Lesson 2: Hardships Ahead

(Baonghean) -Building trust is difficult, maintaining trust is even more difficult. Knowing this, young intellectuals still have many worries because the road ahead is still too difficult and arduous...

>>Lesson 1: "Gold" has gone through fire...

Realizing their position and responsibilities, the young intellectuals we met all clearly identified what they had to do, proposed solutions to contribute to the socio-economic development of the place where they were working, thereby continuing to affirm their own capacity. Not satisfied with the results after a period of work, the young people realized that to continue to achieve success, there were still many difficulties. They asked the question: What can we do to contribute to changing the mindset of waiting and relying on ethnic minorities? What can we do to improve awareness in farming and production practices, raising livestock to develop the economy? What can we do to eliminate backward customs, improve the spiritual life of the people?... Meanwhile, the equipment and infrastructure of the communes are lacking, the roads between remote villages are difficult and arduous to travel; most of the young intellectuals are from other places, some do not understand the local language.

In a cramped, dilapidated office, Vice Chairman of Huoi Tu commune - Ha Ba Ly confided: "The intellectual level of the people in Huoi Tu is still low, the people have a mentality of waiting and relying on the policies of the state, so the work of mobilizing the implementation of project programs is extremely difficult." Huoi Tu commune is located in a mountainous area with high slopes, bad terrain, and complex climate and weather, which negatively affects agricultural, forestry and livestock production, so socio-economic development is not easy.

Vice President Ha Ba Ly gave an example: The custom of the people in raising livestock is often to graze freely, while in Huoi Tu it is hot during the day and cold at night, so when bringing in livestock breeds from other regions, they cannot adapt. Therefore, to develop livestock, it is necessary to change the awareness of the people. Ha Ba Ly said: "Although I have an advantage because I am a Mong ethnic group, so it is easy to make contact, but to change the customs and awareness of the Huoi Tu people is really difficult...". Then Ha Ba Ly frankly said: "To eliminate hunger and reduce poverty, we cannot rely on the strength of a few people, but the entire political system must participate with the efforts of the people. Young intellectuals who want to succeed must make the highest effort. Through my time working, I realized that I still lack experience in the work. I have many wishes, but I hope to be trained in more knowledge about state management, management skills, communication...".

The pig farming model of Mr. Ho Ga Vu in Huoi Khe village, Huoi Tu commune is directed by young intellectuals.

Pha Danh commune has a terrain of high hills and mountains, with arid and poor soil. The commune has 10 villages, including 5 Thai ethnic villages and 5 Khmu ethnic villages. Both ethnic groups practice shifting cultivation, with production based on self-sufficiency and mainly relying on nature, so there are many poor households. Taking on the task of building new rural areas, Vice Chairman of the commune Nguyen Dinh Tai determined: Building rural traffic, intra-village roads and implementing a number of economic models suitable to the characteristics of Pha Danh are the stepping stones to successfully implement new rural criteria.

From a place where no village was willing to participate in building rural roads, Tai persuaded the people of Pieng Pho and Pieng Hom villages to contribute labor and sand to build roads within the village. Tai said: "I am very happy that the people of the two villages have agreed to build roads, because this will be a turning point in the movement to build rural roads in Pha Danh." What Tai worries about is that people are afraid of having to pay back the State's investment capital, so up to now no one has agreed to implement the new rural economic model. To resolve the impasse, Tai said that on the one hand, he will work with the 30a cadres to explain and mobilize the people, on the other hand, Tai will report to the Party Committee and People's Committee of the commune and propose to the district to provide a mechanism for young intellectuals to directly implement the model as a model for the people...

Recommendation: There are many State programs and projects, however, there needs to be a choice to introduce plant and animal varieties suitable to local climate and soil conditions to bring high economic efficiency. On the other hand, it is necessary to invest in necessary equipment such as machinery, information networks and pay more attention to young intellectuals by organizing exchanges and reporting on the situation of each young intellectual, thereby giving directions in the coming time...

Like his friends in Ky Son, Tuong Duong, Vice Chairman of Chau Kim Commune (Que Phong) Ha Minh Tuan realized that the intellectual level of his commune is still low, with traditional and backward production practices, so the acceptance of science and technology is still slow. A part of the population, most of whom are poor households, have a mentality of waiting and relying, only hoping to remain poor to enjoy support policies from the State. Some households implementing economic models only depend on project funding support and do not invest, so the efficiency is not high.

In addition to advising the Party Committee and the government, Tuan has assigned himself many tasks, including closely monitoring each household that benefits from project programs to remove obstacles and difficulties, encouraging people to feel secure in production; focusing on developing production groups so that experienced people can support poor households that lack experience. Tuan proposed: It is necessary to organize effective study tours to model models so that young intellectuals can learn from each other's experiences and at the same time create a channel to connect and exchange experiences in work...

Worried about the quality of work, the young intellectuals of the 30a Program working group are still anxious about their future. Talking about work, Vi Thi Nham and Nguyen Thi Giang in Thach Giam commune said that although there are quite effective economic models, there are also models of low quality, the failure threshold of the model is still high because of the production and livestock farming habits of the people. Therefore, many times Nham and Giang have lost sleep. Nham said: The people have been supported with barns and guided on livestock farming techniques, however, when they receive livestock, they let it roam freely, making it very susceptible to disease. And when the livestock gets sick, people call the 30a cadres, it is often when it is critical... Giang and Nham used to feel bitter and shed tears when they witnessed calves and calves die and they were helpless.

In Thach Giam commune, the total number of calves that were provided was 41, but so far 13 have died. In 2011, poor households were provided 23 calves, but 10 died; in early 2012, the second distribution of 2011 was provided with 8 calves, but 1 died; in December 2012, 10 calves were provided, but so far 2 have died. It is regretful to lose calves, but Giang and Nham are most worried that after each calf dies, people's confidence will decline. Nguyen Thi Giang realized that the guidance for people to comply with scientific and technological advances in livestock production is still limited, she herself lacks practical experience, her propaganda skills are not in-depth, and because she is from the lowlands (Thanh Giang commune, Thanh Chuong), it takes a lot of time to get familiar with the area, and she does not understand the local language... Giang said: "I can understand what people say, but to communicate, I still have to use Vietnamese.

This is a limitation I have to overcome... And although they are very shy to say it, Giang and Nham cannot hide the fact that both of their labor contracts are almost expired, and the future is uncertain. Thach Giam commune wants to keep its staff, but where does the money come from to pay salaries, so it has proposed to Tuong Duong district to continue to extend the contract.

Like Giang, Nham and the intellectuals of the 30a Program working group, Ly Ba Re's (Huoi Tu commune) contract ended on June 30, 2013. Re was very sad when talking about this because he wanted to continue contributing to his hometown. The Huoi Tu commune government was also worried because there were many jobs that required Re's professional skills, but the commune was poor and could not afford to pay...
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Article and photos: Nhat Lan