Lesson 2: The Dan Lai people stop running away

(Baonghean) -Implementing the Prime Minister's project to preserve and sustainably develop the Dan Lai ethnic minority, in recent years, many infrastructure projects for transportation, irrigation, health care, and education have been invested in and put into use in areas where the Dan Lai people live. In addition, moving people from the core area of ​​Pu Mat National Park to resettlement areas has helped them expand their relationships with other ethnic groups in the area. Up to now, the lives of the Dan Lai people have improved a lot...

>>Lesson 1: Dawn is coming to Cao Veu

New Day Penalty

Five years ago, on a day when the Giang River was flowing fast and roaring, we boarded a boat 24 km upstream to Co Phat, Bung village, Mon Son commune. I still remember that it took a whole day to wait for the boat before the village chief La Van Duong came out to welcome us. The old path is now different, on this river route there are now dozens of boats running services, trading goods in and out... Today, the boat passed through layers and layers of fierce waves. Through cassava fields, acacia gardens on the hills, through steep limestone mountains, more majestic than watercolor paintings. Looking up from the river, we could see a few roads being opened on both sides of the mountains, excavators and bulldozers plowing up each patch of bright red soil. The great Western region has become more vibrant, less dark and echoing.

The boat trip time compared to before was shortened by almost half, after two hours of listening to the rumbling sound of the engine, we set foot on the Co Phat boat dock… Still remembering the not-so-distant past: In the night of the mountains and forests, the thatched-wall primary school was submerged in the pouring rain. Looking back from afar, all we could see was the faint, yellow light of a small irrigation lamp. The village was deserted, the rain had just stopped, thousands of sea urchins rushed out to bite people. Co Phat was then swaying drunk and starving.

The village has 78 households, all of whom depend on government aid. Many shipments of rice to relieve hunger came in, but hunger still persisted, because all the rice was exchanged for alcohol. When the alcohol and rice ran out, people went into the forest to make a living. Hunger and drunkenness made the village miserable. Girls and boys got married at the age of 13 or 14. The Dan Lai people lived in isolation, without any interaction with the outside world, so boys and girls in the village married each other. Incestuous marriages have caused the Dan Lai race to fade away. The average life expectancy of the Dan Lai people is only about 50 years old, and everyone is short and small.

Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Trong Vinh, Chief of Mon Son Border Guard Station, visited Dan Lai people in Co Phat village.

The voice of Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Trong Vinh, Chief of Mon Son Border Guard Station - the one who led us to Co Phat - interrupted our memories: "Co Phat has progressed a lot now. Life is less miserable, civilization has come knocking on the door". From the boat dock, what caught our eyes was the wooden gate of the village, firmly marked "Co Phat Village, Mon Son Commune". From this gate, a straight, 2m wide concrete road leads to the center of the village. On both sides of the road are small but neatly surrounded rice fields. A few men whip their buffaloes to plow the land in preparation for the new crop. At the beginning of the village, three or four men are busy digging and shoveling to pass drainage pipes (also irrigation pipes) across the road... Co Phat currently has 97 households, 920 people. The fields are not large, on average each household has one southern sao, but the people know how to cultivate intensively, growing 2 crops/year. There is no longer a scene of people sitting at the door looking out the gate... waiting for relief - Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Trong Vinh said.

In the past, after birth, Dan Lai children, regardless of the sun or rain, even if it was terribly cold, their families would still take them to the stream to bathe until they turned purple before being brought home. Dan Lai children all had very beautiful, clear blue eyes, but those eyes often did not dare to look up when meeting strangers. Dan Lai children now are not sick, hungry, stunted, dark and shy like before. The Dan Lai teenager we met at the beginning of the village had a slim figure, carrying a baby on his back and a basket, walking quickly, happily greeting guests (when asked, we found out that he was the son of the current village chief): "The state gave us buffaloes, taught us to farm, now we have more seeds and fertilizer, so now we are going to get them here!" The village appeared before our eyes: Neat and clean stilt houses and ground-floor houses. In front of many houses were solid fences, rows of fruit trees, and vegetable gardens. The concrete roads within the village were square like a chessboard. In the middle of the village, the community cultural house and the system of electric poles to bring in grid electricity are under construction. Mon Son 3 Primary School, Co Phat village, has closed gates, high walls, spacious with bright yellow paint.

