The conversation between me and Mr. Vi Thai Binh started with small stories about Cau Tam village, a village that was just recognized as a new rural village in 2022. "Let me tell you, Cau Tam village has now been recognized as a new rural village, the people are very happy and proud!" - Mr. Vi Thai Binh said excitedly.
Cau Tam village has 130 households, with 570 people of Thai, Mong, Kinh, Kho Mu ethnic groups living together. Like many villages in the mountainous border district of Ky Son, Cau Tam village encountered many difficulties when starting to implement the National Target Program on new rural construction: Difficulties in resources, raw materials; difficulties in mountainous terrain and difficulties in human resources. However, thanks to promoting internal strength, having the unanimous support of the people, the difficulties were gradually resolved, cadres and people actively joined hands to build their homeland, up to now, Cau Tam village has achieved 15/15 new rural criteria.
To achieve those 15 criteria, it can be said that it is a great and unceasing effort. As a village elder, Mr. Vi Thai Binh is always proud of the people of Cau Tam village. Despite all the difficulties, the people have always united and strived to gradually build the village into a cultural village, then move forward to achieve a new rural village. That achievement, besides the attention and leadership of the local Party Committee, government, the Village Management Board and the efforts of the people, is an important contribution of village elder Vi Thai Binh through his closeness and his important voice to stir up all movements.
Cau Tam is a village without rice fields and has very little land for production. To proactively ensure water sources for vegetable irrigation and to provide water for daily life for the people, village elder Vi Thai Binh and the village management board have encouraged people to regularly repair and clean the clean water system, bringing water to each household. He also actively encourages people to preserve the landscape, green - clean - beautiful environment, develop cultural movements, maintain a civilized lifestyle, and properly implement the village's Village Covenant.
According to village elder Vi Thai Binh, in order to mobilize and propagate the people, there must be an appropriate way of doing things, and one must be a role model. He shared: “In the past, when building Cau Tam village into a cultural village, first of all, I explained to the people what culture is, what is a cultural village, a cultural family, the criteria for building a cultural village?... Besides, I talked about positive things to mobilize the people to build a cultural village, a new rural village. When the people clearly understand the meaning of those contents, then there will be consensus and cooperation to implement them.”
Cau Tam is an area where many ethnic groups live together. Mr. Binh has his own ways of propagating and mobilizing to create a high consensus in the village; in which, he especially values the unique cultural features of each ethnic group. With his fluency in the language of the ethnic groups, when he goes to the Mong people's house, he will speak to them in Mong, the same goes for the Thai and Khmu families. Thanks to that, the messages he wants to convey are clearly understood and trusted by the people.
Project 01-DA/TU of the Standing Committee of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee on compiling and publishing propaganda materials, studying and following Ho Chi Minh's ideology, morality and lifestyle for ethnic minorities is the first project approved during the 19th Provincial Party Congress, to contribute to bringing the Congress Resolution into life. The Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee has high expectations for the project to bring about breakthrough changes in propaganda, education and awareness raising for ethnic minorities, contributing to poverty alleviation, improving the material and spiritual life of ethnic minorities in mountainous areas of the province.
As a prestigious village elder, Mr. Vi Thai Binh was invited by the Provincial Party Committee's Propaganda Department to contribute his opinions to the documents of Project 01-DA/TU. With his role, responsibility and understanding of Nghe An's ethnic minorities, he has made many important and practical contributions to the Project.
Assessing the role of village elders and village chiefs in the process of building and disseminating documents, Mr. Vo Van Dung - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Deputy Head of the Provincial Party Committee's Propaganda Department said: Due to the cultural identity of ethnic groups, the role and influence of village elders and village chiefs are extremely important, because they are not only knowledgeable, have life experience, have a rich cultural identity, but are also exemplary people, have high prestige in the community. Nghe An is the first locality to publish documents on Ho Chi Minh's ideology and morality specifically for ethnic minorities.
With the trust of his superiors, with his extensive knowledge and many years of experience as a district-level leader, Mr. Vi Thai Binh is clearly aware of his responsibility in conveying and spreading the message on the topics of Studying and following Ho Chi Minh's ideology, morality and style to the ethnic people, through propaganda campaigns and stories about Uncle Ho, to help the people more deeply imbued with Uncle Ho's ideology... Believing that the team of village elders, including village elder Vi Thai Binh, will be positive factors, an important bridge, contributing to spreading Project 01-DA/TU into the lives of ethnic minorities in Nghe An in a practical, close and effective way.