FLOATING VILLAGEA taste of poverty in Lake Tonle Sap

Reporting by Laura Barron-Lopez

Photographs by Susana Cobo

A child handgrips a python on a boat,

a norm for the children growing

up on the lake.

The largest freshwater lake of

Southeast Asia, Tonle Sap Lake, is

home to thousands of Cambodians and

Vietnamese who rely on fishing and

tourism for income.

Mothers and children approach tourist boats eagerly hoping to bring out guilt in tourists, who can provide folding money.

Children, caught in a water fight,

catch a break from persuading tourists.

A t the center of Cambodia, along the Chong Khneas delta that opens into Lake Tonle Sap,

is a floating village, home to over 3 million Cambodians and Vietnamese. The river is muddy, the smell is unpleasant, and the people of this village bathe in the same water they urinate in. Yet, TVs can be seen through the clutter and somehow four to five people manage a life inside these makeshift homes. The floating village of Lake Tonle Sap is a taste of the poverty in this nation. People have lived on the lake since the 12th century and it provides Cambodia with over 75 percent of its fish. Tourists provide a form of income as well. The tourist boats get just close enough to pry into the homes and lives of these natives but are far enough away that a distance is kept, allowing passers-by to remain in their comfort zone. The distance is broken, however, when the locals

speed up alongside the visitors in small motorboats, hoping the guilt felt by tourists will get them a dollar or two. Children, not over 3 years of age, teeter on the small motorboats, drenched in water, with a python dangling around their neck. “$1 for photo,” the children and mothers yell at the visitors. “$1!” Now, on the opposite side of the boat, older children between 7 to 10 years of age approach feverishly, paddling in large buckets and once they get close enough pull out pythons of their own. “Initially I thought that this is child abuse to have kids exploited like that with snakes,” said Karen Schmelig, a Cambodian Health Professional Association of America volunteer, from Torrance, CA. “But, you are born where you’re born and it is shocking to see their way of life.”

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