We followed the soldiers of the special task force to help the Dan Lai people of Mon Son Border Post to the house of La Van Linh, the village chief. On both sides of the gate are lush green tea gardens and a few clusters of sweet sugarcane. On the other side of the land are a few rows of corn, a rice field and a small fish pond. Linh and his wife are taking care of the rice field of NA2 variety, which is being planted for the first time in Co Phat village. Inside the house is a small grocery store to sell to the villagers. On the wooden wall hang many artistic photos of Linh and his wife and their children. Linh's house has both a television and a few speakers to listen to music. Linh smiled brightly: "The government gave it to us, every family in the village has one; now that there is no electricity, we run it on small hydroelectric power plants, which are a bit weak but we can still watch and listen to them"... Ms. La Thi Van, Linh's wife, chewed betel, put a pot of water on the stove and went to the garden to get vegetables for the white mice in the cage to eat. Ms. Van said: The border guards showed her how to raise white mice to chase away house mice and field mice. The white mouse squeaked and all the mice in the house ran away. It was very effective.

Village chief La Van Linh excitedly announced: The villagers were taught farming methods by the cadres and soldiers, and they worked hard, so now there are not many hungry households in the village. The teachers came to encourage and help all the time, so there are no more students dropping out of school. Before, the whole village of Co Phat did not have a single buffalo, but now the herd of buffaloes in the village has more than 30; before, the whole village only had 1 boat, but now there are 6 boats for transportation. The Dan Lai people now also know how to do tourism...

After walking around, I realized that Co Phat had changed a lot. The village had electricity, the sound of television and speakers was loud and most exciting was the sound of children studying. The Dan Lai people in Co Phat village knew about mobile phones but they did not use them because the signal was not yet available. The Dan Lai people quickly learned and adapted to the outside world after many years and many isolated lives. The change was evident in the children's haircuts and in the elderly's sparkling eyes and smiles.

Mr. La Van Linh and his wife, head of Co Phat village, take care of the NA2 rice field.
(first brought into cultivation).

The Gate has opened

Leaving Co Phat, we returned to the center of Mon Son commune, to the resettlement areas of the Dan Lai people. A few years ago, these resettlement areas were still in disarray, with land for production but no irrigation water. Many people left the resettlement areas to return to their old villages. On the way downstream, Lieutenant Colonel Vinh announced: In resettlement areas such as Cua Rao village, Tan Son village in Mon Son commune and on the other side of Lam river in Thach Ngan commune, the Dan Lai people who were moved here have been able to work and develop stably. Although life is not really full, there are still a few hungry households, but in general, all aspects have improved significantly...

Cua Rao Village (1 of 14 villages in Mon Son Commune, not far from the commune center) currently has 131 households, including 31 Dan Lai households. In the middle of the afternoon, the resettlement area was quiet, the parents were all in trance, going to the market, only a few children were playing in front of the house. We searched for a long time before finding a family with adults at home. Ms. La Thi Nguyet came up from the kitchen. The woman over 50 years old, with black teeth, smiled heartily: "Today there is something at home, otherwise we would have been in trance." Ms. Nguyet's job was to call the veterinary staff to castrate the pigs.

Under the tiled roof and solid walls, the host and guests sit on mats to drink water. The house is also fully equipped with a television, fan, cupboard, table and many other convenient facilities. Ms. Nguyet said: A group of Dan Lai people in the upper reaches of the Giang River have been living here for exactly 10 years, following the call of the Party, State and local authorities. In the resettlement area, they received many subsidies and help, but at first it was very difficult because they were not familiar with new farming methods. They were supported to build irrigation canals, provided seeds, and given technical guidance, so their lives gradually improved. Here, children can study, and adults also learn many things.

