Reunion in Mong village

(Baonghean)- At the suggestion of Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Trong Vinh, Chief of Nam Can Station, Nghe An Border Guard, we visited Nam Khien village, Nam Can commune (Ky Son).

Arriving at the village chief Lau Nhia Xong's house when the sun had reached the top of the mountain, the golden sunlight shone down on the Nam Khien valley, illuminating the natural, magical beauty of a frontier countryside. All the fatigue and hardship of the walking journey seemed to disappear when we were welcomed by the village chief, the village elder and representatives of the majority of the people. Village elder Lau Xay Phia humorously said: "I have been the Party Secretary of this commune for 29 years, retired for 5 years, received many cadres, many journalists at all levels but have never received a poet like today. So happy!" While holding hands and asking about many things, the host and guest opened their hearts like long-time acquaintances.

Nam Khien village has 142 households with 342 people, all of whom are Mong ethnic group, especially those with the Lau family name. This is a very unique feature of the village, thanks to which the policies and guidelines of the Party and State are easily accepted and trusted by the people.

Growing ginger is a new economic development direction for people in Ky Son district.
Photo: Thanh Le

In the past, the village was located on the mountain, the people's life mainly depended on burning fields to grow opium. At that time, every family had many children. Growing opium was self-harm, almost every family had an addict. Moreover, malaria tormented almost every family. Poverty and disease, often incited by bad people to migrate to neighboring countries to be fully provided for and happy by the Meo King. "Fortunately, there was a policy of the Party and the Government, and the close border guards guided and helped our people down the mountain. Nam Khien village changed since then!" - Village elder Lau Xay Phia said with a happy smile.

The people of Nam Khien village now know how to limit the number of children (each family has only 2 to 3 children) to make a living, know how to take care of their children's education, all children from 6 years old and up go to school. Most families have solid houses, which greatly reduces shifting cultivation. The border guard's working group has truly become a core family of the village. The soldiers learn about all the difficulties of the people, and the people ask the soldiers about any concerns. Thanks to that, for many years now, Nam Khien village has been stable in all aspects.

The people of Nam Khien are diligent, from early morning until late at night, every house is closed because from the elderly to the children, if they are not going to school, they all go to the fields. Some collect firewood, others cut grass for the buffalo, some go back and forth several times a day. There are people nearly a hundred years old like the mother of the village elder Lau Xay Phia, who still go to the fields every day to carry firewood and buffalo grass, climbing uphill for several hours. Diligence and thrift are the nature of the Mong people. Yet they are still poor. The main income of the villagers today is from raising buffalo. In Nam Khien village, buffaloes are let loose in the forest all year round. The whole village encloses a forest and lets them graze in it. Whoever needs something done takes one home to take care of it for a few months and then sells it.

The concern is not knowing what to plant and what to raise to make money? The question has been around for a long time but has not been answered. In the past few years, there have been many projects such as planting plums, oranges, tangerines, pineapples, ginger... but the results have been limited. When the harvest season comes, people cannot sell because the sugar has not turned into sugar. They cannot sell it, cannot eat it all and have to let it rot. It is very pitiful. More or less, the people's trust in their superiors has decreased. Therefore, the people of Nam Khien still live by growing grass to raise buffaloes like in the old days.

Several decades ago, Nam Khien village had almost no one going to school. Why study, no one could answer. 12-13 year old girls were forced to be wives. 13-14 year old boys went to this village or that village every night to play flutes and find ways to catch wives. Life continued to follow a vicious cycle. Poverty continued from young families with many children.

Since coming down from the mountain, the school was built by the State, teachers from the lowlands taught wholeheartedly, and the Border Guards promoted and mobilized, providing money and rice for students to have lunch at school. Many cadres and village elders have set an example by sending their children to school, and many Mong children have become teachers, engineers, etc., contributing to changing the awareness of the whole population. Up to now, Nam Khien village has had a primary school with 10 classes and 140 students, including 2 first grade, 2 second grade, 2 third grade. Almost all children of school age go to school. Nam Khien is proud to have 93 children in junior high school, 78 children in high school, and 8 children who have studied and are studying at universities and colleges in the province and the central government.

Although there are still many difficulties and life is not yet full, the people of Nam Khien are always grateful to the Party, the State and the border guards because now the villagers live in a concentrated manner, have electricity from a small hydroelectric plant to light up the day, and are happy morning and night; they can go to the fields without being threatened or arrested like before.

Pointing to the Nam Can Border Guard Station, the village elder said: "The Border Guards are the people of the village. The only thing they haven't done is to capture wives, even though many Mong girls want to be captured by the soldiers"...

Hong Quang Mausoleum