"The family of diligent people"

(Baonghean) - For a long time, the family of Mr. Vi Quang Phung in Nhan village, Thach Giam commune, Tuong Duong district has been affectionately called by the villagers as "the family of diligent people" or "the exemplary family," with everyone in the family serving as shining examples for the villagers to follow.

It's the dry season, and Thach Giam commune, Tuong Duong district – considered the "Indochina frying pan" – is beginning to experience scorching hot days. The Lam River, which used to dry up during the dry season, has now become the Khe Bo hydroelectric reservoir, its water clear and blue. Along with the riverside forests and National Highway 7, it creates a picturesque landscape unlike any other. While admiring the scenery in Nhan village, we were curious to see a man in his sixties meticulously feeding fish in a system of iron cages along the edge of the Lam River. He is Vi Quang Phung, 64 years old, formerly the Vice Chairman of the Fatherland Front of Tuong Duong district – an exemplary Party member determined to bring caged fish farming upstream to find a way out of poverty for the villagers.

Mr. Vi Quang Phung inspects the fish cages on the Lam River.

Speaking in a clear, slow voice typical of the Thai ethnic group, Mr. Phung confided that during his time as a front-line official in the district, he and his colleagues traveled to many places, visiting and learning about many successful economic models. However, with the mindset of a Thai ethnic person, "if you want others to follow, you must do it first," he always harbored the dream of doing something to create a model for the people to emulate before his retirement. A few years ago, while on a business trip to Quang Ninh province, he saw many families there succeeding in freshwater cage fish farming. Thinking about the image of the Lam River flowing right in front of his house turning into a vast sea when the Khe Bo Hydropower Plant begins impounding water, he considered applying this model to the local people. After receiving his retirement notice, he diligently read more books and newspapers about cage fish farming and prepared for the hydropower plant's impoundment of water.

During this time, he hired mechanics to build five large steel cages and ordered specialized nets from the Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Vinh University. Although the cages were completed more than a year ago, he didn't start raising fish immediately. He waited for the organic matter and leaves to decompose and settle before placing the cages in the water and beginning the fish farming. He divided the five cages, giving two to his nephew who lived near the riverbank and one to his brother, with the goal of teaching them the new fish farming technique and setting an example for other families in the village. In early 2014, with the help of officials from the district's agricultural department, they decided to release grass carp fingerlings. This was a great surprise to the people of Nhan village, because for a long time, the villagers living near the Lam River only knew how to catch fish with nets or electric shock devices to sell; no one had ever built cages to raise fish on the river before.

Mr. Vi Van Tuong (102 years old) and Mrs. Kha Thi An (97 years old) are still enthusiastically doing housework.

Since releasing the fish fry, Mr. Phung and other family members have been taking turns feeding the fish and checking the cages in the morning and afternoon. Thanks to proper care, the fish in the cages are developing very well and will certainly bring income in the future. Mr. Phung's cage fish farming model on the Lam River has received strong support from the People's Committee of Tuong Duong District. Comrade Trinh Minh Chau, Chairman of the People's Committee of the district, has visited several times to inspect and learn about the model, and has invited delegations from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to assist Mr. Phung, considering it a new direction for people in the hydropower reservoir area.

While Mr. Phung was passionate about cage fish farming on the hydroelectric reservoir, his wife, Ms. Loc Thi Binh, was also a pioneer in clean vegetable farming models. Ms. Binh is a renowned and capable woman in Thach Giam commune, having received a formal education and serving as the Party Secretary of Thach Giam commune for nine consecutive years until her retirement. She was honored as an exemplary figure in the "Studying and Following the Moral Example of Ho Chi Minh" campaign of Tuong Duong district. While still working, Ms. Binh was deeply committed to finding ways for people to escape poverty. When Thach Giam commune received support from Vinh University and other agencies in developing clean vegetable farming models and providing technical assistance, she encouraged the villagers to actively cultivate vegetables, striving to build the Thach Giam clean vegetable brand in Tuong Duong district.

In 2012, after retiring, she renovated her flat farmland to grow vegetables such as cabbage, tomatoes, beans, and eggplant. With proper care, her vegetable gardens yielded high productivity. When the vegetables were ready, she didn't hesitate to set up a table right in front of her house to sell them to those who needed them. The vegetables sold out as soon as they were produced because everyone knew they were organic vegetables, grown using techniques transferred by scientists. Inspired by Ms. Binh's example, many other households in the village also boldly followed suit, growing vegetables on their farmland and along the riverbank. Today, Thach Giam's organic vegetables have become well-known in Tuong Duong and Ky Son districts. Many families in Vinh City also order them via passenger buses.

After a simple and heartfelt conversation on the banks of the Lam River, Mr. and Mrs. Phung invited us into their house for a drink. In their spacious stilt house near National Highway 7, we were surprised when Mr. Phung introduced his parents, who were sitting on the porch shelling corn. Mr. Vi Van Tuong is 102 years old, and Mrs. Kha Thi An is 97. Mr. Tuong was elected a respected village elder of Nhan village. During Tet 2014, he received a letter and gifts from Comrade Nguyen Xuan Duong, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, wishing him a long life. Despite their advanced age, both are very sharp-minded. Every week, Mr. Tuong regularly asks someone to take him across the river to bring newspapers like Nhan Dan, Nghe An newspaper, and Party magazines for his children, grandchildren, and people on the other side to read and learn from.

Speaking about the family of Mr. Vi Quang Phung, Mr. Lo Van Thinh, Head of Nhan village, said that when people saw that the couple, Party members Vi Quang Phung and Loc Thi Binh, were still enthusiastically engaged in economic activities even after retirement, many villagers learned from them and followed suit. In village meetings, we always highlight the Phung family's approach, considering it an example and a motivation for the villagers to follow. Many people in the village even call Mr. Phung's family "the family of diligent people," "the exemplary Party member family," etc.

As we said goodbye to Mr. Vi Quang Phung's extended family after the sun had set, with wisps of smoke rising from the kitchen chimneys along the riverbank, we recalled the couple's heartfelt words: that with their current pension and family finances, they didn't need to work so hard to raise their two children and send them to school, but as Party members, they felt compelled to work and set an example for their fellow villagers to escape poverty. When their model project proved successful, many in the village said to each other, "Even with a state pension, Party member Phung's family still goes into forestry, raises cattle, fishes, and grows vegetables to sell, so we should all try to follow their example."

Text and photos:Nguyen Khoa