mostly by selling things to tourists.
''One dollar'' seems to be the only English they know. There’s a boat that serves as an English school, taught by a Cambodian teacher. As knowledge of English opens up opportunities as well-tipped boat guides, such lessons are at a premium. Our guide paid the equivalent of $20 for a month of teaching.
In contrast, Vietnamese education is rudimentary. Lam Nguyen, the producer of the film ''Journey from the Fall,'' had been in the area for a few weeks, working on a Van Son music video production.
''The Vietnamese school here teaches kids just enough to read Vietnamese, and to do enough math to count money accurately,'' he said.
The school is subsidized by a Vietnamese charity, but the teacher still charges. ''Two hundred riels. That’s about five U.S. cents a lesson. If you have five cents today, you go to school today. If you don’t, you stay home and if tomorrow you have five cents, you go to school tomorrow,'' Nguyen said.
Near the Vietnamese school is a Cambodian school, a gift from a Japanese charity. In addition to the large classrooms, it also has a fenced-in playground on the roof.
''The Japanese school is also more solid,'' Nguyen said. ''It’s built of steel. The Vietnamese school has a bamboo bottom. Whenever a large boat passes by, the whole school swings and sways.''
The same thing happened with the boat-cum-pool hall, a local hangout for Vietnamese and Cambodians alike. Latched tightly against the bank of the lake, the pool table still swings and sways with each passing boat. The table surface, as a result, is not the usual smooth felt but some rougher fabric. It may make for a more difficult and unpredictable shot, but at least the balls don’t easily move from their position.
Smaller children had a fenced-in basketball court to play on, also a gift from Japan. But the sport, invented by a North American, has not caught on with the local little ones. They play soccer on it.
Nguyen’s dream is to build a place where local Vietnamese can relax and enjoy themselves. ''I want the children to have a playground, and the grownups to have a place to watch films. Real movies. Maybe I can combine them into one.'' It would cost around $20,000 or $30,000, he said, ''but if I want it to be solid like the Japanese school, it would cost some more. But I want the people to have a life, enjoy life. Right now, they’re just living day-to-day, and they’re sad all the time.''
There may be a reason why the people don’t seem to have a life: When even five cents for schooling can be hard to come by, the pressure to make a living weighs on everyone in the family, even the smallest child.
Charlie Nguyen, director of ''The Rebel,'' told of his experience visiting the floating village with a group of Vietnamese-Americans.
''There are these kids, they were begging us for money. They’re tiny little kids, not even four feet tall, and they were hanging on to the side of our boat, asking for money in Vietnamese. 'Chu cho chau mot ngan di,' they’re asking for us to give them a thousand riels, which is only about a quarter.''
Then the captain of Charlie Nguyen’s boat started the engine.
''We then started to go back to Phnom Penh, and the kids were still hanging on. We kept telling them, 'Jump down, or we’ll be too far away' but they won’t quit. They kept hanging on to the side. Our boat kept leaving the floating village farther and farther behind; we kept telling them to jump down before it’s too late, and they kept asking for money. Finally we gave them the money. They thanked us, tucked the money in their shorts, and jumped back in the water.''
''I don’t know how long it took them to get all the way back to the floating village. We were pretty far away,'' Charlie Nguyen added.
All that for a quarter. But that would mean five days of Vietnamese lessons, and who knows how much food and lodging or improvement to the roof over their heads.
16 comments:
why the fuck these vietnamese boat people still complaining about the living condition in the cambodian great lake! they got the school teaching them in vietnamese, and english! the khmer kampuchea krom people current living in kampuchea krom a fall worst them those vietnamese living in the kingdom of cambodia!!the vietnamese did not allow them to have they own school teaching in khmer or they own freedom of expression or media. fuck all these vietnamese American shit or vietnamese from abroad, don't ever trust the vietnamese!!!!!!in side vietnam or out side vietnam!!!!!
Hanoi Government had ordered Tep Vong to arrest and defrock Monk Tim Sakhorn because they claimed that Monk Tim Sakhorn was an illegal Vietnamese living in Cambodia. Well, how about those 4 millions illegal immigrant Yuons?
At least these Viet boat people have something and now compare that with Khmer Krom people in Vietname and they have nothing to speak of except brutal Vietcong oppressive government!
The Khmer Krom people lost everything under the Vietcong government...their culture, their language, their ancestral land, their right to live as human...Maybe some of these Viet-Americans can explain why the Khmer Krom people have to suffer so much under the Vietcong government!
In case these fucken Viet-American people don't know that AH HUN SEN Vietcong slave government allows the Viet people to have their community association all over Cambodia but not the Khmer Krom community! If the fucken Viet boat people live only on land and how come they have their community association all over Cambodia? Why is that? By the way, those people want to see more Viet people just go to Phnom Phen!
The Vietcong government is employing the Viet-American to advance their propaganda to the world without shame!
Freedom for Khmer Krom people is freedom for all Khmer people!
Why Cambodia has the responsibility to help feed 4 million illegal Viet? Why? Why?
This is why Cambodia is such in bad shape as a country and will be many more years to come.
If I become to be Khmer prime minister or king for three days I would like to legalize this Viet with $350.00 first step and second $500.00 each illegal take all this money to bill great wall along East side border,who not willing to pay call Viet government to take care, if it don't go to jail,that lot lakes and ponds to be filled up ,for the need of the increasing Cambodian population.
