New life at the foot of Pu Phen mountain

Sad memories

Nature has endowed Yen Tinh with many rare and precious resources. The upstream forest of Cha Ha stream is full of precious woods, and underground from Pu Phen peak to the hillsides, mountain slopes or Cha Ha stream bed, there is gold. It was thought that this resource would bring a prosperous and fulfilling life to the people here. But it is the cause of disasters that befell the people. People from all over flocked to Yen Tinh to mine gold, exploit wood, and seek luck to change their lives, bringing with them drug addiction and HIV/AIDS.

The sound of excavators and screening machines roaring on the mountainside, in the bottom of the streams… From a peaceful agricultural countryside, it is now caught up in the hustle and bustle of life chasing gold sweeps across the streams, creeks, and hilltops. Gold diggers, porters are hired to carry goods for gold mining groups. The main goods are gasoline, oil, food, alcohol, cigarettes…

The hired porters are women. Day by day, month by month, the relationship between the bosses and the porters becomes more and more friendly, leading to adultery and broken families. More than 90% of the hired gold miners are addicts, leading to a heated drug problem in the area. Hundreds of young people in Yen Tinh commune fall into drug addiction and HIV/AIDS. At one point, the number of drug addicts in Yen Tinh reached 197, of which nearly 100 are infected with HIV/AIDS. Among drug addicts and HIV/AIDS patients, 3/4 are in prison or dead; dozens of couples are divorced, families are broken, more than 30 orphans have no place to live, and poverty and misery cover the villages.

Mr. Pay Van Hoi - Head of Cha Lum village (Yen Tinh) recalls, "Drug addiction and HIV/AIDS devastated Cha Lum village. Mothers lost their children, wives lost their husbands, some died, some went to jail. In the village, there were only old people, women and children, not to mention dozens of women who left their husbands and children to follow their lovers"...

Not only have drug storms, gold thieves, and loggers devastated Yen Tinh land, but there have also been "Great Floods" that have devastated this land. For example, a flash flood hit Pa Ty village on the night of May 26, 2009. Within just a few hours, the floodwaters took away 5 lives, including a couple and an 8-year-old child, swept away 2 houses along with thousands of livestock and poultry, and the entire village had 60 roofs submerged in the flood. The poor village became devastated in just a short time. Leaders at all levels from the central to provincial and district levels were shocked when they received the news.

Thinking back to the flash flood that occurred in the early morning of June 25, 2011, Mr. Vi Vu Quang, former Party Secretary and Chairman of Yen Tinh Commune People's Committee, still had a dazed look in his eyes: "It rained all night, and in the early morning of June 25, the flood came, sweeping away two houses in Canh Toong village, inundating all 76 houses, the commune People's Committee headquarters, the Kindergarten, Yen Tinh 1 Primary School, Yen Tinh 2 Primary School, and in Cap Chang village, the entire school and teachers' housing were completely collapsed. The flood blocked the entire road from Ban Ve to Yen Tinh, and four inner villages of Yen Tinh commune, namely Cha Lum, Na Cang, Pa Khom, and Huoi Pai, were completely isolated."

Next was the flood in the early morning of September 14, 2016, one of the flash floods that caused the most damage to Yen Tinh commune. The flood severely damaged 89 houses and forced 35 households to evacuate urgently; hundreds of fish ponds with over 2 tons of fish and dozens of buffaloes, cows, and pigs were swept away; 1 gas station and the entire Boarding Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities along with teaching equipment, textbooks, clothes, blankets for students and teachers were also swept away by the flood, causing a total damage of tens of billions of dong.

"It's called Yen Tinh but this place has never been peaceful" - Mr. Luong Duy Tong in Canh Toong village, former Vice Chairman of the Commune Fatherland Front sadly said.

Where the "dead land" blooms

Now Yen Tinh has revived and is changing day by day, agricultural and rural infrastructure has been and is being invested, people's lives are changing day by day. A new rhythm of life is beginning in the "dead" land.

Leading me to visit the villages of Na Cang, Cha Lum, Huoi Pai, Pa Khom, and Hat after 8 years of being devastated by the great flood in September 2016, Chairman of the People's Committee of Lu Kham Phon commune happily said: Thanks to the attention of the Party and State and the extraordinary determination of the people, now the lives of the people of Yen Tinh are becoming more and more stable.

Up to now, most of the people in the villages have overcome difficulties. Thanks to the attention and investment in agricultural production, productivity and food output have increased every year, and people's income has gradually improved. Previously, flash floods took away all the livestock, but now the total number of livestock in the commune is up to 5,156, with each household having at least 5 on average, and each house having over 100 poultry.

