Stories of people overcoming poverty

(Baonghean) - These days, coming to Hamlet 10, Tuong Son Commune (Anh Son), we witnessed the joy and happiness on the faces of the women. Happy because the activities to celebrate International Women's Day (March 8) are taking place enthusiastically, and even happier because the Women's Union of the Hamlet has just been awarded a Certificate of Merit by the Central Union for its achievements in promoting thrift practice, following the example ofmoralityHo Chi Minh

Following the head of the Women's Association of Hamlet 10, Nguyen Thi Toan, we visited Ms. Tran Thi Hoe. Ms. Hoe's situation is quite difficult, her marriage was unhappy so she had to break up, she adopted her daughter. To have daily food for her and her daughter, she had to do many jobs to make a living. Although she worked hard from morning to night, she and her daughter still lived in poverty. In 2012, Ms. Hoe was given a loan of 15 million VND by the Women's Association to develop her economy.

With the capital, she invested in buying pig breeds and building barns. Combined with taking care of several fields of rice, alluvial land and making rice paper, Ms. Hoe's income has become increasingly stable and she has gradually accumulated enough to send her daughter to school. Up to now, her daughter has graduated from university and has a stable job in Vung Tau, she has almost paid off the debt from the Social Policy Bank. In addition, she also has a pair of cows worth 40 million VND and some savings. But the happiest thing is that this year she has been removed from the list of poor households in the village. Ms. Hoe excitedly said: "I am very happy to be included in the list of households that have escaped poverty. Because for many years I have always been a poor household, sometimes I feel very embarrassed,...".

Women's Union members of Hamlet 10, Tuong Son Commune contribute rice savings to help members in difficulty.

Leaving Ms. Hoe's house, we continued to visit the house of parishioner Nguyen Thi Dinh. Ms. Dinh's family had also been very poor in the past, her husband was often sick, her child had a congenital disease, so life was always poor and difficult. She had to work hard in the fields and on the farm but still faced many shortages. In the face of difficult circumstances, the Women's Union of Hamlet 10 created conditions for her to access capital, gradually develop her economy and escape poverty. Initially, she was able to borrow 5 million VND, this money was used to buy breeding pigs.

Thanks to her diligence and resourcefulness, she has been able to take care of her pigs and grow them quickly, helping to pay off debts, rotate capital, and expand the scale of her farm, thus escaping poverty 2 years ago. Up to now, Ms. Dinh's pig herd has reached 70 pigs (both sows and pigs). In addition, her family has also purchased a milling machine, cultivated 8 sao of rice fields, 4 sao of alluvial land and abandoned farming. Every year, the pigs have brought in a large income, helping her and her husband build a new, spacious house, buy motorbikes, milling machines, and create conditions for their children to study. When talking, Ms. Dinh was very excited: "Thanks to the Women's Union and superiors creating conditions for loans, my family is able to have what we have today, otherwise I don't know how we would manage."

The family of the Association President Nguyen Thi Toan was also a poor household 5 years ago. In 2010, she boldly borrowed 10 million VND from the Social Policy Bank to invest in livestock farming. With her dynamic and eager-to-learn nature, she soon accessed scientific and technical knowledge and applied it to livestock farming. Thanks to that, her family's pigs and chickens have always grown healthily. Up to now, she has 15 pigs, 2 cows, about 300 chickens, and 50 geese. Combined with 3 sao of contracted rice fields and nearly 2 sao of alluvial land, Toan's family has a stable source of income and can send their children to university. It is worth mentioning that after only 1 year of borrowing capital to develop livestock farming, by 2010 her family had escaped the poor household status of the hamlet.

Coming to Le Thi Thap's family, looking at their property, few people would think that since 1991, they moved out with nothing. Life at that time was difficult in every way, not to mention the times when their children were sick and had to be treated with medicine. The Women's Union and Farmers' Union officials helped by guiding them through the procedures and acting as guarantors so that they could borrow capital to develop livestock farming. For Ms. Thap, raising pigs has become the main source of income, earning hundreds of millions of dong each year. In 2013 alone, she earned nearly 500 million dong from selling pigs, and she plans to continue selling about 40 pigs in the near future. With an initial loan of 5 million dong from the Women's Union and 20 million dong from the Farmers' Union, not long after, Ms. Thap's family overcame poverty and became rich. And the most joyful thing is that in 2013, Ms. Le Thi Thap was honored as a Patriotic Catholic Woman.

The Women's Association of Hamlet 10 has a total of 127 members, of which 84 are Catholics. Like other villages in Tuong Son commune, the main source of income for the people in the hamlet is nothing more than raising livestock and growing crops, and life is still not without difficulties. Responding to the Campaign "Studying and following the moral example of Ho Chi Minh", the association unanimously promoted the spirit of practicing thrift to build and develop the family economy. The members agreed on the form of "Rice Savings Jar" and "Savings Tube" to promote internal strength, create capital to gradually improve their lives. At the same time, it creates a habit of saving for women, promotes the spirit of mutual love in the community, and contributes to sustainable poverty reduction.

Regarding the form of "Rice Saving Jar", members are divided into groups according to their residential area, each member contributes 2kg of rice/month to help the most disadvantaged member's family. The form of "Saving Money Tube" is also divided into groups, each group consists of 20 members, each member contributes 105 thousand VND/month. This amount is used as a fund to create conditions for members who are in difficulty or sick, in trouble to borrow without interest. And this fund is also lent in a rotating manner, taking turns to each member to contribute to the development of the family economy. Every month, the member groups organize activities. The content of the activities is to summarize the activities of the month, contribute savings, draw lots to borrow capital, share business experiences, scientific and technical knowledge and perform arts festivals. On that basis, the solidarity between the village, between religious and non-religious people is increasingly sustainable.

Ms. Toan added that by the end of 2013, the total savings of the association members had reached 97,500,000 VND. Of this, 64 million VND was spent to help 48 members. Thanks to that, it has helped many members invest in effective production to escape poverty like Ms. Hoe, Ms. Dinh or become good economic models like Ms. Thap, Ms. Khanh. Along with helping each other develop the economy and improve their lives, collective activities also help the association members become more confident in their behavior and boldly participate in cultural, artistic and sports activities launched by their superiors.

Talking to us, Ms. Nguyen Thi Tam - President of the Women's Union of Tuong Son commune said: "The association of Hamlet 10 has been very successful in promoting the content of practicing thrift, following the example of President Ho Chi Minh, promoting community solidarity, solidarity between religions and non-religious people and has been recognized by the Central Association. We have launched a campaign for local associations to learn from the experience. And it is known that in the near future, the superiors will organize to disseminate the experience and replicate the model of Association 10".

Tuong Anh