Fifteen Kilometers away from Siem Reap city of Cambodia, the lives of more than 6000 people float on the muddy waters of the Tonle Sap lake. They live on the "floating houses" built on stilts, with an uncertain future looming large over them.
Their lives ebb and flow with the tide of Mekong river through which they reached Tonle Sap from Vietnam. Mekong river is one of the longest rivers which flows for 4000 kilometers and feeds the water to Tonle Sap. Tonle Sap is considered to be the largest lake in South East Asia. In a way, it is also seen as a river. The answer to the question whether Tonle Sap is a lake or a river itself is uncertain, like the the lives of the people who have a floating existence.
It is one of the poorest communities of Cambodia. Their floating houses lack proper sanitation. Fishing is their main source of income.They utilze, consume, and exist on the water around them. Hundreds of people live, work, earn, get married, give birth to children, and die. Children play, get schooling, and grow. Everything takes place in their water world.
Who are these floating people?
They mostly belong to the Vietnamese community. Vietnam and Cambodia have a common border and the two countries share the history of frequent wars, within their own countries and also between them. Cambodians always viewed the Vietnamese living among them with contempt and suspicion.
During the Khmer Rouge regime of Pol Pot (1975-79), the Vietnamese were persecuted, tortured and many of them were killed and a large number of them (around 100,000) were deported and driven away to Vietnam as a part of the ethnic cleansing programme.
Unfortunately they had to live as refugees in Vietnam.
After the fall of Khmer Rouge regime many of them started coming back to Cambodia, their former home for many years. They returned by taking an illegal route by boats through the Mekong river and reached the Tonle Sap. In spite of the fact that most of them were originally living in Cambodia for several years. none of them had citizenship in Cambodia.
Even now, Vietnamese do not have legal rights to have citizenship in Cambodia. They cannot have right to hold properties and they never had been given Cambodian passports.
They are not allowed by the Cambodian authorities to come to the shore, since they do not have any permanent address, identification proof or passports to prove they were Cambodian citizens who were living in Cambodia for many years. At the same time the Vietnamese government did not permit them to return to Vietnam again.
Both the countries disowned them.
So they made a daring attempt to rehabilitate themselves by defying the authorities and had built makeshift homes on stilts and started living in their floating village in Tonle Sap. They succeeded in surviving till now and their settlement remains as the symbol of their perseverance and indomitable spirit against all odds in spite of the political insecurity
and continuing harassment by the authorities.
At present, this floating village has caught the attention of the world. Several international NGOs provide their support for the betterment of lives of these settlers. ADB, Japan and South Korea are doing their best to help the floating communities through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The Floating village, now has basic health facility, a Vietnamese School, a Buddhist shrine, a church, a restaurant, a convenience store, etc.
We had a two-hour cruise through the river to visit their village and observe the lives of the floating people.In spite of their toughest life and continuous struggle, they always have a happy smile and present a friendly demeanor to visitors like us.
The government, though legally ignores their presence and do not recognize their rights, has no qualms in exploiting their floating presence for making money through a kind of voyeuristic tourism!
Their lives ebb and flow with the tide of Mekong river through which they reached Tonle Sap from Vietnam. Mekong river is one of the longest rivers which flows for 4000 kilometers and feeds the water to Tonle Sap. Tonle Sap is considered to be the largest lake in South East Asia. In a way, it is also seen as a river. The answer to the question whether Tonle Sap is a lake or a river itself is uncertain, like the the lives of the people who have a floating existence.
It is one of the poorest communities of Cambodia. Their floating houses lack proper sanitation. Fishing is their main source of income.They utilze, consume, and exist on the water around them. Hundreds of people live, work, earn, get married, give birth to children, and die. Children play, get schooling, and grow. Everything takes place in their water world.
Who are these floating people?
 |
| Floating Homes |
 |
| Home with a garden |
They mostly belong to the Vietnamese community. Vietnam and Cambodia have a common border and the two countries share the history of frequent wars, within their own countries and also between them. Cambodians always viewed the Vietnamese living among them with contempt and suspicion.
During the Khmer Rouge regime of Pol Pot (1975-79), the Vietnamese were persecuted, tortured and many of them were killed and a large number of them (around 100,000) were deported and driven away to Vietnam as a part of the ethnic cleansing programme.
Unfortunately they had to live as refugees in Vietnam.
After the fall of Khmer Rouge regime many of them started coming back to Cambodia, their former home for many years. They returned by taking an illegal route by boats through the Mekong river and reached the Tonle Sap. In spite of the fact that most of them were originally living in Cambodia for several years. none of them had citizenship in Cambodia.
Even now, Vietnamese do not have legal rights to have citizenship in Cambodia. They cannot have right to hold properties and they never had been given Cambodian passports.
They are not allowed by the Cambodian authorities to come to the shore, since they do not have any permanent address, identification proof or passports to prove they were Cambodian citizens who were living in Cambodia for many years. At the same time the Vietnamese government did not permit them to return to Vietnam again.
Both the countries disowned them.
 |
| Church |
 |
| Buddhist shrine |
 |
| School |
 |
| Community center |
So they made a daring attempt to rehabilitate themselves by defying the authorities and had built makeshift homes on stilts and started living in their floating village in Tonle Sap. They succeeded in surviving till now and their settlement remains as the symbol of their perseverance and indomitable spirit against all odds in spite of the political insecurity
and continuing harassment by the authorities.
At present, this floating village has caught the attention of the world. Several international NGOs provide their support for the betterment of lives of these settlers. ADB, Japan and South Korea are doing their best to help the floating communities through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The Floating village, now has basic health facility, a Vietnamese School, a Buddhist shrine, a church, a restaurant, a convenience store, etc.
 |
| Fishing |
We had a two-hour cruise through the river to visit their village and observe the lives of the floating people.In spite of their toughest life and continuous struggle, they always have a happy smile and present a friendly demeanor to visitors like us.
The government, though legally ignores their presence and do not recognize their rights, has no qualms in exploiting their floating presence for making money through a kind of voyeuristic tourism!
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