Quit drugs, become a billion dollar farm owner

The "glorious" past

We visited the orange farm of Mr. Le Van Long and Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong, located on the border between Thanh Son and Hanh Lam communes in Thanh Chuong district on the first cold day of winter. It was harvest season, so the couple and dozens of workers were busy cutting and selecting ripe, juicy oranges to pack in boxes to send to customers as gifts from far away. Looking at the property they built, few people would know that Mr. Long had a "glorious" past.

Mr. Le Van Long in his family's orange farm. Photo: Phan Tuyet - Minh Khoi

Born in 1975, in Suong hamlet, Thanh Duc commune, Thanh Chuong district, Nghe An province, Le Van Long's childhood was not as fortunate as other children of the same age. When Long was 3 months old, his parents divorced. Long lived with his mother and grandmother in Hanh Lam commune, Thanh Chuong district. The family was poor and could not afford to send their child to school, so after finishing 7th grade, Le Van Long dropped out of school and followed his friends to wander everywhere. At that time, Long did many jobs to make a living, sometimes drifting to the northern provinces, sometimes following acquaintances to trade wood in Laos.

With money in hand, Long gathered friends to party and debauch. When Long turned 22, on his birthday night, Long listened to bad friends' invitation to "try" drugs. From that moment of "sublimation", Long was constantly drunk and then became seriously addicted. Not long after getting married, in 2002, while hanging out with a group of friends, after sipping a few glasses of wine, hearing some insults, Long got angry and "kicked and punched" and in the end, Le Van Long was sentenced to 2 years in prison for "Intentionally causing injury".

After serving his prison term, Long still could not escape the "brown fairy". Especially when he encountered the inquisitive, critical eyes and the alienating attitudes of his friends and neighbors. Long felt inferior and left to the fate of life. Only when his two children were born, with the encouragement of his wife and the care of the Nghe An Police force, did he gain the strength to successfully quit his addiction and reintegrate into the community.

Le Van Long recalled how many nights he struggled with drug cravings, there were times he would lean his head against the wall in helplessness. Meanwhile, his bad friends always tried to entice, entice, and entice him back to his old ways. Ms. Phuong - his "wife", at first did not know all the harmful effects of drugs. Later, each time she had an attack, seeing her husband in pain and struggling, she could only swallow her tears and encourage him to go to a rehabilitation center.

Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Que Thai - Deputy Head of Thanh Chuong District Police, Nghe An Province said: “In 2007-2008, while going to the area to approach the work, the working group had the opportunity to contact Mr. Long. At that time, Long was a serious drug addict. However, he was very quick in doing business. Long spent most of his income on drugs. The working group and I encouraged him and his family to focus on organizing drug rehabilitation. At the same time, we were always by his side when he was struggling. In fact, it is very easy to break the addiction, but not to return to the old path depends a lot on Long's spirit, determination and will. With his own determination, along with the encouragement from his wife, Ms. Phuong, Long successfully quit his addiction and has now built a farm for himself, creating jobs for dozens of workers, including those who were in the same situation as him.”

"Teacher" benefactor

In 2014, after breaking up with the “brown fairy”, Long discussed with his wife about renting land to build a garden-pond-barn farm. At that time, the land of several dozen hectares was still very wild, a burnt forest area, with no access road. With the attention of the authorities at all levels, and a few households donating land, Mr. Long was able to open a road from Cha Coong village, Thanh Son commune, Thanh Chuong district to the farm, with a total value of about 1.2 billion VND.

With the help of authorities at all levels, from a person who made a mistake, Mr. Le Van Long (far left) became a typical example of reintegration into the community. Photo: Phan Tuyet - Minh Khoi

To have the farm as it is today, Mr. Le Van Long and his wife had to work hard to find, research and experiment. In the conversation with us, he mentioned his "teacher" many times. He was the one who oriented the production, found seedlings, invested capital as well as science and technology for him to develop this farm model. That is Mr. Do Chung - former PhD of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, we were lucky to meet him right at Mr. Long's farm.

Mr. Do Chung shared: “On a business trip to Nghe An, I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Long. Knowing Long’s circumstances and wishes, I guided him to grow orange trees. Because according to my expertise, here there is a clean water source and ecological soil that is very suitable for orange trees to grow and prolong their lifespan. In cultivation, “implementing good agricultural production in Vietnam (VietGAP standards), aiming for clean and safe products for producers and consumers and hoping that in the future the products will meet international quality standards (OCOP).

Up to now, Mr. Long's farm has expanded to nearly 10 hectares of oranges, grapefruits, and tangerines; 7 hectares of tea and dozens of hectares of acacia. After deducting expenses, each year, his orange farm alone earns 1.5 billion VND, creating jobs for nearly 40 seasonal workers with an income of 250,000 VND/day/person and permanent workers with a salary of 6 million VND/month/person. In particular, in cases where they were once addicted to drugs, Long has directly visited their homes to encourage and support them to quit their addiction and helped them find a stable job, bringing in income and supporting themselves and their families.

Mr. Lu Xuan Bich - Head of the Front Work Committee of Cha Coong village, Thanh Son commune, Thanh Chuong district said that after successfully detoxifying, returning to his hometown, Mr. Long was very open and close to the people. He focused on building a farm, developing the economy, creating jobs for people in the village in particular and the resettlement area in general.

It can be said that Mr. Le Van Long is a typical example of community reintegration in Thanh Son commune. After more than 10 years of being addicted to drugs, Le Van Long's determination and success is not only his own story but it will also spread, inspiring and motivating those who have made mistakes and fallen into drugs to reform.