Story of lighting up the countryside in Cao Son

About 20 km east of Anh Son district center, Cao Son commune has long been known as the capital of commercial Gay tea. However, this hilly terrain-loving plant has never helped improve the lives of Cao Son people. Cao Son is still a poor commune of Anh Son district and this land is known as the "depression" of the locality. But that was a few years ago. Now Cao Son has changed a lot.

What I see and hear

... Colonel Nguyen Huu Cau said that he had met voters many times and directly met many people, but for the first time in Cao Son commune, voters insisted that National Assembly deputies and People's Councils at all levels help them "keep" the commune People's Committee Chairman Nguyen Duc Vinh. People were afraid that if the commune chairman was "dispatched from above", the people of Cao Son would lose their support.

I took the confidences of the Colonel - Director of the Provincial Police to go back to Cao Son commune on a day in early 2019.

I did not rush into the commune immediately but wandered around the upper and lower villages to hear stories. I stopped at a small shop on the road to village 4. At that time, under the eaves of the house, there were 3 men chatting animatedly over bowls of green tea with steam rising from them. Seeing a stranger, all 3 greeted in unison: "Uncle! Uncle! Uncle!". Their conversation revolved around contributing to the construction of the village and the hamlet. One of the three was showing off to the other two the certificate of merit he had just received from the commune.

Mr. Tran Huu Loi 'shows off' his Certificate of Merit for his achievements in donating land to build social welfare projects. Photo: Dao Tuan

That is the Certificate of Merit for Mr. Tran Huu Loi, village 4.because of his achievements in the movement “Lighting up the countryside”, voluntarily donating land to build the Cay Da Ban Tho temple. Seeing me handing over my camera to take a picture, a man named Loi, small in stature, with dark skin, quickly raised his brown hand and said firmly: “Uncle, the whole commune donated, not just my family. With 3 carts of acacia trees and a few hundred square meters of hilly land, the people will laugh at me, uncle!”.

This is the local recognition for families participating in the movement to Light up the countryside of Cao Son commune. Photo: Dao Tuan

When I told them that Cao Son commune had recently undergone many changes, the men seemed to have been struck by the right idea, and they took turns sharing stories about the village and the commune. That is, for the past two years, Cao Son commune has not been flooded anymore, many main roads have been paved with asphalt and concrete, and the more remote areas have also been paved with gravel. In particular, in the past, during the rainy season, Cao Son commune was often cut off and isolated because the Cua Den overflow bridge (also known as Nha Ba temple) was submerged in floodwaters, but now a new bridge has been built, helping people avoid risks when traveling.

“Hung Bridge has been in disrepair for decades, causing 2-3 deaths, but now it has been repaired, railings installed, and the bridge welded, so people can travel safely,” said Mr. Nguyen Van Thu, a resident of Village 4. Mr. Thu was very moved: “Do you know who has done things that no one did decades ago? Teacher Vinh! On the first day Teacher Vinh came to the commune, he went to all 10 villages. Standing on Hung Bridge, he immediately called workers to make railings. It was his own money. That’s all, but no one has thought about helping the people for generations.”

Road upgrade construction in Cao Son commune. Photo: Dao Tuan

At this time, there were a few new people coming to the shop. Mr. Nguyen Cong Hong from village 3, Mr. Tran Huu Chin from village 3 both joined in the conversation. “Come here at night and see, the three-way and four-way intersections and main roads have all been installed with lighting systems. That is one of the key activities of the “Lighting up the countryside” program initiated by the commune. Clearing the road corridor, Mr. Vinh said that in the morning, people would voluntarily dismantle fences and cut down trees in the afternoon. Mr. Vinh also provided phoenix tree seedlings, flower tiles, and rosewood for the villages to plant along the roads so that their children would have more shade in the future. The kindergarten had been degraded for many years, but when Mr. Vinh returned, the students had a new school. We know that it was all the people’s money, but if the leaders don’t have the heart and vision, the people won’t listen. We will pay whatever money we have. We lost money but feel happy inside” – Mr. Nguyen Cong Hong excitedly said.

Collective credit

I brought with me what I saw and heard when I went to Cao Son commune headquarters. Meeting the commune People's Committee Chairman Nguyen Duc Vinh, he immediately affirmed: "The changes in the commune are thanks to the attention of the Standing Committee, the District Party Committee, the District People's Committee and the help of the province and all levels and sectors, especially the innovative thinking of the people. Please do not include me in that result. I am just a teacher assigned to manage the commune for a while!". Listening to the old-fashioned commune chairman, with dark skin, speaking slowly and sincerely, I knew he did not want to say anything about himself.

