The bridge built by a mother and her three children with their own money in Thanh Chuong was put into use on September 2nd.

Save money to build a bridge

On the day the bridge was completed, although there was no ribbon cutting ceremony, no traffic opening ceremony, no colorful flags, the people of Thanh My were very excited, especially the three families of Mrs. Viet and her children. Warmly pouring water to invite guests right at the bridge abutment, Mrs. Viet excitedly said: "We managed to finish the bridge before the new school year, before the flood season. Not to mention the money spent, for nearly two months, the mother and children worked hard to build the bridge."

Ru Gat is isolated from the residential area of ​​My Hung hamlet (Thanh My commune) by Gat stream, the confluence of other streams in the area. Normally, to go from the other side of the mountain to this side of the residential area and vice versa, people have to take a detour of 5 kilometers away or go by a temporary bridge that is only wide enough for a motorbike. During the rainy season, it is completely isolated when the Gat stream water rises and the temporary bridge is washed away by the flood.

“It’s very hard, children can’t go to school, nearly ten households can’t cross the stream to pick tea. So for many years, our three families have only one wish: to build a solid concrete bridge connecting the two banks. It’s both to let the children go to school safely and to make it convenient for households to produce,” said Vo Dinh Phuc.

Having worked in construction for many years, having experience and being supported by a traffic engineering designer, Mr. Vo Dinh Phuc completed the bridge design with a length of 17m, width of 2.5m, height of 5m. At the same time, he submitted a request to the commune to ask for permission to build the bridge. And to build the bridge, the mother and three children had to contribute money to rent an excavator, hire workers, and buy materials. The initial estimated amount was about 150 million VND. But during the process, many other details arose, so the cost increased to over 250 million VND.

Not to mention, for nearly 2 months, Mr. Phuc and his three children worked hard with the workers to save some of the labor costs. Worried about the increased costs and the hardship of building the bridge, in just 2 months, Mr. Phuc lost nearly 5kg, his face was gaunt, and his skin was calloused and dark. His wife had to go to Bac Ninh to work as a laborer to cover expenses while he quit his job as a construction worker to build the bridge. The family of Mr. Phuc's older brother, Vo Dinh Hanh, also had to work far away to earn money to send back to help his younger brother build the bridge, and Mrs. Viet, his mother, also used all the money she had saved for her old age to contribute to building the bridge with her children.

“That amount of money, for near-poor, purely agricultural households like us, is really a lot of money, it takes years to save up. However, building a bridge to cross the flood is urgent, so we have to be frugal, save money and effort.

“Despite the difficulties, the hardships, the need to save and work hard to make up for the costs of building the bridge, we are very satisfied. The biggest motivation for us is the support of the local government and the encouragement of our neighbors,” Phuc shared.

Typical of mobilizing people's strength

The completed bridge not only creates favorable conditions for Mr. Viet's children to go to school, not only for his 3 families to travel conveniently but also helps 7 families with farming land in Gat village to have less hardship.

Mr. Pham Xuan Luc - Vice Chairman of Thanh My Commune People's Committee said: "Ru Gat has a production area of ​​about 10 hectares with nearly 10 households growing tea and acacia. Before, to go to Ru Gat to cultivate, people had to take a detour or wade through streams, which was very difficult. Especially in the rainy season, when the water level rises, it is completely isolated, making it difficult for households to travel, live, and produce, but also very difficult for the locality in relief, rescue, and disaster prevention. Now, with the bridge, the above difficulties have been partly resolved."

Joining hands with 3 households to build the bridge, Thanh My commune government also supported 12 tons of cement; mobilized mass organizations to help with some working days and regularly came to encourage and supervise the quality of the construction process.

In the jubilation and excitement when the bridge over Gat stream was completed and put into use, for households with land growing tea and acacia in Gat forest, that joy was multiplied. Ms. Tran Thi Ha (sister-in-law of Mr. Vo Dinh Phuc), one of the three households that paid for the bridge construction, said: "Due to our own conditions and because when we built the bridge, we did not ask households with land in Gat forest to pay, so the cost was entirely covered by our three families. However, when the bridge is completed, for households with land for production, households with transportation needs during production and harvesting, we are ready to create conditions."

Evaluating the self-funded bridge construction of 3 households in Thanh My commune, Mr. Trinh Van Nha - Chairman of Thanh Chuong District People's Committee emphasized: "The households that took on the task of building the bridge are very commendable, and are worthy of respect and admiration. During the bridge construction process, it is noteworthy that the local authorities from the commune to the district have accompanied and participated in supporting and helping the households from designing to supporting cement, encouraging and motivating.

At the same time, parallel supervision is needed to ensure technical, aesthetic, and safety factors when putting the bridge into use. This shows that when the Party Committee and the government do a good job of ideological work, the people will agree and be ready to take on difficult tasks that we may not have dared to think of. This is the key factor to promote the process of building new rural areas, advanced new rural areas, and model new rural areas, especially in mobilizing people's strength."