Fishing in Goa

It is hard not to notice that fishing is still a part of daily life in Goa.  The beaches are littered with fishing boats that give off a strong fishy smell as you walk past.  In the morning, if you get to the beach early enough, you can watch the fishing crews pull in their nets and gather up the catch of the day.

Brightly coloured fishing boats sit on the sand after a long morning of work.

A more traditional fishing boat made out of wood.

There are no fishing rods here, just metres of net that gets thrown into the sea.  The net settles to the sea floor and fish come in and swim over it.  When the time is right the team starts to fold the net over itself, trapping the fish inside, kind of like a giant envelope.  They will repeat this over and over until they have filled their baskets with enough fish to sell at the market or to a local restaurant.  It is hard, tiring work tugging on all that netting, so after a full morning of work you can catch most workers taking a nap under the shade of a palm tree or just sitting by their boats enjoying the cool sea breeze.

Workers pulling in their net and hoping for a big catch.

Working Hard in India

Living in India can be very difficult.  Many people in India don't have enough money to send their children to school.  Even if schools are free, many kids your age have to stay at home and help their parents make money so the family can afford food and shelter.

While wandering along the beach, I met Tina.  She was a very nice lady, with a beautiful smile, who was trying to sell me some shirts.  I told her that I didn't need any new shirts, but she kept walking with me.  I told her that I was a teacher who was travelling around the world looking for new lessons to share with my students and she gave me a lesson to share.  "Learn how to read and write!"  She explained that she never went to school so she can't read and write, "so that means I can only learn by listening and talking.  Reading means you can learn so much more."  That's a great lesson Tina.


My friend Tina shows you her beautiful smile.

Tina is working very hard.  She leaves her home at 6:30 every morning and sits on a crowded bus for an hour until she arrives in Goa.  She spends her day talking to tourists and trying to sell them clothing, hoping to make enough money so that her two daughters can go to school.

Tina isn't the only hardworking person in India.  There are hardworking men and women all over the country.  You can see them in the rice paddies, bent over harvesting the rice into big heavy bags.  You can see them carry baskets full or bread, fruit or fish on their heads, all ready to be sold at the market.  Even though they are all working hard, they are always smiling.  Handing you some happiness so that one day it will come back to them!

Women carrying baskets and bags of fish on their heads to be sold at market.