Villages
A shift in traditional lifestyle
The Myeik Archipelago has long been home to the Moken, an indigenous group of sea-gypsies. The Moken traditionally spent most of their time living on “kabans”— wooden boats that held multiple families. They grouped together to create floating pods and traveled between the islands as they lived on the abundance of resources readily available to them. As one Moken described, “we collected shellfishes, harpooned fish, dove for sea cucumbers, cattle fished, and dynamite fished.” While the Moken never settled on land, they generated common routes between islands that satisfied their needs for survival.
However, interviews have shown the population underwent a radical shift in lifestyle in the most recent generation. Now almost all Moken live in villages, alongside Burmese fishermen and shop-owners. They have built thatched huts to live in and some villages have a school or monastery. Most Moken are now employed by Burmese fishermen; their jobs consist of gathering sea cucumbers and shellfish, or single-line fishing for anything they can catch.
Impacts
Villages are a growing environmental impact in the islands. When villagers were polled for how much their village has grown in the last decade, the average response was by about 3x. The larger villages are around 500 people strong.
While the villages are not significant in size, they still have an impact on the environment around them. This is mainly because villages serve as a base for Burmese fishermen. These fishermen fish in unregulated abundance and conduct their work with a substantial task force of Moken laborers who work for very little pay. In the past 30 years, biomass of pelagic fish has decreased by 90% in the archipelago.
The bulk of the waste produced by the fishermen consists of fishing nets, as well as plastic from the villages. There is no garbage disposal system among the islands; everything is thrown into the water. The impact of this practice was less noticeable when the only island inhabitants were the nomadic Moken; however, with growing village populations, as well as transient tourist populations, the garbage problem is rapidly catalyzing environmental change.
Infrastructure
Some villages have infrastructure like monasteries, schools, restaurants, and markets.
Jalan, one of the more developed villages, has a large monastery.
The monastery provides religious schooling services to children of the village. Even in villages with schools, getting schooling from the monastery is still considered the best education in the islands. However, parents who are serious about education send their children to the mainland for schooling.
All villages are comprised of thatched huts, the majority of which sit on stilts over the water. The villages have no sewage system, so houses over the water provide an "easy" solution to that problem.
Most villages also have small food stores; however, because fishing is the most popular job, many men support themselves and their families on the small portion of their catch that they are allowed to keep after giving the rest to the Burmese fishermen. They sell anything they will not eat to other families, while the markets provide convenient foods like rice and instant coffee.
Education
Education in the villages is loosely structured, and the school system is mostly full of children who are too young to provide for their families by working. Classes are taught by parents or well-educated villagers in a one schoolhouse setting.
The majority of villagers attend school up to 5th grade before dropping out to support their families. However, even with primary school being the most widely attended, only just less than 50% of villagers achieve this level of schooling. This is mainly because children must travel to the mainland for any higher education.
Family
Families in the villages tend to remain small, with the average number of kids being between 3 and 4. The number of families without children is significant because the village population tends to remain young. Life expectancy is relatively short, especially for males, so it is fairly common for a family to "adopt" another child whose parents have passed away. It is also common for women to get married again after their husband dies and have more children. The village community is internally supportive, so families are generally not driven to have children for the purpose of elderly care.
Origin
Villages are comprised of both Moken and Burmese immigrants, with the Burmese representing an increasing majority. There are over 100 different ethnic groups in Myanmar; in that respect, the population of the islands is somewhat diverse. However, the influx of immigrants to the islands is growing due to recent development and a reliable fishing business, and the Moken population is being lost in the cultural and marital mixing.