The story of the young "locomotive" of Ban Boong
(Baonghean) - A prestigious person in Boong village (Lang Khe commune, Con Cuong), Mr. Lo Van Tan said: "From ancient times until now, the head of a Thai village must be an old, prestigious, and experienced person. The election of Mr. Lo Van Hung as village chief is a contribution to changing the customs of the people in a positive direction."
Enthusiasm and youth are promoted
Born in 1989, when he was just 27 years old, Lo Van Hung was elected as the village chief by the people. “There was surprise, excitement, and joy, but also anxiety because he did not have much experience, and did not know whether he could handle the tasks assigned by his superiors and the trust of the people at such a young age,” Hung confided, recalling the time when he was elected as the village chief 3 years ago. It was a big challenge for the grassroots cadres, but with the courage of a young person, Hung has gradually proven his choice and trust of the people.
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| Village chief Lo Van Hung (far right) and villagers visit sugarcane fields. Photo: My Nga |
Ban Boong still faces many difficulties, despite its great land potential, located right next to the Lam River, with rich alluvial soil. However, on the fertile riverside lands, people only know how to grow corn, rice, and raise small livestock, so life is very difficult. Therefore, the young village chief is concerned about how to help the villagers escape poverty.
Understanding the policy of building raw material areas for sugar factories, Village Chief Hung determined that it was necessary to change the crop structure, in which sugarcane is the main crop, to eliminate hunger and reduce poverty. Village Chief Lo Van Hung and other party members in the Party cell brought back seeds and encouraged people to follow. In the first crop, Hung's family planted sugarcane to build trust with the people. Seeing that sugarcane grew well, many families came to learn and buy seeds to plant; with the cooperation of the sugarcane company, people felt secure in developing sugarcane. From the beginning of 2017 until now, people have reclaimed 12 hectares of land for growing sugarcane, 86/102 households have cultivated areas.
“At first, people were not used to growing sugarcane as raw materials, so they were very hesitant. The Party cell and the village identified this as a crop to eliminate hunger and reduce poverty for Boong village, so they were determined to do it because the output was favorable, while the potential was available. With the trust of the people and the good economic results, Boong village made a general agreement to cover the fields with sugarcane.”
In addition to identifying key crops, Village Chief Lo Van Hung and other organizations in the village have actively promoted and mobilized people to participate in livestock training courses organized by the village and commune. To gain more knowledge, Mr. Hung has invested in books, searched online for bulletin boards, learned techniques... to apply to his family's production, and disseminated them to many households in the village. He also brought pig and goat farming models to the village for people to learn and apply, thereby gradually changing people's thinking about production development.
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| A corner of Boong village, Lang Khe commune (Con Cuong). Photo: Dao Tuan |
Village chief Lo Van Hung confided: Most of the villagers are Thai ethnic people, who grow crops and raise livestock in a self-sufficient manner, and do not dare to develop models because they are afraid of risks. As a village official, I have to set an example for the villagers to follow. The initial results may not be high, but the most important thing is that the villagers have changed their awareness and voluntarily developed production to escape poverty. Currently, in addition to growing sugarcane, rice, and cassava, the villagers in Boong village also grow 16 hectares of acacia and cassava to increase their income. Thanks to that, the poverty rate of the village has decreased significantly, from 38% in 2016 to 25% at the end of 2018.
Exemplary "paving the way" to go up
The internal roads have seriously degraded, the people of Boong village are "thirsty" for roads because the roads have been a part of their lives for a long time, so when the policy of building roads was proposed, the people agreed to support it. However, the problem was: the road system had to be built from scratch, so it was difficult for the people to "carry" such a huge expense. In the village meetings held, the village chief Lo Van Hung told the people: Whether we receive much or little support, we still have to do it, so if we rely on it, who knows when we will have a road to travel on. If we cannot "carry" the money at once, then each year set a goal of building a section, and the people contribute gradually to share the burden.
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| The village roads are concreted, spacious, clean and beautiful. Photo: Dao Tuan |
In the early days of the campaign, the village chief, party members, and influential people in the village would hold meetings to promote the cause, and they would also take advantage of parties or visits to each other's houses for a drink. In addition to skillful campaigning, fairness in contributions had to be ensured. Households that donated land for road construction would have their contributions reduced, while poor and disadvantaged households would be exempted.
Because of fairness, many people are willing to contribute both money and effort. All work in the village must be discussed openly and transparently before the people. This is the decisive factor for people to trust. In the near future, Boong village will continue to harden the internal roads, striving to bring Boong village to the new rural destination by 2020.
“Along with the role of village elders and prestigious people, it can be said that young party members and cadres in rural areas are truly becoming the core in the movement of economic development, hunger eradication, poverty reduction as well as building the political system at the grassroots level... In the coming time, the District Party Committee will assign grassroots party cells and committees to review and promptly detect young and outstanding factors to entrust with important responsibilities as well as challenge and hone their mettle.”
The fact that people gradually change their thinking, awareness, take control of their lives, and participate in building new rural areas has proven the "power of the people" and the role of young people "carrying the prison and the village", up to now Boong village has achieved 11/15 criteria for new rural villages. After more than 3 years as village chief, he has received many compliments from 102 households, 406 people of the village and more importantly, full trust because of his quick, friendly style, always putting the interests of the people first.