From the position of Head of the Education Department of Anh Son district, in 2017, Mr. Nguyen Duc Vinh proposed his wish to return to Cao Son commune to join in taking on the village and commune work with the Party Committee, government and local people. As shared by the people, on the first day of taking up the task in Cao Son commune, he went straight to all 10 villages. He went to see the shape of Cao Son land but was known as a depression.

Cao Son commune has a total natural area of ​​3,151.8 hectares, 1,535 households with 5,221 people, the poverty rate is over 10%, and is the most difficult area in the district. For a long time, infrastructure has received little investment and upgrading; schools, especially kindergartens, are the weakest units in the district. The rural traffic system has 147 routes, with a total length of up to 172.2 km and is mainly dirt roads. Many traffic routes have been seriously degraded and damaged.

After carefully surveying and understanding the aspirations of cadres, party members and people, the new Chairman of Cao Son Commune People's Committee, Nguyen Duc Vinh, advised and proposed that the Party Executive Committee of the commune analyze the situation and issue Resolution No. 35-NQ/DU on implementing tasks in 2017 and the following years. Thanks to that, the whole Cao Son commune has become a large project, in some places, people leveled and dug up rocks and soil to make roads, in others, bridges were renovated and upgraded. Many technical infrastructure projects were urgently planned in detail for construction and repair. The funding source outside the support policy of the State, all levels and sectors had a significant contribution from the people's internal resources through the socialization policy. "The commune leaders have hit their own pulse, doing exactly what the people have been waiting for for many years, so they do not regret having to contribute any amount" -Mr. Dang Ich Cuu, village 1, Cao Son commune said.

Workers constructing auxiliary works of Cao Son Commune Kindergarten. Photo: Dao Tuan

“The most important thing is not what projects can be done, but what is more meaningful is to rebuild people's trust. This is the core factor” - Chairman of Cao Son Commune People's Committee Nguyen Duc Vinh affirmed.

And one of the activities to build trust for the people of Cao Son commune is to solve pressing problems from practice. Just from the end of 2017 until now, with the role of "standing at the forefront", Mr. Nguyen Duc Vinh has solved 23/25 petitions, including conflicts that have lasted for decades. Besides, with the viewpoint: where there are people, there are roads, more than 170 km of Cao Son commune roads in the main and convenient areas have been paved with asphalt and concrete, deep areas, muddy sections have been filled with raised stones. In 2018, the commune built 4 km of asphalt roads, currently continuing to construct 6 km.

There was a "Dien Hong conference" in Cao Son.

To spread the strength among the people and arouse the sense of responsibility of the community, a "Dien Hong Conference" was organized by Cao Son commune. It was a workshop on "Joining hands and hearts to build the homeland" with the participation of key cadres of the commune, the elderly, retired cadres, and "electors" of the villages. The conference used the wisdom and strength of great solidarity of the whole commune to raise 18 issues that needed to be solved. These were the contents of Party building, government building, the Fatherland Front and mass organizations to meet the new situation; improving administrative reform to serve the interests of the people; focusing on building infrastructure, trade and services; focusing on agriculture, land management, etc.

Workers construct items of Cao Son Commune Kindergarten. Photo: Dao Tuan

The whole commune no longer has monkey bridges or temporary bridges, instead 6 sturdy bridges have been invested and upgraded; kindergartens have also been newly built with a value of 12 billion VND. Especially after the program "Lighting up the countryside" was launched, a series of contents closely related to the lives and activities of the people were implemented, making the people happy. From the lighting system stretching along 100km of road, to the granting and preservation of 5 temples, all were actively contributed by the people. Cao Son commune is a purely agricultural area, but people do not have new thinking in vegetable production. The commune has taken the initiative to pilot 5 sao of clean vegetables. Thereby, mobilizing people to renovate mixed gardens and land areas to grow safe vegetables. "Up to now, more than 90% of households in the commune have vegetable gardens in their home gardens. This is the clearest manifestation of the change in thinking among the people.

“To make the emulation movement become a revolutionary activity of the masses, the motto of the Party Committee and the People's Committee of the commune is to take great solidarity as the driving force, take the village/hamlet as the “fortress”, take the household as the subject, take the village leader and commune cadre as the vanguard, and mobilize resources from the people and children far from home as the basis. All is the strength of the collective and the masses...”

Mr. Nguyen Duc Vinh - Chairman of Cao Son Commune People's Committee