In order to reach the center of the jungle, we had to walk eight kilometers on a narrow and winding path from the province’s Phung Hiep District to the headquarters of the nature reserve area.
We then had to travel on a small composite boat for more then three kilometers on canals blocked by water hyacinth and weeds.
“The reservation area has three zones, including the ecological restoration, administration, and the strict protection zone, which is the furthest away. However, people choose to live in this area. Without a path, they must travel by boat. Difficult living conditions greet them year after year,” Le Minh Man, deputy head of the Lung Ngoc Hoang Nature Reserve’s management and protection department, said.
The wood hamlet
The hamlet is located along a small canal belonging to lots No. 2 and 3 of the strict protection area, which local people often call the forest’s “core”.
When we arrived flood water had just withdrawn, and the ground was still wet and swampy. From our boat, we had to walk across a bridge, formed from the trunk of a tree, over a swampy area to reach the home of a resident.
There is no concrete or brick here. The community lives in thatched houses that are erected on a very low foundation. In fact, this area is a bank of the nearby canal.
“Though this is the highest location in the area, it’s still 30 to 40 centimeters under water in flood season. People have to move their belongings to higher places,” Man said.
We visited the house of Dang Hoang Tuan, who lives in the middle of the hamlet. When we arrived he was busily fixing the roof of his house, which had been damaged by strong winds the night before.
Everybody calls it a house, when in reality it is a temporary hut which was built using sticks Tuan collected in the forest. Most of the residents here build similar types of houses, and they are rebuilt after they have been lived in for two or three years.
Most of the residents live very difficult lives. Man said there are 120 families, consisting of 564 people, living in the hamlet. They plant sugar cane, cultivate rice paddies, and cut reeds. They also secretly exploit bee honey, cut wood, and hunt wild animals in order to survive.
Generations of illiteracy
Tuan said that he has been living here since he was a child. He is now 54 years old. Before 1975, the area was forest. Starting that year, everybody came to cut down trees for paddy cultivation. Living conditions are so terrible that no one thinks of education. Of course, there is no school here.
According to Tuan, those who want to go to school must travel 10 kilometers on boat, adding that all of his children work hard to earn a living, making it even more difficult to attend school.
Out of his four children, only the youngest actually had a chance to go to school. He had to stay in a relative’s house near the school. Sadly, he also had to quit school when he was in the seventh grade.
Now, Tuan’s children are married and have children of their own. He doesn’t know of any school that is convenient for his grandchildren to study at. Tuan was coughing while he talked about his family’s situation. He said he thinks he has a lung disease, but he has no time to see a doctor, and cannot access healthcare services anyway.
“I have to make a round trip of 30 to 40 kilometers in my boat to reach the hospitals in Phung Hiep or Long My Districts. I only go to the hospitals when I have reached a critical health condition,” he said.
Many people in the hamlet share Tuan’s situation. Nguyen Thi Phuong and Nguyen Van Quyet, a married couple who lives near Tuan’s house, has no offspring. Every day, the couple rows their small boat to the forest to cut reeds.
Each day, they earn from VND70,000 to VND80,000 (US$3.3-3.8) from the job. The money is barely enough for them to buy even rice. When they get sick, they cannot manage.
Phuong raised her good-looking eye up, the other is blind, and talked about her situation. “Dust dropped into my eyes when I was cutting reed. I thought it would heal itself. I put off going to a hospital. When I finally decided to go to Phung Hiep Hospital, doctors said my eye had been blinded. They recommended that I go to Ho Chi Minh City for treatment, but I don’t have the money for that.
Awaiting a budget
Duong Minh Hung, deputy director of the Lung Ngoc Hoang Nature Reserve, said that, due to historic reasons, people chose to live in the forest several decades ago. They now have children and grandchildren.
Now, the number of households in the hamlet has increased to 120. Living conditions for the people here are very difficult. Besides the insufficient roads, poor electricity supply, lack of education opportunities, and distant healthcare services, residents also have no tap water.
People must use water from the nearby river and canals, which is often polluted by rotten leaves. Hung said it’s hard to stop the residents from cutting wood and extracting honey, actions that can lead to forest fires.
Hung revealed that the local government has planned to allocate 5.4 hectares to move the hamlet out of the forest. The people of the community will then live near healthcare centers, schools, and markets. Each household will be granted 1,500 square meters of agricultural land for farming.
However, there is currently no budget for the project. Hau Giang Province’s People’s Committee had suggested that the government allocate VND102 billion (US$4.9 million) for the project. Fortunately, the money is expected to be granted next year.
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