The Wish of the Thin

(Baonghean) - Although they have lived in this area for nearly 25 years, the lives of 34 households, mostly Dan Lai people, in Thin village, Luc Da commune (Con Cuong) have not changed much. Among them is the "old wish" for a solid bridge and a road connecting to the main village.

The Thin village production team was originally a part of Khe Moi village (Luc Da commune). About 25 years ago, a few Dan Lai households in Khe Moi village chose this land to clear fields and then stayed to form a group of residents. Later, when it became more crowded, the households in Thin village were allowed to live together with Khe Moi village. Although living together, Thin village is more than 3km away from the main village by forest road, making management and communication difficult. Because of this isolation, the economic life of the villagers also faces many difficulties. All 34 households in the village have only 1.7 hectares of rice fields, and the productivity is low, so many households have to run out of rice for several months to half a year. The flood in 2013 also washed away a significant part of the rice fields, which has not been recovered yet. Deputy production team leader of Thin - Vieng village, Van Hong, said: "Here, from village officials to villagers, everyone has to go to the forest to collect products to have money to cover daily expenses." Indeed, it was noon, but the village was quite deserted. Only the sound of children reading lessons echoed from the primary school. The newly built school was quite spacious. Mr. Hong said: Now the villagers know about family planning, so there are fewer young students, and the quality of teaching and learning has also improved. The village has nearly ten students entering secondary school, this school year there is the first student of the village entering grade 10. This is a remarkable effort, because only five years ago, the highest educated person in the village was only grade 5.

Road to Thin village.

Life is difficult, so currently in the village there are over 30 young people who have to work far from home, mainly carrying and harvesting acacia in Quang Ninh province, with a salary of 100,000 VND/day. Another difficulty of the village is the traffic infrastructure. Currently, the village still does not have any new rural roads. Besides, since the asphalt road connecting the center of Con Cuong town to Khe Kem waterfall passed through the outside of the village, although traffic has been somewhat more convenient. However, the trail leading from the main road into the village is still rough with large and small rocks, and has to cross a fairly wide stream. Normally, people still cross on a wooden bridge with bamboo pillars built by the people's contributions and efforts. But the small flood in April this year washed away the bridge, so more than a hundred people in the village and teachers at the primary school here had to cross the stream to enter the village.

Mr. Hong said that, except for some households that moved in later, most of the houses were allocated forest land for production. But currently, the people of Thin village still do not know what to plant. Without roads, raw materials such as bamboo and acacia are difficult to transport. In a conversation with us, Mr. La Van Ly, a villager, shared: I hope there will be a solid bridge across the stream on the way to the village to make it easier to travel. Surely at that time the face of this small village will change. The eyes of this hardworking couple seemed brighter when Deputy Team Leader Vieng Van Hong said: "I have seen the cadres come to measure. Maybe soon the village will have a bridge." A bridge to the village and a concrete road are very real dreams of the people of the Thin village production team. But perhaps, for this community, there is still something else needed, which is to awaken the will to rise up in each individual in developing the family economy.

Article and photos:You Wei