Union officials must "practice what they preach"

(Baonghean) -That is the working motto of Ms. Lo Thi Hong - Secretary of the Youth Union of Muong Noc commune, Que Phong district. Seeing her roll up her sleeves and quickly join the youth in the commune to help Mr. Luong Van Phu's family - Luong village move the old cow and buffalo pen out from under the stilt house and build a hygienic barn, one can see the dedication and determination of the female leader of the highland youth union.

Lo Thi Hong (third from right) with the Youth Union of Muong Noc commune at the women's volleyball tournament

As Secretary of the Na Phay Village Youth Union, Muong Noc Commune, Lo Thi Hong always kept in mind that she had to try her best to use all her abilities and enthusiasm to help the youth union members of Na Phay Village escape poverty, and at the same time become the core force in propagating and mobilizing people to participate in socio-economic development movements and poverty reduction in the locality. Energetic, enthusiastic and responsible, in 2007, Hong was elected to the Executive Committee of the Commune Youth Union, then held the position of Secretary of the Muong Noc Commune Youth Union. In her new position, Hong always finds new ways and directions suitable to the specific circumstances to move the youth movement of her commune forward.

In response to the campaign "Youth learn and follow Uncle Ho's teachings", Secretary Hong and the Commune Youth Union Executive Committee have developed a plan for implementation according to specific topics for each year, focusing on "following". Starting with focusing on directing a storytelling contest about Uncle Ho, attracting more than 500 Youth Union members to participate in cheering, followed by implementing youth projects and tasks suitable for young people. As a result, in the past time, Muong Noc Commune Youth Union has undertaken 30 commune-level youth projects, hundreds of branch-level youth projects, attracting thousands of union members and young people to participate, typically the project of building a bridge over the river at Don Cham Youth Union, inter-commune roads, school campus leveling projects... repairing houses to help 15 poor youth households.

In addition, to improve the integration skills of young people, the female "leader" Lo Thi Hong has proactively coordinated with the Provincial Information Technology Center to organize 2 office information technology classes for union members of the commune agency. She also directly contacted and coordinated with the labor export company to organize 3 job counseling sessions for young people with 400 participants. Thereby, helping 30 union members to work abroad.

Concerned about the difficulties of the Youth Union members in the local economy, Lo Thi Hong, on behalf of the Youth Union Executive Committee of Muong Noc Commune, coordinated with the Policy Bank to solve loans for 175 Youth Union members with a capital of up to 4 billion VND. Accordingly, many Youth Union members have built economic models to eliminate hunger and reduce poverty such as raising cows for meat, building farm models, raising pigs and chickens and growing elephant grass.

The elephant grass planting project is considered a breakthrough in helping the Youth Union members escape poverty by the Youth Union Executive Committee of Muong Noc commune, with Secretary Lo Thi Hong as the project owner. Initially, to get people to agree to move their barns out of the stilt houses, Hong had to organize meetings and visit each household many times to propagate the correct policy and resolution of the commune: "The state will support roofing sheets and pillars, the Youth Union members will support working days, after "the buffaloes and cows have a new place to live", they will help households access the elephant grass planting project to raise cows and goats". She also mobilized the youth union members in the commune to take the lead in moving livestock barns and planting elephant grass. Seeing the effectiveness of the youth's work, immediately after that, 180 households with livestock under the stilt houses proactively moved to new barns with the help of the Youth Union members.

Not only taking the lead in volunteer activities, the Youth Union of Muong Noc commune also actively responded to the cultural and artistic movement, preserving and conserving the traditional cultural features of the village. The gong and gong carving art troupe of the commune, with the youth as the core, received the response of many Youth Union members of other communes and people in neighboring areas. In the Nghe An festival, the Mass Art Troupe of Muong Noc commune won an excellent prize.

To achieve these achievements, in addition to the collective efforts, there are also the contributions and silent sacrifices of the female leader Lo Thi Hong. Even when the rain in the forest is pouring, when the sun is scorching, even when her baby is thirsty for milk, she still goes with specialized cadres to every alley, knocking on every door to fulfill the task of a propagandist, because working for the Youth Union in the highlands also means taking on the role of a cadre to propagate, disseminate laws and do reconciliation work.

As one of two provincial youth union officials recognized as outstanding national youth union members in 2013, the female leader of the highland youth union, Lo Thi Hong, only spoke briefly at the recognition ceremony: "To gather youth in the highlands, first of all, the youth union official must "match words with actions", accompany them to solve the difficulties and problems that arise...".

Article and photos:Khoi Nguyen