Life of 1 of 5 ethnic minorities in Vietnam

(Baonghean) - The O Du ethnic group is also known as the Tay Hat. According to the interpretation of the people, O Du in Thai means "very pitiful", "very pitiful"; and Tay Hat means "hungry and ragged people".

No one remembers when this ethnic group was identified, but we only know that hundreds of years ago, a life of hardship and poverty was the defining characteristic of the O Du people, but until now nothing has changed. The O Du people are still very poor and are facing the risk of losing their cultural identity.

Ethnic O Du students on their way to school. Photo: Phuoc Anh

Life in the new hometown

The O Du ethnic group is one of the five ethnic groups with the smallest population in Vietnam and currently lives mostly in Tuong Duong district. 11 years ago, to reach the O Du ethnic group, one had to take a swallow-tailed boat, cross the Nam Non river, and pass dozens of fierce waterfalls. In 2006, responding to the call for migration under the resettlement program to serve the Ban Ve Hydropower project, 308 O Du people living in 8 villages, 4 communes: Kim Da, Kim Tien, Huu Khuong, Huu Duong came to build a new life in Vang Mon village, Nga My commune. Now, the population of the O Du people in Vang Mon is 418 people, 100 households. The road to the new homeland of the O Du people is very convenient, over 60km of asphalt road connecting from the district center to the foot of the village.

Ms. Mac Thi Tim - Head of Vang Mon village, led us to visit the village and told stories. About their new home, the O Du people were very excited. The village is located close to the road, traffic and trade are convenient and easy. Thanks to that, the children of O Du go to school more diligently than before, the whole village now has 26 preschool children, 41 primary school children, about 25 children in middle school - high school and 12 children in university. "More than ten years ago, the road was long, the family was poor, the children were always on the verge of dropping out of school, who would have dared to dream of this result" - Ms. Tim said with a smile.

However, the new place also had many difficulties. Dozens of resettlement houses on stilts were built with cement, steel, red tiles, and painted bright yellow, and the doors were locked. Most of the people built a thatched house next to it to live in. "I'm not used to living in a built house, it's very hot, and people have the habit of cooking inside the house, so it's stuffy and hard to breathe," said Ms. Tim. The female village chief led us to Mr. Lo Dai Tinh's house - one of the households that had just escaped poverty in the village. They didn't build a thatched house, but no one in the family went upstairs to live, so they found straw and bamboo to build a 4-walled house at the foot of the stilt house and gathered there.

Mr. Tinh's family has 6 mouths to feed, including 4 children and grandchildren of school age. Mr. Tinh is over 60 years old, his wife has been blind for many years and needs the care of others. Every year, the whole family depends on a few fields of corn and cassava, and the income in 2016 was only slightly higher than the poverty line. "Escaped from poverty but still like a poor household, still very miserable. The family has 4 children of school age, many things to buy and worry about. This year, I'm afraid of falling back into poverty" - Mr. Lo Dai Tinh said.

Hunger is a common concern of many households in O Du. A few years ago, the rice support from Ban Ve Hydropower Plant for people after resettlement ended, while growing rice in this land did not yield a significant harvest. "For example, sowing 1 ton of seeds sometimes yields less than 1 quintal of rice. This land cannot grow rice, only corn and cassava, but in this resettlement village, the land is limited, so if you want to grow more, you have to" - Village Chief Mac Thi Tim explained. Mr. Vi Van Dau - Chairman of Nga My Commune gave a more specific number: The current poverty rate in Vang Mon is 80%, the average income is about 2 - 3 million VND/person/year, 1 year of hunger up to 6 months!

In the whole village, only two people can speak the O Du language.

It is not easy to find an elderly person who understands the history and culture of the O Du ethnic group right in the place where this ethnic group lives. Life is too difficult, the life expectancy of the O Du people is lower than that of other ethnic groups in the area. The language of the O Du people has gradually disappeared with the elderly, now the whole village has only 2 people who know the O Du language. "But I only know about 30 - 40%, to speak in the O Du language, I still have to add Thai and Vietnamese" - said Mr. Lo Thanh Binh (born in 1948) - 1 of 2 people who know the O Du language.

In addition, the customs and practices of the O Du people are not preserved much today. The O Du people have a thunder celebration ceremony "cham phtrong" around January and February every year; the typical dishes that must be included in the Tet offering tray are pa boc and lemongrass-smuggling wine. The people of Vang Mon village said that they do not have their own musical instruments; there are no folk songs or dances; and as for their costumes, they only vaguely remember the style because no one has made them for a long time. Now, the communication and daily living habits of the O Du people are similar to those of the Thai and Vietnamese people.

“No one in the village now knows how to speak the O Du language. When they grow up, they go to school or work far away. The O Du people only have one family name, “Lo”, and people in the same family are not allowed to marry each other, so the village’s daughters-in-law and sons-in-law are all Thai or Khmu. Therefore, customs and practices cannot be preserved,” said village chief Mac Thi Tim. Even village chief Tim is also Thai and married into the O Du language more than 20 years ago. No one in her family knows how to speak the O Du language, she only found a set of clothes left by her grandparents and kept it as a family heirloom to remind her children and grandchildren.

Secretary of the Vang Mon village Party Cell in traditional O Du costume. Photo: Canh Nam

Restoring and practicing the O Du language is the desire of many elderly people in the village. It is known that many years ago, the Provincial Ethnic Committee coordinated with the People's Committee of Tuong Duong district to organize 2 language classes for the O Du people, but due to difficulties in funding and selecting teachers, they have not been implemented regularly and continuously. Most recently, on August 22, 2017, the Provincial People's Committee approved the Project to support the socio-economic development of the O Du ethnic group in Nghe An province for the period 2016 - 2025, with an initial estimate of 120 billion VND.

Mr. Tran Nhat Phuong - Head of Ethnic Policy Department, Provincial Ethnic Committee said that the project is currently waiting for funding. The most difficult thing now is to preserve the language of the O Du people, and it is planned to invite O Du people from Laos to teach. Not yet specifically implemented, but initially this information is also lighting up hope for hundreds of O Du people about solutions to improve their socio-economic life and preserve their cultural identity in the near future./.

Phuoc Anh - Canh Nam