"During a day trip to the floating villages of Tonle Sap Lake/Mekong River Delta, Cambodia, I noticed movement of a small object in the middle of this largest lake in Southeast Asia. As we drew closer, I was suprised to discover that the object was a person.
Through my interpreter we learned that this was a very timid woman who was harvesting fresh water snails from the silted bottom of this neck-deep lake. She spends several hours a day harvesting these snails, which are salted and dried, selling them in the villages for an average of 4 cents per day.
She also said that she was 84 and alone. Her two sons and husband were among the close to 2 million Cambodians who perished during the brutal Pol Pot/Khmer Rouge genocide of the mid 70's. With no extended family to help care for her, this woman's plight underscores the unseen ravaging effects of war, political upheaval and dire poverty.
When asked where she lived she pointed towards the horizon and said her entire belongings were contained in the boat. I asked if she meant the larger house-boat off in the distance but she shook her head and pointed reluctantly to the small rowboat ten feet or so away. All of her personal belongings -- a tarp, a few utensils, gas stove -- were contained therein. I asked where she goes when the lake swells ten-fold with the onset of the fierce monsoon rains. She said that she retreats to the local villages until the dry season and the lake level recedes again.
I then asked her what happens if she becomes ill?
Her calm and matter-of-fact reply was 'I may die.'
Unfazed and showing no emotion, my guide and boatman motored away."
- Richard Murai
April, 2002
Through my interpreter we learned that this was a very timid woman who was harvesting fresh water snails from the silted bottom of this neck-deep lake. She spends several hours a day harvesting these snails, which are salted and dried, selling them in the villages for an average of 4 cents per day.
She also said that she was 84 and alone. Her two sons and husband were among the close to 2 million Cambodians who perished during the brutal Pol Pot/Khmer Rouge genocide of the mid 70's. With no extended family to help care for her, this woman's plight underscores the unseen ravaging effects of war, political upheaval and dire poverty.
When asked where she lived she pointed towards the horizon and said her entire belongings were contained in the boat. I asked if she meant the larger house-boat off in the distance but she shook her head and pointed reluctantly to the small rowboat ten feet or so away. All of her personal belongings -- a tarp, a few utensils, gas stove -- were contained therein. I asked where she goes when the lake swells ten-fold with the onset of the fierce monsoon rains. She said that she retreats to the local villages until the dry season and the lake level recedes again.
I then asked her what happens if she becomes ill?
Her calm and matter-of-fact reply was 'I may die.'
Unfazed and showing no emotion, my guide and boatman motored away."
- Richard Murai
April, 2002
