Reading the lines full of gratitude and respect on the personal Facebook of Comrade Cao Duy Thai - Secretary of the Chau Ly Commune Party Committee (Quy Hop) talking about the act of Mr. Vi Van Pho's family - a household in Choong Bung village, for the development of his hometown, voluntarily demolished the stilt house where he lived to serve as a rigid bridge for the Chau Ly (Quy Hop) - Tan Hop (Tan Ky) road construction project without any funds for site clearance made us surprised. Curiosity mixed with admiration urged us to go to Chau Ly to learn about the story of "Mr. Pho's house, road and heart".
Under the scorching sun of a July summer day, Mr. Vi Van Pho (birth name Vi Van Thanh) - a man with a simple, gentle appearance of a mountain man welcomed us with a bright smile, his face somewhat shy, "there's nothing to talk about, anyone in my family's situation would do the same".
However, according to the Secretary of the Choong Bung village Party Cell, Chau Ly commune, Vi Van Hoang, "that was a huge sacrifice by Pho's family. To implement the Chau Ly - Tan Ky road project, Choong Bung village has 36 households that donated rice fields and trees to serve the construction, but Pho's family was the most affected, because they have a majestic 3-room stilt house that, according to the construction drawings, is located right at the center of the hard bridge abutment on the route". According to Pho, he bought the house from someone else in 2016 on an area of 452m22, worth 360 million VND for the eldest son's family to live separately. When the project was implemented, the commune and the hamlet came to meet Mr. Pho's family to propagate and mobilize, clearly stating that the project did not have funds for compensation and site clearance, calling for the voluntary spirit of the people for the development of their hometown village, because if it was delayed for one day, the project's progress would be delayed.
“It would be a pity to dismantle the house that my children have been attached to for so many years without compensation for site clearance, but thinking back, for the common good, and moreover, many people in the village have donated trees and fields to build roads, I have mobilized my wife, son and daughter-in-law to dismantle the house to hand over the site to the construction unit. At first, when they heard me talking about demolishing the house to build a bridge or road, they did not agree much, saying, “Where will we live if we demolish the house?” But I said that building roads and bridges would serve the development of society, for the people in the village and commune to travel conveniently, including my family, so let’s just endure it, my child. After that, my wife and I also agreed to dismantle the house…” - Mr. Pho confided.
According to Mr. Pho and Party Secretary Lo Van Hoang, the implementation of the Chau Ly (Quy Hop) - Tan Hop (Tan Ky) route and the construction of a rigid bridge are the wishes of the people. Because before, every time it rained and was windy, the last three villages of Chau Ly commune, namely Xet, Tham and Bon, on the other side of the spillway were almost isolated, and children could not go to this side to go to school. On the contrary, the people of Choong Bung village were also worried because the production fields were all on the other side of the spillway, and Mr. Pho's family alone had more than 1,000m2.2rice fields, so according to Mr. Pho, "demolishing houses to build bridges and roads not only benefits the villagers but also benefits his family."
On the day Mr. Pho and his wife, son and daughter-in-law dismantled the house, many villagers, commune and hamlet associations such as the Farmers' Association, Women's Association, Youth Union, etc. came to join hands and help. "The construction unit also supported my family with a 5-yen pig to invite people to help dismantle the house, and the commune leaders were also present to encourage them," Mr. Pho said sincerely.
It is known that the inter-district traffic route from Choong Bung village (Chau Ly commune, Quy Hop district) to Tan Hop commune (Tan Ky district) with a total investment of up to 70 billion VND is expected to help Chau Ly commune promote economic development, becoming the center of the Southwest region of the district. This route will help shorten the distance from Chau Ly commune (Quy Hop district) to Tan Hop commune (Tan Ky district) to about 12 km. Previously, people from both sides wanted to trade and exchange goods had to travel a distance of up to 65 km.
Talking to us, Mr. Vi Van Quanh - Chairman of Chau Ly Commune People's Committee added: After receiving information about the implementation of the Chau Ly (Quy Hop) - Tan Hop (Tan Ky) road, especially the project did not have compensation funds for land acquisition, the commune directed organizations in the political system from the commune to the hamlet to propagate and disseminate information to the people. When the project was implemented, 126 households in Choong Bung, Tham, Xet, Bon villages... were affected. The commune established working groups with the hamlet management boards to mobilize people to donate land, trees, and fields to build roads and bridges. The spirit of the people was ready to support for the common good, typically the family of Mr. Vi Van Pho in Choong Bung village. Currently, after dismantling the stilt house, Mr. Vi Van Pho is having to build a temporary house for his son and his wife near the old house because there is no land and space to rebuild a new house.
Following Mr. Vi Van Pho, we arrived at the construction site of the road. The bridge piers were almost finished with steel and concrete. It is worth mentioning that a few dozen meters away, a temporary corrugated iron shack was reinforced with tarpaulins around it to block out dust and heat, but it seemed to be nothing compared to the scorching sun of the Western Nghe An region. Mr. Vi Van Tuan and his wife - Mr. Pho's eldest son - happily welcomed us into the shack. The little grandchildren were very happy to see their grandfather. “This shack has been temporarily built for 3 months so that their family has a temporary place to stay while looking for a place to build a new house. When it is too hot, they stay at their parents’ house. At night, they come back here to sleep. After the old stilt house was dismantled, the pillars and rafters are temporarily stored at the community cultural house, and some are stored at the house of an acquaintance. It is very hard work, but thinking about the new, spacious and well-maintained road connecting the village and district so that people can travel conveniently, I also encourage my children to try their best…”, Mr. Pho shared.
