A party member in Nam Nhoong

(Baonghean)I had the opportunity to visit the Nam Nhoong mountains in the highlands of Que Phong, where the Quang River embraces the peaceful villages of the Khmu and Thai ethnic groups, who, though still poor, are full of warmth and affection. I had the chance to meet the village elder, Lu Tat Thanh - a "great figure" of this land.

Contrary to the image of a village elder I had imagined on my journey to Nam Nhoong, I was greeted in the still chilly morning by a small, agile man with a friendly smile. My initial surprise quickly faded, giving way to warm conversations as Elder Lu Tat Thanh led me to visit Huoi Cam village – a model example of new rural development in Nam Nhoong commune.

The story begins with memories from decades ago, when his parents and four siblings lived simply amidst these wild mountains. Life was full of hardships, struggling to make ends meet, but fortunately, his father was determined to give his children an education, because his own life experience showed him that: "Only education can lift us out of poverty." Young Thanh received a proper education. In 1972, after completing the 7th grade in the district, he enlisted in the army and went to the South.



Village elder Lu Tat Thanh is encouraging the people to comply with the policies of the Party and the State, and actively develop family economies.

During the Spring Offensive of 1975, his unit was one of the vanguard forces that shattered the enemy's Xuan Loc defensive line (now in Dong Nai province) to advance and liberate Saigon, unifying the country after 21 years of division. After the country was unified, he continued to serve in the military, stationed in Dong Nai, until 1979 when he again went on international duty to help the Cambodian people liberate themselves from the Khmer Rouge genocidal regime. Intelligent, courageous, and achieving many accomplishments, he was awarded the title of Emulation Soldier three times by his unit. Even more honorably, on June 26, 1979, he was admitted to the Party right on the battlefield in Cambodia.

In early 1981, he returned to his hometown after nearly 10 years of war. “Since enlisting, I only visited my family once after completing my training, before going to the South,” he shared. Returning to his hometown of Nam Nhoong, the country was peaceful and unified, but life was still difficult. The soldier's spirit, forged in battle, compelled him to seek a new path to alleviate poverty. He trekked through the forest, following the Pa Met stream, to find land to cultivate rice. He recounted: “I reclaimed 35 acres of rice paddies. I still cultivate them today. Before, I did two crops a year, but now I only do one, and I still harvest 800 kg to 1 ton of rice a year, more than enough for my family's needs.”

The reason for mentioning rice cultivation is that Mr. Thanh was also the first Khmu person to clear land and cultivate wet rice in Nam Nhoong, opening up a new way of doing business for the entire Khmu ethnic community, who were unfamiliar with wet rice farming. And in those days, the image of the hardworking and diligent young man, Lu Tat Thanh, completely won the heart of Moong Thi Vinh, a girl from the same village. The two got married in 1982.

From 1983, he began working in the community. He held various positions, from commune militia commander, vice chairman of the People's Committee, and deputy secretary of the Party Committee, until his retirement in 2010. "Back then, being a commune official was very hard work. Attending meetings in the district took three days round trip because I had to walk. At home, I only had my wife and young children, who couldn't work as hard as I could, and our family was very poor! But I thought that since I was a Party member and had been trained in the military, I had to contribute when society needed me," he shared.

That was in the past. With the country's economic reforms and improved trade and transportation, he invested heavily in his family's economy through a comprehensive livestock farming model. With a herd of 17 buffaloes, 7 cows, 3 fish ponds, 8 breeding sows, 18 fattening pigs, and nearly 100 chickens and ducks, his family's annual income reaches almost 150 million VND during peak periods and approximately 100 million VND at its lowest. In a locality like Nam Nhoong, where the poverty rate is still over 90%, Mr. Thanh is truly a role model for many to emulate in successful entrepreneurship.

...After retiring, Mr. Thanh never stopped attending to his family and village affairs. For the past two years, in implementing the New Rural Development Program, he has been a pioneer in mobilizing people to donate land for concrete roads. Imagine, in a region like Nam Nhoong, with its rolling hills and houses clinging to the mountainside, every square meter of garden land is incredibly precious to the villagers. Therefore, when he first tried to persuade them to donate land, many households resolutely refused. "No matter how difficult, there's always a way to overcome it," he thought to himself, then he donated 500 square meters himself first, and then persistently continued his persuasion efforts; "slow and steady wins the race," and finally, the entire Huoi Cam village understood the purpose of the New Rural Development Program.

Surprisingly, each household also agreed to contribute 500,000 VND to buy sand and gravel, in addition to the cement provided by the government, to build the road. “We didn’t have to hire laborers. Every household sent someone to mix and pour the concrete,” he said. Now, walking around Huồi Cam village, winding through the hills and mountains, you see sturdy, well-maintained concrete roads running beneath the stilt houses. Talking to me, Ms. Luong Thi Que, a resident of the village, excitedly said: “After the New Rural Road project, travel is much easier, and we have a place to dry rice and corn. Thanks to Mr. Thanh’s efforts, our village is like this now.”

Beyond his involvement in the New Rural Development program, listening to the villagers' stories reveals just how outstanding he is as a "community organizer" in the village. Even before his retirement, he successfully persuaded many students not to drop out of school and to stay home to start families. Thanks to this, the village has seen no cases of child marriage for a long time. Furthermore, the traditional Khmu wedding customs still maintain that the groom's family must take care of everything for the bride's family. Seeing many families struggling to prepare for their sons' weddings, he patiently explained, shared his thoughts, and encouraged the entire village to organize weddings in a simpler way, with the bride's family also contributing to the joyous occasion… Therefore, Huồi Cam village is not only a leader in New Rural Development in Nậm Nhoóng but also the first cultural village in the entire commune.

The sun was setting on the western slope of the Truong Son mountain range. I said goodbye to Nam Nhoong and headed back down south as Mr. Thanh was preparing his report for the conference summarizing the two-year implementation of Directive 03 on "Continuing to promote the study and emulation of Ho Chi Minh's moral example" in Que Phong district.

Mr. Lu Tat Thanh is also one of three outstanding individuals from Nghe An province who will be honored to attend the conference summarizing the first two years of implementing Directive 03, which will be held in Hanoi in the near future.

Thanh Duy