The people of Yen Tinh commune enthusiastically reclaimed the flat land along the stream, turning the former gold pits into fish ponds and rice fields. Currently, the whole commune has 64 hectares of rice fields, cultivating 2 rice crops, 1 color crop and converting 107 hectares of upland rice fields to grow high-yield cassava. The people here are hard-working and diligent, so their economic life is improving day by day, more and more wooden stilt houses and solidly built houses are being built. Poor households who cannot afford to build houses have been helped by all levels, sectors and people, so no family has to live in temporary houses; 100% of children go to school at the right age.

Most of the inter-village and intra-village roads to households have been concreted and contributed by the people themselves. Typically, Na Cang village mobilized 880 working days to clear 15,900m2.², digging road with volume of 11,368m³At easy-to-do locations, volunteers donated 36 million VND to hire an excavator to support, the above work was converted into 372 million VND to build a 5km long road to the concentrated production areas of the village. Not only in Na Cang, all the routes to the concentrated production areas of villages such as Pa Ty (2.4 km), Huoi Pai (1.2 km), Pa Khom (1.2 km) were also completed in time to help people travel easily... In particular, Cap Chang village was selected to finish the new rural area in 2023, having achieved 13/13 criteria, and is currently completing the dossier to submit to the competent authority for appraisal and recognition.

One of the typical examples of overcoming difficulties is the people in the Canh Toong Tea Cooperative in Canh Toong village, led by Mr. Lu Kham Khay. Having seen the people in the village suffer damage due to natural disasters and floods and being worried, when there was news that companies would come to Pu Phen hill to "make gold", Mr. Khay called on all people to unite and join hands to establish the Canh Toong Tea Production and Processing Cooperative, to "get rich" on the very land that has left behind consequences that the people here have not yet overcome. Mr. Khay said: "Currently, the Cooperative has 14 member households. Thanks to the support and encouragement of the Party Committee and the commune government, the Cooperative has planted 1 hectare of new tea, protected 10 hectares on Pu Phen peak, and in 2023, sold 1,200 kg of dry tea with revenue after deducting expenses of 217 million VND. In January 2024, the OCOP Product Appraisal Council of the district recognized it as a typical product, bearing the Yen Tinh tea brand."

Along Provincial Road 543c from Vang Cuom village to Na Cang, the vast green forests of acacia, cassava, and high-yielding cassava are bursting with new life. Mr. Lu Kham Phon - Chairman of Yen Tinh Commune People's Committee said: "Currently, the whole commune has over 1,568 hectares of planted forests, mainly acacia, of which 1/3 of the area is being exploited. In 2023 alone, the whole commune has planted more than 260 hectares of acacia with people's own investment. Yen Tinh is one of the two localities with the largest acacia area in the district, second only to Tam Quang commune".

Returning to the commune headquarters, I shared my feelings about the changes in ideology, thinking, and way of doing of Yen Tinh people with Party Secretary Quang Van Dang and learned that, through assigning party members to be in charge of households, innovating the movement of skillful mass mobilization and the responsibility of setting an example for cadres and party members, the commune has so far basically eliminated the mentality of waiting and relying on the people. Cadres and party members of the commune have supported and helped 245 households escape poverty, reducing the poverty rate from 51.43% to 36.92%.

Mass organizations and villages in the commune have many good models, effective and outstanding methods, such as: The model of cleaning the environment 2 days a month of the Women's Union; denouncing crimes of Vang Cuom village, the first drug-free village of the commune; raising goats in Hat village of the Youth Union; planting fruit trees in Pa Khom village. At school party cells, the spirit of self-awareness of students and teachers in the school has been aroused through practical and creative activities, not leaving idle time for boarding students...

Chairman of Lu Kham Phon commune happily shared: "By the end of 2023, 35/43 targets had been achieved and exceeded the target of the 13th Party Congress of the commune, term 2020-2025, average income per capita reached 30 million VND/year, approximately equal to the average level of the whole district, the output of exploited planted forest wood reached 2,500m³exceeding 228%; labor export exceeding 40%, trained labor exceeding 16.67%, new job creation exceeding 20.7%, building cultural villages exceeding 11.12%.

In particular, it has put an end to illegal exploitation of forest products and minerals; it is the first commune in Tuong Duong district to effectively implement Resolution 08-NQ/HU of the District Party Committee on building drug-free communes and villages to establish security and order in the area. Attention is paid to education; in the 2022-2023 school year, all 3 schools in the commune were classified as excellent; the infrastructure system in the commune is basically synchronized, 100% of the roads are hardened, contributing to promoting trade, the construction of new rural areas is focused on and has achieved good results.

Through the efforts of people who have experienced the pain of the storm of drugs, HIV/AIDS, gold and sea thieves, they have overcome difficulties to stabilize their lives. Looking at the work they do and the achievements they have achieved, we can see that the cadres and people in this "flood center" are truly resilient. They not only live but have overcome many difficulties, overcome hunger, poverty and old, backward thinking... Saying goodbye to Yen Tinh and the persistent, courageous and creative people, I am filled with joy and admiration. I believe and hope that one day soon Yen Tinh will shine.