A long day in the life of an ethnic minority sugar cane plantation labourer

The gentleman in the middle of the picture above is Chuong, a 32-year-old chap belonging to the Vietnamese ethnic minority group, Cham H'Roi.

I met him and some of his family members while travelling on a bus from Quy Nhon city (Binh Dinh Province) to Tuy Hoa city (Phu Yen Province) in March '16.  Chuong was returning home from a day's work on one of Binh Dinh's sugar cane plantations.

He and his family were making their daily 3-hour 100km return bus journey to his home in the hills of Phu Yen Province, to a small district called Son Hoa.  He was joined by his wife and some other family members (one of which is to the right in the photo above).

Chuong is the youngest of 8 brothers and sisters and there's a massive 22-year gap between Chuong and the eldest sibling, 54 years old, who was also on the bus and smoking like a chimney.

With 6 hours travel time to get to and from work each day, Chuong and his family had a long 14-hour day.  Chuong told me that his people didn't have many options for work where they lived and hence, he and his family members need their job.


---Foody plug---

As we talked, I shared some "nem chua", a delicious soured-pork sausage, wrapped delicately in banana leaf.  It's the perfect travel snack and typical of Northern Vietnamese cuisine (though I had actually bought them in Da Nang).  At VND 6,000 (GBP 0.20 or USD 0.30) per piece, it's a bargain.

Chuong and his family were trying it for the first time and I was overjoyed to see the smiles of contentment on their faces after taking their first bite.

I had also picked up some small and crispy, spiced crabs, which serve as a great beer snack (sorry, I didn't take a pic).  Chuong tried it and said that it would be great with rice wine, which in his town, they drink in the traditional way, from big clay pots and through straws made from fine cane.  So I gave the box of them to him to take on their way.

Livelihood story continued...

Chuong told me that he and other members of his family worked for an Indian company called KCP that's into sugar cane manufacturing (biofuels) and on-shore oil extraction.

Chuong shared that he and his family worked an 8-hour day cutting sugar cane (7-11am and 1-5pm) and for that, he received VND 100,000 (approx. GBP 3 or USD 5) per day.

If he worked every day of the week on that wage - I wouldn't be surprised if that were true - then that equates to a monthly salary of around VND 3 million (GBP 100 or USD 150).

As such, Chuong earns roughly 10% under the average annual income (GDP per capita) of a Vietnamese citizen, which stands at around USD 2,000 per annum (World Bank).

One might be shocked at the insignificance of this salary however, Chuong combines this salary with that of his wife to provide for them and their 2 kids (11 and 5 years old), who both attend school.

It's worth bearing in mind that a good number of Vietnamese families, especially those from rural areas, still own entitlements to land and therefore, rent/mortgage payments aren't such of a burden.

Such ownership will most often comprise of a humble 40-50m squared family house and around 1ha of land, generally used for subsistence paddy farming.  Though, in Phu Yen Province, corn is commonly grown.

I didn't have enough time with Chuong to validate his families land and property holdings but I assume that something similar to the above is the case.  Chuong and his family appeared in good health and were definitely not under-fed!, as you can see from his rounded face!

Chuong's family are doing well and with his kids in school, they make an exemplary rural working-class Vietnamese family.  I wished them well as I hopped off the bus.

I hope to visit them one day in their hometown and will update you as and when I do on their progress.