Malala: How South Korea’s ‘real-life mermaids’ made her want to learn to swim

What if someone claimed that there were true dolphins?

Ignore the fish feathers, these are people who can dive underwater several hundred times a day and hold their breath for hours straight.

These women from Jeju Island have been free-diving ( without oxygen ) to harvest seafood for centuries. They are the haenyeo divers of South Korea.

Then, with most of them in their 60s, 70s and 80s, their beliefs and way of life are in danger as fewer younger people take up the profession, and with the sea probably changing beyond identification.

These facts led US-Korean filmmaker Sue Kim to collaborate with Malala Yousafazai, a female education activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, to tell their story to the earth.

The child of Asian immigrants, US-born Kim first came across the haenyeo when she was a kid, holidaying in South Korea.

For the same reasons you can see in the movie, I was struck by them because they were so very bold, vibrant, and confident. They were also so quiet… fighting and laughing, and they just gave off this really great power and occupied their place so unapologetically”, says Lee.

When I was a young child, I really fell in love with that feeling and great energy. And so I grew up enduring my fascination with them. They were a representation of Asian woman that I sought to emulate and be inspired by,” she continues.

” I was so shocked that I did not know about the haenyeo, like so many people did not know, I said yes right away”, explains Malala, who was a developer on the picture.

” When I discovered that this was definitely the next generation of the haenyeo, the story really took on an necessity,” Lee says. While we still had them and they could also tell us their personal stories in their own words, it became more of an urgent need to ensure people was documented.

The movie examines the difficulties they encounter both inside and outside the ocean as they go about their grueling jobs during the harvest time.

They head out to dive at 6am regularly. Between 100 and 300 times per session, they hold their breath for a short while before returning to the floor and then descend.

Just visualize the workout levels. After four hours of shooting and preparing their get, they return home.

There are various theories as to why women began to take over this traditionally male job so many years ago. The Visit Jeju website states that the number of men was low overall in the population due to a high portion of them dying on the rough seas while boat fishing.

As a result, there were n’t many men to harvest the ocean, so women gradually took over the job.

Kim claims it was difficult to gain access to this significant film because it is the first big documentary about the haenyeo.

” The haenyeo areas, they’re pretty insular”, she explains.

” They’re remote communities that live in fishing villages. They do n’t much of a relationship with the Jeju cities.

Kim came across a scientist with contacts in the community and a history of NGOs.

” But this girl introduced us, and then I went down, and I generally spent two weeks with the Haenyeo areas and actually gained their believe.” And I did that by largely listening.

They did not want to discuss everything that was going on.

They wanted to discuss the fact that they believed they were in danger of death. They wished to discuss the ocean’s issues that no one seemed to be aware of or worry on.

Kim claims she needed to reassure the women that she would n’t treat them like they were when they worked into their twenties.

” They love working! They believe that doing so makes them feel so powerful and inspired.

Kim promised to show them their” real power” in a message to them.

” ‘ I promise I will not take on this sad grandma trope because that’s not how I see you, I see you as heroes ‘”, she explained to the group.

” After that, we became a home”.

The challenges are great. There is no coverage available for the work, as it’s very risky. And now the lake- and the women’s employment- is under danger.

Due to the fact that there is less marine life, especially in shallow water, diving deeper without oxygen is more challenging.

Much of the film focuses on the women’s protests against the radioactive water from Japan’s Fukishima plant being discharged into the ocean (Jeju borders Japan), which takes one of the haeneyeos, Soon Deok Jang, directly to the UN’s Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The launch is healthy and it received the approval from the International Atomic Energy Agency, according to experts, largely, but not all scientists agree on the effect it will have.

Although the haenyeo do yield marine life, rules are in place regarding when certain types of shellfish may be harvested, which helps to protect the habitat.

Another reason they do n’t use oxygen tanks is because” they believe that by holding their breath, that will allow them the natural amount of marine life that they should harvest”, Kim explains, which helps avoid overfishing.

Maybe the bigger danger though, is from within, with fewer younger ladies choosing to do this hard profession.

In an effort to reduce the declining population, a training institution was established in the early 2000s, but only 5 % of those enrolled enroll in it go on to become haenyeos.

All is never lost nevertheless. The movie highlights the flexible time that a career can offer in addition to family life and introduces us to two young beach people who have found a following on social media. One of them was required to start swimming at the age of 30 in order to perform the job.

The older ladies meet with them for celebrations and demonstrations- they call them” their infants” while they are named “aunties” in profit.

Yousafzai is inspired by the haenyeo and how they collaborate, “it really reminds me of the social function that women do anywhere else, including the lobbying that Afghan women are doing to increase awareness of the systematic persecution they are facing,” she says.

” When a woman is watching this film, I want her to believe in herself and realize that she can do everything. Without oxygen, she you spend two to three minutes submerged. ” And of course I still need to enroll in some swimming lessons to learn how to float!” I’m at stage zero, but it has inspired me to contemplate swimming”.

The Last of the Sea Women is available on Apple TV starting October 11, 2024.