But it sad cuz that just in the dream
khmer pheas khloun.
ITS TRUE THAT THIS WHOLE SHIT IS A PROPAGANDA! IF HE WANT TO SHARE NEWS, SHARE THE WHOLE PICTURE OF THE WHOLE STORY. AND IF THESE VIET SUFFER SO MUCH, THEY SHOULD GO BACK TO FUCKEN " HO CHI MING "
If the Viet boat people live only on water and how come they have Viet community association all over Cambodia? How come?
These fucken Viet-American have a very fuck up twisted logic to promote the Vietcong government's propaganda at the expense of the Khmer Krom people!
If Cambodian Great Lake not a safe place to live ,why don't they go back to Vietnam?
I hope this guy report about Vietnam took Cambodian buried them alive ,and keep their heads out,
as part of the stove,cook hot water on Cambodian heads TO MAKE THE TEA FOR THE BIG MEN called Te'ong. Come on be fair and balance, if they not enjoy it ,just take off, so ours fish, and marine lives,they can stay in the healthy environment in the Great Lake..
khmer pheas khloun
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=ce7776c478228d317c380d63a883edfe
crazyglue on Aug 19, 2007 at 14:04:44 said:
Dear Mr./Ms. Vu Hao Nhien,
Suffices it to say that your report is politically motivated? A person of your caliber should have known better than just playing this politic of compassion for your own national (Viet also known as YUON to khmer people) to the detriment of the oppressed millions of Khmer (Cambodian) people who are currently under the dictat orship of the Viet indoctrinated/brainwashed Hun Sen and his cronies regime in Phnom Penh.
Mr./Ms. Vu Hao Nhien, if not already, the world will soon know the true color of all you Viet regardless of your unbiased report and the constant worl wide effort of the Viet to re-write Cambodia's history and Hanoi's blueprints to Vietnamize and annex Cambodia.
It's a shame for you, Mr./Ms. Vu, a Viet-Amrican of your capacity, to opt to ignore to report other historical facts including the most current fact of the four millions odds of those illegal Viets that are now occupying Cambodia's land (illegally)...
Finally, Mr./Ms. Vu, what right do those millions of Kmer Kampuchea Krom people have in Vietnam? Please, don't tell the world that you don't know what Kampuchea Krom is...
Until we meet again, Mr./Ms. Vu learn to be fair and not racist, because you are a Viet-Amrican now!!!
Sincerely,
Kaiak
this boat people will take cambodian land soon. now they just wait in the water. heheheheh. Most cambodian are stupid, they mad and they only kill their people. heeehee.They all think they love cambodian toooo much, but afraid of one man.heeee they hate vietnam but they hate more of their own people. heeheheheh
Anonymous @4:17 AM,
Thanks for letting us know that you are STUPID!
These Viet people they are not there for generations nor their ancestors, Vu Hao Nhien. These people all came after the 1979 invasion, they've chosen to live there because it's better than where they came from. So don't try to portray them as victims, you are lucky Vu Hao Nhien you can come in Cambodia and report about your people and make propaganda to the world. If you and your Vietnamese colleagues are fair you should report about the plight of the Khmer Krom as well, the owner of the land that have no rights what so ever under the Vietcongs' control.
You and the Viet-Americans are just the same as the Youn Vietcongs. Thanks for calling and knowing us stupid, it's just confirmed to us that you Vietcongs are all the same, whether living in the stolen land Khmer krom or abroad. What ever you said you can't change the truth, the whole world knows about it. The French, Americans, Chinese, Russian,…..they all know about your twisted mind, Vietcongs.
Your race contributes nothing to peace and prosperities in the region, except sufferings and miseries to your neighbors. All you know about is war and stealing, these are your Vietcongs' trademark.
Ecologically, Tonle Sap must be cleared of floating houses that are polluting the water, either Khmer or Vietnamese houses.
It would be better for them and their children to live on dry land.
Cambodia is among a few countries in the world which still allow people to live floating in the water to pollute this sacred fresh water.At present, the world has called to all countries to save fresh water from polluting. It is about time that, the environment authority of Cambodia should call these people to move on shore. All Cambodian people should have their house built on land and all vietnamese people whose cannot speak Cambodian should call them to return back to their homeland in Hanoi. They have no right to pollute other country drinking water. Areak Prey
YOUN NEVER LET US KHMER LIVE FREELY IN VIETNAM. YUON WILL PUT KHMERS IN GOAL IF WE GO INTO VIETNAM. RECENTLY YUON'S OFFICIALS CAME TO ARREST BUDDHIST MONK TIM SAKHORN IN KHMER TERRITORY AND BROUGHT HIM BACK TO PUT IN GAOL ILLEGALLY. CAN ANY KHMER OFFICIALS ENTER INTO VIETNAM AND ARREST THE YUON ROBBERS INSIDE VIETNAM???
ALL YUONS MUST GO BACK HOME TO LIVE IN VIETNAM.
Those viet who live in Cambodia are illegal immigrants. They have no right to set their foot on Cambodian soil or float their boat in Cambodia water.
Call them up and deport them back to their country, Vietnam. That is the most legitimate way to deal with illegal immigrants. Other nation around the global practice in similar fashion.
Post a Comment