Changes in a distant place...

(Baonghean) - Huoi Giang 1 village (Tay Son commune, Ky Son) is located at an altitude of over 1,400 m, leaning against the majestic Pu Lan range. The village with houses with dark brown sa mu wooden roofs, lies under lush green rose roots, Mong peach trees are now starting to bud... The village is beautiful and peaceful like a painting, people's lives are gradually changing...

A corner of Huoi Giang 1 village (Tay Son commune, Ky Son).

The loudspeaker of Huoi Giang 1 village was loud, clear and broadcast entirely in Mong language. We waited until the village chief Vu Ba Gianh (born in 1982) finished reading the radio program before we had a chance to talk. He confided: “Many people in the village do not know Kinh language, the people's education is still very low. Every time we come back from a meeting, there are directives or new policies of the Party and State, it takes more than a day to translate from Kinh to Mong, then read it on the loudspeaker for the whole village to listen.”

Vu Ba Gianh is one of the young village chiefs of Tay Son commune (Ky Son). He finished 9th grade and dropped out of school to stay home and work in the fields. But at that time, he was already the most literate person in the village! He worked as a youth union secretary, deputy village chief and police officer, and was later elected village chief. Vu Ba Gianh did many things for the people of Huoi Giang 1 village: bringing seeds and saplings for planting; popularizing techniques for planting new varieties of trees; organizing work to prevent and fight forest fires; ensuring security and order in the village...

Learning to read and write in this remote area is not an easy task. The children of Huoi Giang still have many deprivations and disadvantages. Poverty is evident on their worn-out clothes, worn-out sandals… but on their innocent faces and bright smiles. They are the future of a new Mong village, with more progress, knowledge, and prosperity…

Huoi Giang 1 now has about a hundred roofs, most of which are roofed and covered with cypress wood, which has turned dark brown and old over time. There are almost no roads from one house to another, you have to climb over uneven, bumpy rocks, past the ancient peach trees of the Mong people, rough, gray and moldy, gathering sap, gathering abundant life buds waiting for the day to bloom with bright red and fresh green colors of the new spring day...

We silently contemplated the peach trees, which are not only a source of income for the people, but also a part of the soul, meaningful and sacred to the Mong people. Isn’t that why, through so many years, so many generations, so many migrations originating from the Mong people’s nomadic customs, the peach trees were still brought along? In the last days of the year, the cold seems sweeter, the fog is heavy, covering the wooden roofs in the mist of the Mong villages that still retain many of their unique characteristics.

It was morning, the village was quiet, children went to school, adults went to work. The fields were far away, horses, cows… went in front, sturdy, hard-working figures followed… Vu Ba Xa smiled and said: “I have to raise 4 children, I have to work to have food to eat, to send my children to school…” his words seemed to fade into the mist, hidden behind the roof, in a flash, the silhouette of the man and the horse was only a small dot on the high mountain.

In recent years, thanks to many support policies of the Party and the State, such as the 30a project providing cow breeds and plant varieties, a new, sustainable direction has been created for the people. In Huoi Giang 1, taro and seedless persimmons are being grown as commodities. In addition, under the canopy of the protective forest, bo bo trees are also being planted, both to prevent forest fires and to create income for the people with about 15,000 VND/kg. Many customers are coming to buy ancient peach trees on this Tet holiday. People here only sell branches, not the roots, and continue to plant new peach trees every year. People are also provided with breeding cows and raise pigs, chickens, goats, etc. to develop the economy.

Compared to before, people's lives have changed a lot now, there is a direction in raising livestock and growing crops to ensure life. Moreover, the road from Muong Xen Town to Tay Son is paved, convenient for travel, creating conditions for economic development, agricultural products and goods are easy to consume. The general awareness of people here is still dependent on and waiting for the State, but is gradually improving.

I left Huoi Giang when the sun was already high in the sky, the sunlight streaming through the peach trees onto each wooden roof, darkened by the color of smoke, mist, and the sunlight of time. Underneath those roofs, there were so many stories, so many lives, and so many changes step by step…

Ho Lai