Nghe An Catholics strive to develop economy, build cultural life
(Baonghean.vn)Previously, Tan An village (An Hoa commune, Quynh Luu) was a Catholic hamlet, a poor fishing village on the Mai Giang river, with makeshift houses always threatened by natural disasters, and a year-round situation of "market rice, river water" and constant hunger. But over the past 10 years, the life of Tan An village has changed rapidly. People have boldly invested in building new large boats capable of going far out to sea. Currently, the village has 35 large-capacity boats, each worth over 1 billion VND. People have also actively borrowed capital to develop many new occupations.
Besides traditional occupations such as salt making and seafood processing, Tan An now has many occupations that did not exist before such as: livestock and poultry farming, aquaculture, and marine logistics services (ice, gasoline, mechanical repair, etc.). Tan An village is a typical example of the efforts to build the economic and cultural life of the religious people of Nghe An.
Mr. Duong Ha Nam, head of Tan An village, said: Up to now, the village has achieved 100% tiled houses, 90% solid houses, basically concreted village roads and alleys, especially 100% of houses have septic tanks. The outstanding feature of Tan An is the diligence, dynamism, creativity of the people combined with the revolutionary spirit, the solidarity in life is very high, that is also the driving force to build Tan An into a cultural village. In 2009, Tan An's seafood processing profession was granted a certificate of recognition as a craft village by the Provincial People's Committee. Also in the last school year, the village had 8/8 students passing the university and college entrance exams, the number of students taking the entrance exams for high school, college, and university is increasing.
Regarding Nghi Loc, a district with a large number of Catholics with more than 9,400 households, more than 44,000 people in 53 parishes, 17 parishes. In just the past 5 years, the economic life of the Catholics has increased continuously, the average income per capita increased from 4.7 million VND/person/year (2005) to 11.6 million VND/person/year (2010), an increase of 244%; the number of well-off and rich households increased more than 3 times, there are no more hungry households and makeshift bamboo houses.
Many good economic models of parishioners have appeared such as the aquaculture model of Ms. Ha's family in Tan Lap parish, Nghi Quang; the VAC economic model combined with civil carpentry of Mr. Quang's family in Nghi Thuan; the farm economic model of Mr. Tuan's family, Xuan My parish, Nghi Dong; the construction brick business model of Mr. Luong's family, Ngoc Su parish, Nghi Trung; the broom weaving model of Mr. Lac's family, Xuan Son parish, Nghi Hung... with an income of 50 - 150 million VND/year. The highlight of the movement to help each other do business in the parish in recent years is the restoration and development of traditional handicraft villages such as the rattan and bamboo weaving village in Anh parish (Nghi Loc), the seafood processing village in Tan An parish (Quynh Luu), My Du parish (Hung Nguyen)... Talking about the movement to develop the economy, eliminate hunger and reduce poverty, and strive to become rich legitimately in the parish. For example, the economic development of Dien Chau parishioners' farms is quite diverse, with models of ornamental flower farms of Mr. Nguyen Viet Cuong, Dong Thap parish, earning over 100 million VND/year; Mr. Le Xuan Bat's farm in Phuc Thinh parish earning over 500 million VND/year. The VAC integrated farms of parishioners Nguyen Hoan (Yen Ly parish), Nguyen Ngoc Le (Dang Cao parish), Vu Bao (Van Phan parish), Nguyen Van Dung, Ho Sy Cuong (Dong Thap parish), Pham Van Hao (Ben Den parish)... have an income of over 100 million VND/year. In particular, Dien Chau parishioners have many establishments processing and trading scrap and steel billets such as those of Mr. Chu Quang Hung, Trinh Thai Chau, Tran Van Ngan (Dong Thap parish); Mr. Nguyen Van Son, Tran Van The, Nguyen Ba, Nguyen Van Long (Xuan Phong parish)... have income from 100 million VND to 1 billion VND/year, attracting 15-20 workers/establishment. Yen Thanh parish is purely agricultural but has many good economic models, with 244 farms for cultivation, 299 farms for livestock, 59 gardens and hills, 202 trade - tourism, 11 LLCs, 31 other industries, with an average income of 10.5 million VND/person/year. Typically, Nui Dat parish (Long Thanh commune) has 4 LLCs, 2 sawmills, 20 high-class carpentry workshops, 2 ceramic tile factories...
When economic life is improved, cultural and social life also has many improvements. Previously, the rate of children from religious areas passing the entrance exams to universities and colleges was very low, but now it is almost equal to other villages with a tradition of learning. Many religious families have 4-5 children studying at universities such as Mr. Truong Van Luc in Nghi Phuong, Mr. Nguyen Van Chuong in Xuan Kieu (Nghi Kieu), Mr. Nguyen Van Tuat in Xuan Hoa parish... Medical stations in religious areas throughout the province have been upgraded and are spacious, 100% of policy beneficiaries and poor households enjoy health insurance.
The movement of arts and sports is developing more and more vigorously. Localities with a large number of Catholics organize performances and exchanges of "Catholic Songs" from the grassroots to the provincial level. There have been many examples of religious dignitaries doing good charity work in recent years, such as: Priest Nguyen Dang Dien in Nghi Dien, Nghi Loc, who campaigned to establish a Center for Orphans and Disabled Children and donated hundreds of millions of VND. Currently, the center is raising 46 children...
The movement "All people unite to build a cultural life" in the areas of religious people always has high unity between the Catholic Solidarity Committee, the Pastoral Council and the executive committees at all levels, although the operating budget is still small but the sense of responsibility is very high. Because when the movement to build a cultural life is consistent with the teachings of religions, with Catholics, it is consistent with the spirit of the General Letter of the Vietnam Bishops' Council.
Mai Ho Minh