As a witness to the spirit of silent sacrifice for the common good of Mr. Pho's family, comrade Cao Duy Thai - Secretary of the Chau Ly Commune Party Committee, an acquaintance we often call "village elder" or "man of the Mountain" gave his family respectful words on his personal Facebook:“On the morning of April 16, 2023, Mr. Pho, his son, daughter-in-law, in-laws, and relatives dismantled their house! “A man moving his palace…” as the elders taught, is hard work, and there is no mistake! But that is… normal! “Normal” because beyond normal, Mr. Pho demolished his house to make way for a major road for public development without a single penny to support land clearance. The demolition started at dawn, and by 12 noon, Because the last pillar in the mossy stilt house had come down. Without anyone telling anyone, everyone was strangely happy!
Thankfully, after several days of heavy rain and humidity, this morning the sky was clear and cloudless, neither rain nor sun, as if making the demolition of the house easier. I was thinking, with so many pillars and beams, if it rained, they would be slippery, making it even more difficult to get on and off the truck!
Happy that the “know-it-all” people in the village rolled up their sleeves to help. Saying “know-it-all” is because dismantling the stilt house is difficult, the joints are tricky and the columns are long, the beams are also long. If you don’t have experience, you wouldn’t dare climb the beam even if given candy, let alone use a hammer, crowbar, or rope… The bridge and road construction team also joined forces, even bringing in a “large displacement” crawler excavator to help!
Happy because it is absolutely safe and…because this place is the heart of the permanent bridge on the road connecting Chau Ly – Tan Ky. The bridge pier sets the pace for the desire for trade, companionship and development!”.
“Moved with emotion and appreciation” were the feelings of local government leaders and villagers when witnessing the moment Mr. Pho’s family demolished their house to build a bridge and road.
Talking with the Choong Bung village cadres, we also learned many valuable traits about Vi Van Pho. Born into a Thai ethnic farming family, Vi Van Pho did not accept poverty, always showing the spirit of daring to think, daring to do, trying to find ways to develop the economy to increase income. Currently, in addition to farming, Pho's family has about 2 hectares of acacia with about 4,500 trees, 12 buffaloes, cows, and dozens of goats.
Mr. Pho is also one of the three pioneers in building the community tourism area of Choong Bung village. Thinking back to the early days when he decided to do the homestay model, at that time no one in the village understood what community tourism was like, and even a simple farmer like Mr. Pho was confused. However, with the encouragement of the local government, through study trips to homestay tourist spots in the province and neighboring provinces such as Pu Luong (Thanh Hoa), Mai Chau (Hoa Binh) ... he has drawn experience and built his family's stilt house into one of the first community tourism spots in the village. Mr. Pho's family homestay has an area of over 500 m2can serve about 100 tourists. Taking advantage of the local culture, he displayed familiar items, typical of the Thai people, but also with creative touches.
Mr. Pho has used familiar materials such as bamboo and rattan to decorate and highlight the homestay. Not only that, he also collects gongs, typical labor tools, many costumes with strong Thai ethnic identity... This gives visitors many opportunities to experience and understand more about the regional identity. “Realizing that Chau Ly has advantages for tourism development such as Choong temple, Cover waterfall, Ban Vuc cave... supported by the province with 100 million VND, I decided to discuss with my wife and children to invest more than 300 million VND to develop community tourism. Not only focusing on space and landscape, I also invest in cultural and artistic exchange activities such as carving, bamboo dancing, gong beating, Thai folk song performances and especially cuisine with typical dishes such as Canh ot, Canh pia, Lam rice, grilled fish, grilled chicken... as highlights. All ingredients are taken from a rich source of fresh goods grown by the villagers. Not only contributing to the consumption of goods, but also bringing a stable source of income to the people...", Mr. Pho shared.
Not only taking care of economic development, Mr. Vi Van Pho is also one of the 5 active members of the Choong Temple Management Board. As fate would have it, the day we went to meet Mr. Pho was also the day he went to the Commune People's Committee to receive the decision of the Provincial People's Committee on the reward fund for individuals who discovered and handed over national antiquities according to Decision 1166 dated May 5, 2023 of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. It is known that before that, in July 2021, while hiring an excavator to dig a garden to make acacia nursery near the Choong Temple area, when the excavator went deep into the ground, Mr. Pho and the driver, Mr. Ngo Van My in Chau Quang commune, discovered antiquities including 3 bronze pots and 1 ancient bronze kettle. The two of them brought them up to clean them and reported to the authorities at all levels to make a record. After that, Mr. Pho and Mr. My handed over the antiquities to the Nghe An Museum. Initial determination, the antiques date back to the Tran Dynasty (about 600 years). Knowing what Mr. Pho did, we love this mountain man even more.
On the way back, we still could not forget the image of Mr. Pho and his son and his wife next to the temporary house where the solid bridge was gradually being completed on the road connecting the "happy shore" from Chau Ly (Quy Hop) to Tan Hop (Tan Ky). In the midst of the hustle and bustle of life, the silent contributions to the development of the homeland without calculating the gains and losses of Mr. Vi Van Pho's family are truly admirable!
