As Phnom Penh expands its boundaries and concessions are granted to large companies for development, more and more residents are being evicted from their homes and forced to move far from the city limit. Since 1990, about 133,000 people have been evicted from their homes in Phnom Penh to give way to development projects. 4,000 families living around Beoung Kak Lake will have to vacate a total of 133 hectares of land. One-fourth of the families have already vacated and the lake almost completely filled in to make way for upscale development, which will transform the areas into a skyscraper complex and resort.
In a small village nestled between backpacker stations and signs advertising western food, lives Kolab, age 54 and mother of five children. Two of her daughters married Cambodian-Americans and are now living and working in garment factories in Washington State. Only Kolab’s three youngest children are still living with her and her husband in a small shack on the lake.
They arrived to the lake in 1990. At that time, no one was living on the lake. Beoung Kak served as a resort area for fishing and boating for those who wished to escape the hustle and bustle of the city. During the heavy monsoon season, Beoung Kak also serves as a natural reservoir for excess runoff from the city. As the years progressed, attracted by the beauty of the lake and opportunity for work in the area, others also began to arrive and settle around Kolab and her family.
Kolab sells coffee, salt, pepper and other small necessities in a small shop next door to her home. Her husband drives a moto-taxi in the city. But Kolab wreaks a living mainly to help secure the future for her three youngest children. All three are attending school. Her son Dara, 22 years old, is studying to be an electrical engineer. Her daughter Maly, 21, is studying law and volunteers her after-school hours at the Housing Rights Task Force, which advocates for local land rights. The youngest daughter, Dariyah, 18, hopes also to become a lawyer one day, following in her sister’s footsteps.
I asked Maly how she made the decision to study law. She told us it was because her mother asked her to. She’s not sure yet what she wants to do with the law, but she knows she wants to become a lawyer. Kolab realized that the secret to winning any battle was knowledge and she wanted Maly to be able to defend her own rights as well as the rights of others.
Kolab has faced intense intimidation from local authorities to stop organizing and fighting for her right to remain on the lake. Yet, Kolab perseveres. She wants a home and the right to live in her home and the right for her children to go to school every day. If they are evicted, they must live in a designated area 26 km away from the city, with no access to work or education. Her children will have to travel a great distance to attend school, expending as much as 2 USD every day on gas money. Her husband, a moto-taxi driver in the city, will also have to spend much more to continue his work in the city center. Kolab would not even complain if the government gave her at least a piece of land that she can work on to feed and support her family. But 26 km away from the city she and her family would have nothing.
Although Beoung Kak Lake legally belongs to the government and Kolab does not have the legal right to live there, I wonder what will happen to the thousands of families like Kolab’s, who are evicted from their homes and are left with no access to employment or education for their children.
“I just want to see my children have a bright future, a higher education. I want to see them a brave as I am so that even though I die, I can close my eyes,” says Kolab.
The lake is now almost completely drained and filled with sand.
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