The Village of Dong Mam, in Son Hai Commune, Luc Ngan district, Bac Giang province has 100 households with nearly 400 people. For decades it has been an oasis, which is isolated from the outside world. People live on the mountains and hills around the Cam Son reservoir, the 4th largest hydropower reservoir in the North.

There are no roads; people have to move by boat. Well-off people rent motorboats. In those living conditions, many children can swim very well.

Before 2013 many people earned their living by growing rice. Then their fields have been flooded. Since then, the main source of income of locals comes from lychee and cassava. In the morning, thick fog makes travel very difficult. Cam Son Lake is up to 80m deep in some places.

Primary school students of the Cam Son School go to school by boat. Many children who live far from the school have to row two hours to get to school. Without means of communications, they still go to school on stormy days of the days when the temperature is below 10 degrees C, when the school closes and then return home.

In the winter, when the weather falls to 5 degrees Celsius, they have to cross the hills in the cold to school. Most of their clothes come from charity organizations.

Locals plant lychee and cassava on the hills. A woman said her lychees were usually bruised after a long journey on boat to the market. She had to sell fruit at cheap prices.

Life is peaceful here. Day after day they just wander around the house and the next door neighbors.

Many families raise pigs and pigeons to earn extra income.

Dong Mam does not have telecommunication signals. Mobile phones are mainly used for the music and FM radio.

There is also no health station here. Sick people are carried to the commune center by boat or through several hills to Song Hoa in Lang Son province for treatment.

The village has only two grocery stores providing essential necessities for local people.

Every evening, after the dinner men group up to chat in the light of oil lamps and then go to bed early.

Children play on the yard.

On cold days, women have to warm themselves by burning wood.

At the home of Mr. Vi Van Quang, he uses light from his motorcycle.

Cooking dinner in the light from a flashlight.

The dinner in flickering lights at Quang’s house.

The desk of Huy, a 5th grader.

Mr. Cong has a generator powered by steam, but it is just enough for illuminating a corner. All activities must be supported by flashlights.

However, the steam generator works very tentatively because it depends on the water level. Every night local people only use generators for about 2 hours.