Mrs. Nguyet also openly said: “The flock of chickens is also 40, the mother pig, piglets have several litters; there is 1 cow, my husband is taking it to plow. The family also wants to raise more but does not have enough money, waiting for the 2 children who are working as factory workers in the South to send more”... No longer having the mentality of waiting and relying on others, women also gather less to chew betel, men also drink less, the Dan Lai people in Cua Rao village are now all enthusiastic about their work. After talking for a while, Mrs. Nguyet excused herself to the guests to go clean the barn and feed the pigs. Several types of fruit trees such as mango, longan, and jackfruit have borne fruit in the garden.

In recent days, Cua Rao village has had a new joy. That is, the 14.3 hectares of vacant land in front of the village has been reclaimed and converted into rice fields. Each Dan Lai household has been assigned a few more sao. On the fields with the new color of soil, La Van Son and La Van Thanh urged their oxen to carefully plow the fields. La Van Son, 43 years old, wiped the sweat from his face, which was dark from the days of living in the wild forest and poisonous water, and said: The fields of two families are next to each other, but there is only one ox, so they plow together. The new land must be plowed thoroughly, first vegetables and beans must be planted, and rice cannot be planted right away. It must be done early to be in time for the season. Today, we are determined to finish plowing and then go to the commune to call the agricultural extension officers to provide seeds and fertilizers... Sharing the joys and sorrows on the field, Mr. La Van Thanh, 46 years old, shared: "Everyone here is poor, but they are no longer hungry like before. Some families know how to do business and are diligent, so they have saved up a few tens of millions!"

In the way of thinking and working of the Dan Lai people we met, we saw a burning determination to stay in the new land and rise up from poverty. Mr. Nguyen Van Dan, head of Cua Rao village, affirmed: Thanks to the active guidance of state officials and border guards, the resettled Dan Lai people have adapted and caught up with the new environment. Economic and cultural life has progressed a lot: from speech, behavior, hygiene, to even having motorbikes and buffaloes. Students are all able to go to school, in the village there are Dan Lai children who have achieved the title of excellent students at the district and provincial levels.

Many children are trained and then go to work as workers in industrial zones across the country. There are no more girls who become wives and mothers at the age of 14 - 15. Many Dan Lai people marry Thai people, Kinh people... Mr. Luong Dinh Hoa, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Mon Son commune, affirmed: To implement the project to preserve and develop the Dan Lai ethnic group, the authorities at all levels and the Provincial Border Guard have implemented the Government's "Resettlement of Dan Lai people" project plan, moving them out of the upstream forest.

The Dan Lai people have been given the opportunity to expand their exchange with other ethnic groups in the area, and their children can go to school and study better. In their new residence, each household is given a spacious tiled house, electricity, clean water, and food subsidies for one year. In addition, infrastructure for transportation, irrigation, healthcare, and education in the areas where the Dan Lai people live, such as Bung and Co Phat villages at the headwaters of Khe Khang, have all been invested in synchronously. The lives of 1,114 Dan Lai people in Mon Son commune have now escaped the state of wandering in the deep mountains.

Leaving Mon Son, we visited Thach Ngan commune, exactly 5 years since 42 Dan Lai households moved to Thach Son village, Thach Ngan commune. Thach Son, as its name suggests, has a very stable economy, culture and society: Every rice and corn crop is successful, so every house in the village is full of rice, corn, cassava and sweet potatoes. Dan Lai people now, in addition to raising pigs, chickens, buffaloes and cows, also raise fish and plant forests for raw materials. Here, many families have become millionaires. Now, tears of sadness no longer fall, but only tears of joy. The Dan Lai people we met all expressed: We are very, very grateful to the Party, the State, the cadres and the border guards... The escape from the haunting old legend has ended; a new journey forward is beginning.

Note: Reporter Group