Peaceful Lang Dien parish

Lang Dien Parish, Village 7, Thach Son Commune, Anh Son District. Photo: Thai Hien

Walking along the straight, clean, and well-maintained concrete road leading into the village today, the people of Village 7, Thach Son Commune, all feel proud because it is the result of the contributions of everyone and every household.

Leading us on a tour around the village, Mr. Tran Van Kien, the village head, said: "With the motto 'Living the Gospel in the heart of the nation,' in recent years, the Catholic parishioners in Village 7, Thach Son Commune, have always strictly adhered to the Party's guidelines and policies, the laws of the State, and local regulations, effectively implementing the 'All people unite to build a cultured life in residential areas' campaign and the 'Catholics who respect God and love their country, living a good and virtuous life' movement."

Since then, it has truly become a widespread emulation movement in all households in the area, creating motivation for all citizens to strive for economic development and build a better life, both materially and spiritually.

A highlight of Hamlet 7 is that the Catholic community has successfully implemented the policy of restructuring crop and livestock production, yielding high economic efficiency, and thus improving the lives of the people.

Ms. Bui Thi Dung's family is one of the households that have become wealthy from large-scale pig farming in Hamlet 7. Photo: Thai Hien

Visiting the economic development model of Ms. Bui Thi Dung, one of the households that have become wealthy from large-scale pig farming, we learned that in 2016, her family invested in building a sturdy, modern, enclosed pig farm. Each year, she raises three batches of pigs, each batch consisting of 50-80 pigs. After deducting family expenses, she earns over 100 million VND annually. Thanks to this, her family's life has improved significantly; they now have a spacious house and their children receive a good education.

Besides Ms. Bui Thi Dung's pig farming model, the entire Hamlet 7 currently has over 80 high-income economic development models such as broiler chicken and pig farming, conversion to vegetable cultivation on riverside land, mechanical and carpentry models, etc. Currently, the average per capita income of the hamlet reaches 32 million VND/year, there are no longer any starving households, the number of wealthy and well-off households accounts for 80%, and the number of poor households is only 5, accounting for 2.7%.

In implementing the New Rural Development movement, over the years, the Catholic community in Hamlet 7, Thach Son Commune, has actively responded to the movement with many concrete and practical actions. With high consensus, the parishioners here have contributed over 1.2 billion VND to build more than 1.6 km of rural roads and over 20 million VND to build a lighting system. In 2017, the villagers contributed to building a cultural house worth 300 million VND.

Besides focusing on economic development and building new rural areas, the people of Hamlet 7 are always highly conscious of implementing the movement "All people unite to build a cultured life in residential areas" and the 10 contents of "good life, beautiful faith" associated with the emulation movement "Respect God, love the country," and building an advanced parish.

The village Party committee and government always stay close to the people, understand them, and grasp their thoughts and aspirations. Photo: Thai Hien

To date, over 85% of households in the village have achieved the status of "Culturally Advanced Family". The village consistently leads and achieves high results in cultural, artistic, and sports competitions organized by the local authorities. In particular, in recent years, the Catholic parishioners in the village have successfully developed and promoted a savings group model. Currently, the village has established two savings groups, which regularly hold monthly meetings and contribute money to support and assist disadvantaged families with interest-free loans for business ventures. Furthermore, these meetings provide an opportunity for villagers to share their experiences after the hardships of daily life.

Speaking about the patriotic emulation movements and the "good life, virtuous conduct" of Hamlet 7, Thach Son Commune, Mr. Nguyen Tai Anh, Secretary of the Party Committee of Thach Son Commune, said: Although it is a predominantly Catholic hamlet, in recent years, the Catholic people have always actively participated in patriotic emulation movements, building a strong unity between Catholics and non-Catholics, and improving the lives of the people in all aspects.

The consensus among the people is also thanks to the village Party committee and government always being close to the people, understanding their feelings and aspirations; all the people's questions and misunderstandings are resolved fairly and reasonably. As a result, the people trust and support all movements and activities. In recent years, Village 7 has been one of the most exemplary villages in Thach Son commune.