Meet in the same hometown

(Baonghean) - The road under the shade of the majestic rain trees still guides me home. The ponds of Chua village and Sen village are starting to glow with the color of lotus. Along the road, the gentle singing: “Uncle Ho’s childhood has traveled the length of the ferry boat/ Uncle Ho’s childhood has lived the width of the folk song…” (Listening to the ferry boat song at night, remembering Uncle Ho - An Thuyen).

So, the simple people of Uncle Ho's hometown welcomed guests right from the beginning of the village with such a simple melody...

Veterans visit Uncle Ho's hometown. Photo: Nguyen Sach

How many times have I come here, standing under the shade of this bamboo, admiring the straight, flexible lines, both the softness and the arching of the tops; and the dense, solid interweaving into a durable block, firmly attached to the land and soil of the village. And so it becomes a rampart, a bank. How many times have I stood by the shore of this pond, this well. The pond is like a clear, silent, deep mirror, framing so many memories and feelings. So that every May, the lotus color awakens, the scent seems to permeate the scent of the fields and rice. The scent leads to the beautiful banks, all neatly entwined with golden silk.

The well, the village well, awakens the sky, draining the summer to be clear and cool, draining the winter to give off steam to warm people. Many times, footsteps have been fumbling on the small roads, sometimes winding, sometimes straight, winding but not winding and complicated. It seems that people's hearts are always open to the fresh air of many alleys and lanes. The gateway is like a village eye, half-closed in the summer afternoon, with the warm breath of spring carried by the festival season of the first month...

A corner of Hoang Tru village, Uncle Ho's maternal hometown. Photo: Dao Tuan

Yet I am still amazed by the overwhelming sacred peace. I am still amazed by the many stories I have heard and the many people I have met in this place.

As a resident of Chua village, after many years of raising fish in his pond, he decided to give up fish to grow lotus. He said that a few years ago, when he heard about the lotus growing project, everyone in Uncle Ho's hometown supported it. Although raising fish brings in more income than growing lotus, he grows it to beautify the landscape of Uncle Ho's hometown, to make people everywhere understand why this land is called Kim Lien. It's like doing something for his hometown.

She was a fruit seller right next to the small road. She waved me over to buy the guavas she had just picked from her garden, and then refused to take the money because she knew I was looking for a family of folk singers. She left her load of goods and led me to the house of Mr. Tu and Mr. Ut. Then, right on Mr. Ut's bed, she sang along with the trembling voices of the elders, who were approaching their 90 years of age, saying: "The most joyful thing is the Kim Lien scene/ The scene has scenery, the fairies have people"...

Tourists from all over come to visit Uncle Ho's hometown. Photo: Nguyen Sach

As a narrator who has been telling stories about Uncle Ho for 25 years, still wearing a simple ao dai, beads of sweat on her emotional face. Female narrator Bui Bich Dam said that every day she sheds tears, not only when telling the story she tells but also when meeting the emotions of visitors who come to Uncle Ho's hometown. She remembers most a visitor from Hai Duong, who brought an old, worn backpack with a cadre of the Quang Tri Provincial Military Command on the morning of May 2005. That visitor arrived early and lingered. When asked about the story, he said: "I came to visit Uncle Ho's hometown on behalf of my son. During the war, while marching to the South, my son had the chance to visit Uncle Ho's hometown.

Going to the battlefield, he wrote a letter home to tell his parents about that honor, and also expressed his wish that when peace was restored, he would return from the South to visit Uncle Ho's hometown once again. But then he sacrificed. Today, I came to bring his remains back, and at the same time fulfill my son's wish." Ms. Dam also had the chance to meet the woman who made a solo journey on foot from Ben Nha Rong to visit Uncle Ho's hometown? Witnessed severely wounded soldiers who rolled their wheelchairs by themselves, wounded soldiers, and disabled people who no longer had eyes, but still wanted to personally offer fresh flowers in Uncle Ho's house, and to go to the hemp hammock that supported Uncle Ho's sleep during his childhood.

It is the guests who come here every day that help her learn more about Uncle Ho. Learn more about his respect and admiration. Learn more about his greatness. Learn more about and love more about the sacred work that she is responsible for.

Tourists listen to explanations about Uncle Ho's relics. Photo: Nguyen Book

We met 4 veterans, 4 wounded soldiers: Bui Huu Huynh, Dao Manh Hung, Pham Duy Ton, Nguyen Duy Khoat who are currently living in Ho Chi Minh City and Vung Tau. They are all from the North, Hai Phong and Nam Dinh. All 4 are former comrades, in the same unit, soldiers of the Dong Thap 1 Regiment. Although they are nearly 70 years old, this is the first time all 4 of Uncle Ho's soldiers have been able to visit Uncle Ho's hometown, fulfilling a dream of many years. They rented a car together, sat next to each other like when they were in the same trench to go from Ho Chi Minh City to Uncle Ho's hometown.

They touched the fence, touched the blinds, they seemed to want to absorb all the scenery of his homeland in themselves to return, to live with happiness and serenity. They shared that: In their youth, following his words, they volunteered to go to battle and defeat the enemy, then following his words, stayed to build the homeland of the South, accepting the South as their homeland. It was the moments when they turned to him that helped them overcome the most difficult periods during the war and in their later lives...

Tourists visit Uncle Ho's maternal home. Photo: Dao Tuan

I, like many others, came to that countryside not only to visit the place where our Uncle Ho was born and raised, but also to find in my heart a harmony with my roots. More than any other land, this place connects people, makes them feel that within themselves and everyone there is an invisible, soft but strong thread connecting them, and they are ready to integrate, to love and move forward.

Thuy Vinh