The villagers are relieved!

(Baonghean) - We must stop growing opium poppies. We must encourage the Mong ethnic people to move down from the mountains to stabilize their lives and develop their culture. That is the Party's policy and the determination of the Party Committee of Tuong Duong district.

“We work here all day but our stomachs are still hungry. We have to go up to the high mountains to work on the fields. Wherever the fire burns, the Mong people go there. People have to follow the land! There is no mountain peak higher than the knees of the Mong people!” In 1985, Vu Giong Nhenh - Head of the Huoi Giang Agricultural Cooperative, Tay Son Commune, Ky Son District said so. Hundreds of years ago, the Mong people, who always moved around and lived in seclusion, also said the same thing. It is the same now. It is true that after that, this pure Mong people came together to the top of Pu Quac Mountain - a mountain peak over 1,800m high in Tuong Duong. They burned the forest, cleared the fields, worked hard all day but still suffered. They had to go deep into the forest to secretly clear the fields, dig trenches, and plant opium poppies.

During those months, the Party carried out a campaign to mobilize the Mong people to settle down. It was necessary to stop growing opium. It was necessary to mobilize the Mong people to go down to the mountains to stabilize their lives. That was the Party's policy, the determination of the Party Committee of Tuong Duong district. In early 1989, experienced cadres of the district's mass mobilization went to Pu Quac for months to mobilize 55 Mong households to move to Luu Thong at the foot of a high mountain one day's journey from Pu Quac. The people did not want to go back. Prejudice and the habit of farming for thousands of years held them back.

Party members and cadres went first, the villagers followed. After a long period of campaigning, by the end of 2000, 40 households agreed to return to build a new village at the foot of the mountain, forming Luu Thong village. The remaining 15 households went to the Laotian forest to find higher peaks. However, when they arrived at the new village, they had not yet settled down, the new fields had not yet been harvested, and malaria broke out. The old and the young had fevers without exception. In the high, windy mountains, there were no mosquitoes; at the foot of the mountain, mosquitoes were like chaff. The Mong people were not used to sleeping under mosquito nets. The water source in Tan Xa stream through the forests and rotten leaves was very poisonous. One person died, then two or three died, the old died, the young died, and the children died. The whole village was in an uproar, wanting to return to the high mountains. The opium addicts also wanted to return to their homes first. Party members, Village Chief Vu Tong Ma, Village Elder Tho Xai Chu, did not sleep at night, going from house to house to persuade people to stay. The number of deaths did not decrease, seven people, then eight, nine people... Officials from the District Party Committee, People's Committee, Health Department, Education Department... were sent down to persuade the people. Mosquito nets dyed with insecticide were brought down, the best insecticides were brought from the province, and the situation gradually stabilized.

However, malaria is only a temporary disaster that can be pushed back, but how to provide enough food for people and a place for children to study is the most important long-term issue. So district and commune officials, border guards, teachers, etc. go to each house to guide people on how to grow crops, raise livestock, and encourage children to go to school. It is very difficult, but life is more stable.

Author and Village Chief Vu Giong Nenh (right). Photo: Vi Tan Hoi.

“Everything is good now,” said Vu Giong Nhenh, the village chief. Having been the village chief for 15 years, he said: Luu Thong village now has 58 households with 321 people. In 2013, they harvested 107 tons of rice, 37 tons of corn, 85 tons of pumpkin, raised 87 buffaloes, 94 cows, 167 pigs, 21 goats, 2,807 poultry, and 53 fish ponds. The whole village has 48 tiled houses, 50 houses have televisions, and every house has a clean water tank. The cultural life here is also much different from before, the custom of “capturing a wife” is no longer there, boys and girls in love bring each other home to tell their parents and then have a wedding ceremony. The wedding ceremony is shorter than before, only one day. The couples here live lovingly and faithfully, no one abandons their wives, and know how to practice family planning.

In 2012, two couples had a third child, but in 2013, no one. The village has a volleyball team and a performing arts team that are quite good in the commune and district. This is also the locality with the best forest protection movement in the district; for decades, not a single log has been taken out of the village. Opium cultivation has stopped long ago, and addicts have quit. Now, the whole village has no addicts, no illegal immigrants. There are 4 people with university and college degrees, 7 people with intermediate degrees, 100% of children and teenagers go to school: 18 preschoolers, 44 primary school children, 27 middle school children, 12 high school children. In 2005, it was recognized as a pure Mong ethnic cultural village of the district, and in 2010, it was recognized as a pure Mong ethnic cultural village of the province.

Village chief Vu Giong Nhenh said: In the past, the Mong people had to run after land but did not have enough to eat. For many years, the Party told people to settle down and showed them how to make a living. Now the Mong people know how to use land to create wealth according to their own will, so they are well-off. Some households have known how to get rich, and the villagers are satisfied. Now, let's help each other eliminate all poor households and try to get rich.

Another Spring is coming, the Mong people in Luu Thong village, Luu Kien commune (Tuong Duong) are going to the fields to sow seeds for the new harvest. However, in everyone's heart, Spring has come a long time ago, since the day they knew how to live stably in this place.

Nguyen The Quang