EnjoyHelix: Kampung Nelayan

Got a job from the office last week. Interview some fishermen at "kampung nelayan" (rough translation - the fishermen village) who are under the supervision and education of Ho an alumnus of the Faculty of Economics AND Faculty of Law, University of Indonesia. Ho's been training the fishermen there for almost two years so they can increase their living quality. They live day by day on the banks of a highly polluted river in houses built out of cardboard. They use the river's water to wash their dishes, laundry, even bathing. They're so poor to begin with that they can't buy their own boat. So they have to rent a boat from the local loan shark. In return, they have to sell all of their catch to the loan shark under the market price. On a good week, their income could reach 60.000 rupiahs. That gives them less than seven dollars a week to cover their daily needs (not to mention their family's needs) and also to buy gasoline for the boat. How do they do it? I have no idea.

Well anyways, here are some of the pictures I took there:

That's Ho with the grey shirt. The three men on the back are fishermen.

The engine kept dying everytime the propeler hits some waste on the river's surface (mostly plastic bags).

A boat we met along the river banks. That guy in the white stripped shirt was begging to be photographed. Oh, and whaddaya know, even fishermen watch motoGP. That's Rossi's 46 Yamaha on the hull.

Another Rossi fan. This time with the appropriate racing colors.

Notice how crowded it is on the banks. Everytime they went out to sea, the traffic is relentless.

This boat has a picture of someone wearing a toga and holding a degree. Shows that even the poorest of communities has hopes and dreams of getting a decent education.

The houses on the riverbanks are made out of cardboards. Dunno what to do when it's raining... . Funny thing is, some of the houses have TVs.

No, I didn't photoshop the water. It IS black.

Some of the bigger boats we met. The bigger boats usually belongs to the relatively successful fishermen. If they can buy a big boat, their income increases exponentially. Within six months, they can buy a new boat, and so on. Most of the fishermen I met there dreams to have this kind of boat some time in the future. But as long as they're stuck with the local loan shark, those dream for a bigger boat are really just that, dreams.

We narrowly escape from crashing into this big ship. Luckily, the old man here literally pushes our boat out of the way.

The net they use to catch fish. It must be a hundred metres long. When they go out to sea, they drop the net a meter at a time until they form a huge line in the water. The fish will then get stuck on the net.

They use buoys like this to mark the net they've dropped. Home made. Stick a thin piece of branch or bamboo on a styrofoam. Tie it up to make it sturdier. Then tie an unused portion of your undergarment. And voila, a home made net buoy.

When the fish is caught on the net, the stronger ones tend to wiggle free until the net broke. Most of the morning till noon, these guys mend the broken parts of the net so they can use it the next day.