Migrants from the Mekong Delta live together in the centre of HCM City.

The slum is almost lost among high-rise buildings in District 2. This slum, often called as the Mekong Village, is where dozens of poor households from the Mekong Delta live when they moved to HCM City.

And true to its name, the river, the makeshift wooden bridges and the surrounding trees remind passers-by of the scenery in the Mekong Delta region. There is no clean water in this slum and people share electricity bills with each other to save money.

Most of them are bricklayers and go out fishing on nearby rivers and canals for additional incomes.

"Working as a bricklayer is hard. And if our boss fails to find the money that month, we have no other choice but to borrow from everywhere to live by. When it rains a lot in a month, construction is halted and we have no work, no money," said 40-year-old Nguyen Van Sang.

Quy, a man from Ca Mau Province, said, "If we’re lucky, we can catch some fish for several days or else we can only eat rice with wild vegetables."

During those times, they go fishing and the children search for snails to eat.

Some families have lived there for over a decade but can't afford school for their kids. Recently, parents have benefited from a charity classroom which was opened for children in the slum.

The slum in the middle of HCM City

Children search for toys at a landfill

The slum has several public toilets to save space

Boxes used to store rainwater

Four-member family lives in a small house