Teacher in remote area

(Baonghean) -Except for one occasion when she went to the district to take part in a teacher competition, for 12 consecutive years, teacher Vi Thi Cong has never left the border areas. For her, the students in this area have become close friends, blood-related...

Teacher Vi Thi Cong, Chau Khe 2 Primary School (Chau Khe - Con Cuong) graduated from Nghe An Mountainous High School in 1996. At that time, she was only 19 years old, still full of dreams, she chose Muong Long Ethnic Boarding School (Ky Son), and began to apply the knowledge she had learned to her career of "sowing letters". According to friends, the land has an altitude of over 1400m above sea level and is covered in clouds all year round. Every early morning, the Mong village appears in the mist, and in the afternoon it disappears into the mist, just like in a dream.

At that time, the road to Muong Long commune was mainly dirt road. There were also people who drove rickshaws, but sometimes they had to search hard to find someone willing to take them, so on the way back and forth between Muong Long commune and the district center, they had to walk mainly. The distance was nearly fifty kilometers, but that did not make the young teacher hesitate!

Waking up in the morning, she quickly ate sticky rice, along with another bag for lunch, and then she hurriedly set off. Often at dawn, the mountain roads were still hidden in thick fog. She walked non-stop until 6pm when she reached Muong Xen Town. She would have to stay overnight, and in the morning, she would catch a bus back home to Yen Khe Commune - Con Cuong.

That was the journey home for Tet or summer vacation or business trip of Ms. Cong and many other colleagues away from home at Muong Long School in the past.

Teacher Vi Thi Cong.

When choosing a place that was strange in both living space and culture and customs, she did not anticipate all the difficulties she would encounter. The weather was harsh, winter was often very cold and long. It was early autumn, and at night she had to cover herself with cotton blankets and sleep on mattresses to keep warm. At that time, this highland commune still grew opium, and parents preferred to send their children to the fields, rather than valuing literacy, so she had to join the government in mobilizing people to eliminate opium and send their children to school. Before that, the Mong people had agreed to celebrate Tet together with the Kinh, Thai and other ethnic groups. Gradually, they also listened because they saw the harm of drug addiction and the benefits of literacy.

After class, she spent time learning the Mong language. In just a short time, she was quite fluent and could communicate with students and locals in their native language.

Another thing that teachers in the highlands have to overcome is homesickness and missing their lovers. At that time, people who want to communicate or express their feelings can only do so by writing letters. For her, each year she only has a few opportunities to return home to see her parents and her lover.

Until early 1999, after the wedding, she had to travel hundreds of kilometers back to school. Now, with another source of encouragement, her newlywed husband, Lo Van Banh, decided to follow her to her workplace to help her. The villagers helped them build a small thatched house near the school. Every day, she went to class, he worked on the fields, raised chickens, and helped his wife with housework. During the two years from 1999 to 2001, they had to move twice. Each time she moved to a new remote location, the young couple's house also moved. These remote locations were dozens of kilometers away from the commune center, and travel was mainly by foot, so he followed her to each remote location to conveniently take care of his wife and children. She recalls the first time she celebrated Tet with the Mong people at the "heavenly gate" of Muong Long in 1999. There were white plum blossoms, red peach blossoms, flute sounds, and the singing of Mong boys and girls throwing pao to find a partner... And so they became a "living couple".

In 2001, she moved to Chau Khe 2 Primary School. Chau Khe is a mountainous border commune, she was assigned to teach at Khe Bu village school, which is mostly made up of Dan Lai people. Having moved to her husband's hometown, the school was still over 20km away from home, so Mr. Banh and his wife packed up and went to the school to borrow land to build a thatched house and then stayed with his wife. He also raised chickens and pigs to supplement his income to take care of his first son.

Returning to the new school, they once again became a "settled" couple. Later, when their son was older and needed his father's care when he was at school age, he returned to Bai Gao village to repair the family's old house and live there with his son. Only she remained "staying in the village". Luckily, at that time, the school had a dormitory for teachers, and it was possible to ride a motorbike into the village, so every weekend, she could return to her husband and children...

An annual task of teachers in the highlands at the beginning of each school year is to persuade parents to send their children to school. For the Dan Lai people who have little contact and low educational level, this task is required more often, especially after each holiday. During 12 years of working in the inner villages of Chau Khe border commune, Ms. Cong has spent 3 years teaching at the remote Khe Nong village, the farthest school and also one of the few Dan Lai villages that live quite isolated from other communities. In the past, there was no border patrol road, so you could only ride a motorbike to Khe Bu village and then walk 2-3 hours to get to Khe Nong village. To maintain the number of students, before each class, she went to each student's house to call each student, then the teacher and students would come to class one after another. After school, the most daring teachers and students would come to contribute vegetables and rice to cook with the teacher. The relationship between teachers and students became even closer.

Dan Lai students in Khe Nong village.

When she first arrived, no one had participated in the excellent teacher competition. In 2001, when she first arrived at the school, she registered to participate and became the school's first excellent teacher. The memory that she remembers most is still the campaign to encourage a female student, La Thi Trang (Khe Bu village), to participate in the district excellent student competition. Trang was good at Math and very bold in class, but when she was selected for the main school team, she ran away. It took the teacher almost a whole morning to find her covered in a blanket in a bamboo room, and it took a few more days of coaxing her to agree to participate. At the excellent student competition, this student won an Encouragement Prize. That was just an achievement, but it was still a source of encouragement for Dan Lai students in this remote village.

Being busy with the remote villages, it seemed like she had no time for her family. Her son had gone through a childhood without her knowing. During that time, the child lacked the care and attention of his mother, lived a closed life, was afraid to interact with friends, and gradually suffered from depression. She sadly said: "When I found out about my son's situation, I thought about quitting my job to go home and take care of him. But then I thought that if I quit my job, the family would have more difficulties. With the encouragement of the school's Union and my husband's promise to take better care of my son, I felt somewhat reassured. Now, I can only hope that one day, my son will live in harmony and be more self-confident..."

With her efforts, in 2011, Ms. Vi Thi Cong was awarded the Medal for the Cause of Education by Minister of Education and Training Pham Vu Luan!

I visited her on an early autumn day, and she and her students were preparing for a new school year. During the two summer months, she had managed to build a level four house to replace the dilapidated wooden house. She said: "The house has not yet been completed and we have to start work." Her husband encouraged her with a catchphrase of the lowlands: "Slowly, the potatoes will be ripe, my dear!". I blurted out: "If now, you have to move far away to teach, will you still go with me to "camp" the area like before?". He looked at his son who was sitting thoughtfully and said: "When he grows up a little more and knows how to be independent, that's fine!".

Remote villages like Khe Nong will soon have roads leading to them. The difficult days of walking all day to reach the remote villages are now just a memory. For Ms. Cong, the most difficult days of her life "sowing letters" on the mountain are probably over!

Article and photos: Huu Vi