The story of the village elder listening to the people and making the people believe

(Baonghean) -Being dedicated to work, saying what you do, setting a good example in every action for the prosperous life of the villagers, is what the village elder Vi Xuan Hanh in Tan Son 2 village, Huong Son commune (Tan Ky district) has done for the past 13 years. His simple work has contributed to building a prosperous village, improving the material and spiritual life of the people here.

Being an enthusiastic, energetic and responsible person for all the work of the village, in 1999, Mr. Hanh was trusted by the people of Tan Son 2 village, Huong Son commune to hold the position of hamlet chief. At that time, the whole village had 90 households, of which 97% were Thai ethnic people. The income of the people mainly depended on picking bamboo shoots, burning forests to grow corn and cassava, so life was still difficult, 99% of the households in the village were poor. Therefore, when he became the hamlet chief, Mr. Hanh always struggled to find a new direction for the people to have a prosperous and full life.

According to him, if the villagers want to believe and follow, the village chief must set an example first. As a locality with 80% of the forest land area, when the Party and the State had a policy of allocating forest land, he was the pioneer in receiving land. He worked hard to reclaim 10 hectares of hilly land to plant forests and raise livestock. The land did not fail the people, after days of hard work, the result his family had was a comprehensive farm with 8 hectares of acacia forest, agarwood trees, the remaining area he grew sugarcane, cassava and rice. On average, each year he earned more than 70 million VND.

From the effectiveness of the economic model, he has promoted it to all people to visit, learn and follow, thereby gradually changing the awareness and way of doing things of the people. If in the past, the people of Tan Son 2 village only knew how to rely on the forest to pick bamboo shoots, burn the forest to make fields, now the people also know how to plant forests, protect the forest. Land reclamation and forest planting have become a "green revolution" of the village, every household develops the forest economy, the immense green of sugarcane fields, acacia forests cover 190 hectares of bare hills. Ms. Vi Thi Mai in Tan Son 2 village, Huong Son commune, Tan Ky district happily said: "Old Hanh is very good, whoever is poor or in difficulty is helped by old Hanh. Old Hanh mobilizes the villagers to plant sugarcane, acacia trees, and fruit trees for the people to have a warm life".

Although his family's economic conditions were not good, and his wife and children were often sick, but witnessing many households lacking food and clothing, he could not bear it and was willing to help. Every day he saved a little and every year he tried to help 2 to 3 poor households. Over the past 10 years, his family has saved up to help 28 households escape poverty. Mr. Lang Van Dung's family is one of them. Talking to us in his spacious stilt house, Mr. Lang Van Dung happily said: "Village elder Hanh is a cadre and party member with a wonderful heart, helping everyone with seedlings and livestock, and plowing power, thanks to which my family's business is now thriving."

In addition, he also mobilized organizations to build savings models to help poor households. Up to now, the Women's Union has built the "Love Rice Pot" model, the Farmers' Association has the "Saving Money Tube" model, the Veterans' Association has established the "Comradely Love" fund which operates very effectively. On average, each year, it helps 13 to 15 extremely disadvantaged households in the village.

During his 13 years as a village cadre, Mr. Hanh has followed Uncle Ho's teaching "Listen to the people, speak so that the people understand, do so that the people believe", thus creating consensus and unity among the people. Up to now, food and clothing are no longer a concern for the people here. The whole village has 104 households, 423 people, of which over 80% of households have audio-visual equipment, means of transportation and stable housing. Mr. Nguyen Van Khanh - Chairman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Huong Son commune, Tan Ky district commented: "Tan Son 2 village used to be a particularly difficult village, but in the past few years, life has been improved, the great solidarity bloc has been strengthened, the villagers have complied with all policies and guidelines of the Party, laws of the State, and carried out humanitarian and charitable movements well. These results are greatly contributed by village elder Vi Xuan Hanh".

I believe that Tan Son 2 village will continue to develop because there are people who are devoted to the village like village elder Vi Xuan Hanh.

Cam Tu(Tan Ky Radio)