Binh Dinh villagers look for greener pastures

Le Thanh Tien, the chairman of the commune People Committee, said in the last decade the rising population has sharply reduced the arable land per capita, which is not only little but not very fertile either, yielding just 200-350kg of rice per 500sq.m

Tien put the number of people who have left the commune for other provinces and cities at over 1,000, with a majority being women. The commune’s population is around 18,000.

In Chanh Liem Village, for instance, the Women’s Association reported to commune authorities that around 200 people have migrated.

Dang Thi Ngoc Bich, a native of the village who now lives in HCM City, has criss-crossed the country for many years now in search of a livelihood. In that period she has lived in many places between the Central Highlands and HCM City.

Bich cannot remember when she left the village, but pointed to her sixth-grade son she left behind in his infancy as an indication of the period she has been absent from home.

She started off as an itinerant fish-sauce trader, travelling between Binh Dinh and the highland province of Dac Lac. Her business thrived at first. However, more and more began to copy her idea, gradually pushing her out of the business. "They opened shops and downed the price," she said.

In desperation, she switched to selling plastic and metal goods. Carrying her load on a bamboo pole slung over her shoulder, she would hawk her products across Gia Lai Province’s difficult terrain. It left her exhausted and with little money to even make ends meet, let alone sending her three kids to school.

Bich finally drifted to HCM City, where she sold scrap also with the aid of the bamboo pole. The challenges here were different: city lights, intimidation, discrimination, parochialism, social evils, fights, unhygienic living conditions. She lives there now in a rented flat crammed with up to 100 workers.

Sharing the load

Nguyen Van Huynh of the same village has a different approach – he and his wife alternately leave the village to eke out a livelihood. When his wife is out selling food or scrap, he stays behind to look after their kids, cattle, and (1,500sq) of ricefields.

Huynh, aged over 40, is, however, tired of life as an itinerant ice-cream seller that took him as far away as Da Nang and Hoi An. He is considering staying at home for good and letting his wife carry on with her trade. She has already been absent for several years, leaving him alone with the kids in a crumbling hut.