Fishing village on the Se San 4 hydropower reservoir

In the middle of the vast Se San 4 hydroelectric lake, from a few people who came to catch fish to make a living, it has now become a fishing village in the middle of the sunny and windy highlands.

Fish cages of lakeside residents.

On the Se San 4 hydropower reservoir located between Gia Lai and Kon Tum provinces, bordering the Cambodian border, there are currently 29 households with more than 100 people living.

Previously, these households spent their entire lives on boats, floating around rivers and dams, viewing the boat as their home and the river as their homeland.

They have lived and floated on boats that have been considered their homes for decades. Hearing stories about their lives makes me feel sad and uncertain.

They lived a life like that. In the early days of settling down here, each person had a 3m2 raft or canoe, covered with an old tarpaulin, during the day they went fishing and fishing, and at night when they returned, they slept in the whispering sound of the river's waves.

Life wandering on makeshift rafts, without temporary residence papers, without a home... contains many difficulties and uncertainties. They stick with the profession all their lives, then pass it on to their children and grandchildren. They dream of living ashore, to escape their life floating on the river.

Lying close to the shore is the boat, and also the home of 5 people in the family of Ms. Vu Thi Huyen, 39 years old this year.

She said: "My family is poor. Since our ancestors' generations, we have been attached to boats, rivers and vast lakes like this. I thought my child's life would be the same! And who knows, maybe it will be the same in my grandchild's life!", Ms. Huyen confided.

For decades, 29 households with more than 100 people lived in harmony with each other, relying on nature to survive. How many people were born and raised on these rivers? They lived a miserable life, year-round, only knowing how to fish.

The "rice fishing rod" left behind only helps them find shrimp and fish to cover their daily lives, but it is not enough, and so poverty continues to lead to poverty, they cannot decide their own lives. .

Developing services on the Se San 4 hydropower reservoir

Mr. Nguyen Hai Trieu, from An Giang, shared that almost every year, people come to build huts and join the fishing village. They come from different regions such as Ca Mau, An Giang, Quang Binh, Thua Thien - Hue, Hai Duong... Every night, if they are lucky, they can earn more than 100,000 VND. That amount of money is just enough to feed a family.

Those are experienced people, but there are many newcomers who carry their nets many nights to nothing. The majority in this fishing village are still residents of the Western provinces and people from river regions. There are up to 14 households in the village from An Giang, Long An, Ca Mau...

And each person has a hometown, but shares the same fate of making a living in another country. All the people forming a floating village on this lake live off the shrimp, fish, snails, and mussels that the river's muddy water brings.

The lakeside hamlet now has many fish cages to ensure economic security.

The life of drifting aimlessly and full of hardship seemed to last forever, but in 2014, the residents of this lakeside hamlet boldly wrote an application to the commune asking for permanent residence on the river side of Kon Tum province, located in Ia Toi commune, Ia H'Drai district.

It took forever, but in early 2018, Secretary of the Kon Tum Provincial Party Committee Nguyen Van Hung personally, after visiting and learning about the lives of households in this fishing village, directed the local government to import and issue residential land, creating conditions for fishing villagers to go ashore and for their children to study. And that fishing village now belongs to village 7, Ia Toi commune (Ia H'Drai district, Kon Tum province).

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Nhan, a resident of the fishing village, was overjoyed, because he thought those homeless people only knew how to hang around on the lake, but thanks to the attention of the government, the residents of the fishing village were granted registration books. household registration, 400m2 of residential land and 50 million VND to build a house on the shore, with national grid electricity coming to each house, life changed dramatically.

Many lakeside residents have adapted very quickly, raising fish in cages and providing tourism services.

Now, this lakeside village is only a few hundred meters from the riverbank, crowded and bustling in the afternoon. At that time, the children came home from school, and the adults, after a day of sailing up and down to make a living, also returned to the dock to go home. Around the house, they release a few chickens and ducks or raise small pigs to improve things.

Women and children take care of bathing, washing, cooking, and men gather together to share about the water in the lake, about the fish raised in their cages, talk about future plans or sip a glass of wine together. to dispel the fatigue of a hard day of making a living.

And yet, many people have taken advantage of their boats as places to sell goods, opening additional boating services on the lake for fishing. The boats that served as residences floating on the water in the past became restaurants to serve everyone.

Many people who come to this lake area are extremely surprised, because the old reputation of a poor fishing village floating on the lake is no longer there, replaced by a bustle and keeping up with the wave of change quite quickly. .

In the afternoon, residents of the lakeside neighborhood take canoes back to their homes on the shore.

The life of the old fishing village households is now different. Many households both fish and process fish and provide tourism services.