"Fulcrum" of the village

Solidarity Center

In Lien Huong village, Tam Quang commune, everyone has affection and respect for village elder Lo Xuan Tien. Although he is 73 years old this year, he is still very agile, active, exemplary, and a pioneer in implementing the Party's guidelines and policies, and the State's policies and laws.

From 1996 until now, he has been continuously elected by the villagers to be Party Cell Secretary, Village Chief, and Head of the Front Work Committee. Thanks to his prestige and exemplary role, many large and small conflicts in the area have been analyzed and reconciled by village elder Lo Xuan Tien in the form of "skillful mass mobilization", avoiding incidents that cause disunity in the village and hamlet, and resolving problems that remain unsolved among the people.

Village elder Lo Xuan Tien (far left) talks with Lien Huong village chief and Tam Quang Border Guard Station officers about the people's production situation. Photo: Gia Huy

Do you remember in 2016, when the Provincial Border Guard had a policy to build the Tam Quang Border Guard Station at a new location in Lien Huong village? Initially, the implementation encountered many difficulties in site clearance because the project affected part of the cemetery and the property and crops of the people.

With the awareness and responsibility of a Party Cell Secretary, Head of the Village Front Work Committee, village elder Lo Xuan Tien directly propagated and patiently explained to the people the policy and importance of building defense and security works, thereby creating favorable conditions for the Border Guard to complete the task of protecting border sovereignty and security. Up to now, the Tam Quang Border Guard Station has been built in a new location and put into use.

Village elder Lo Xuan Tien (dark T-shirt) checks the water pipes in the village. Photo: Gia Huy

Lien Huong is a remote border area of ​​Tam Quang commune, located in the buffer zone of Pu Mat National Park. The whole village has 66 households, 260 people, with 3 ethnic groups living together (Thai, Dan Lai and Tay Poong). The educational level of the people is still low compared to the general level of the whole commune, and economic life faces many difficulties.

Identify"Only when the village is peaceful can people feel secure in developing the economy, eliminating hunger and reducing poverty", village elder Lo Xuan Tien always cares about building solidarity in the village, regularly propagating to the people not to listen to the distorted arguments of bad people inciting disunity between the people on both sides of the border, not to cross the border, not to migrate illegally, and to strictly comply with the village's Village Covenant and the Convention on forest management and protection.

In addition to propaganda through village meetings, Village Elder Lo Xuan Tien also regularly visits each family in the village to encourage people to actively denounce crimes, not to assist bad guys; to participate in the fight to prevent illegal proselytizing activities and to voluntarily commit to not storing, using, or trading drugs, and not to participate in social evils.

He also pays attention to building mass organizations, especially strong party cells to comprehensively lead the local movement. Up to now, Lien Huong village party cell has 13 party members, on average admitting 1-2 new party members each year. The collective party cell and the village management board are exemplary, united, and devoted to the common work. Thanks to that, Lien Huong village has not had any violations of border area regulations for many years, no complicated incidents of security and order have occurred; there are no social evils in the village, no drug addicts, security and order are always maintained stably.

The village's trusted support

As a former soldier, living in the border area, aware that border management and protection is the common responsibility of all people, through meetings, activities and movements of the village, village elder Lo Xuan Tien, together with officers and soldiers of Tam Quang Border Post, propagated and explained to the people about the history of the border line, landmarks in the area and the responsibility of each person in protecting the border line, landmarks, maintaining security and order in the village.

In addition, he also actively coordinated with the Border Guard and the Village Management Board to select capable, healthy, knowledgeable and highly responsible people to establish a Security and Order Self-Management Team and a Border and Landmark Self-Management Team in the village. Since then, the people of Lien Huong village have always raised their vigilance and become the trusted "eyes and ears" of the Border Guard in the process of doing business and production (farming, protecting forests) near the border and landmarks.

Over the past years, more than 250 police officers, militiamen and people of Lien Huong village have participated in patrolling and protecting the border, border markers and local areas, contributing to firmly protecting territorial sovereignty and border security. In addition, the border and border marker self-management teams and the security and order self-management teams of the village have provided Tam Quang Border Guard Station with many valuable sources of information, helping the station effectively fight and prevent drug crimes, illegal logging and violations of border regulations.

100% of roads in Lien Huong village (Tam Quang commune) are concreted. Photo: Gia Huy

Realizing that if people want to work and produce with peace of mind, and not be lured by bad guys to migrate or work illegally, the economy must be stable. With the help of the Border Guard stationed in the area, village elder Lo Xuan Tien, together with the Party cell and the village management board, mobilized people to actively participate in economic development, hunger eradication and poverty reduction.

As a prestigious person in the village, he has been a pioneer in increasing production, raising livestock, and planting forests for a stable income. Currently, his family has 5 cows, 6 pigs, 50 chickens, and a vegetable garden that is always green all year round.

From his own experience, village elder Lo Xuan Tien has guided villagers in effective methods and practices in economic development, contributing to reducing the poverty rate in the village from 49 households, accounting for 80.3% (in 2016) to 16 households, accounting for 24.2% (in 2018).

Village elder Lo Xuan Tien (center) shares his experience in building rural roads. Photo: Gia Huy

Talking about his experience in solidarity work and mass mobilization, village elder Lo Xuan Tien shared:In order for people to listen and believe, the village head, village elder, and prestigious person must have a firm grasp of the Party's policies and guidelines and the State's laws and policies. In addition,must truly "match words with actions", always be close to the people, grasp the situation, conditions and circumstances of each family. Especially always be exemplary in all movements and activities, from economic development, hunger eradication, poverty reduction, new rural construction, maintaining security and order to preserving, conserving and promoting cultural identity (traditional costumes, the Xoi and Lam melodies of the Thai people), eliminating backward customs, especially in weddings and funerals.

"Village elder Lo Xuan Tien is truly a solid "support" for the people and authorities at the border. Thanks to his close attention to the situation, all developments and incidents that occurred in the village were discovered and resolved by elder Lo Xuan Tien, especially conflicts within the people, not allowing them to drag on and complicate the security and order situation in the village.

Mr. Ho Xuan Tuyen - Deputy Secretary of Tam Quang Commune Party Committee

Besides, he is also one of the people who has promoted the role and responsibility of a prestigious person in working with the Border Guard and local Party committees and authorities to protect national sovereignty and border security.

With his contributions, village elder Lo Xuan Tien received many Certificates of Merit and Merit from all levels and sectors. In 2018, he was one of 163 delegates nationwide honored in the "Village Support" Program organized by the Communist Magazine, the Ethnic Committee and the Border Guard Command in Hanoi. He was also one of the prestigious representatives attending the Conference to review and meet advanced models implementing the "National Border Guard Day" in the period of 2009 - 2019 organized by the People's Committee of Nghe An province.