School opening season: Going against the hardships

(Baonghean)Huu Khuong Commune (Tuong Duong) is considered an "oasis" in the middle of the immense Ban Ve Hydroelectric Reservoir. Here, just hearing the name of the village, the name of the village, one can imagine the remoteness and desolation: Xan, Con Phen, Bung Bon, Tung Hoc, Huoi Co, Huoi Pung, Cha Lang villages. And here, there are people who are overcoming hardships, silently dedicating their youth to the cause of "growing people"...

The bus from Vinh to Hoa Binh Town (Tuong Duong) took almost a whole day to pick up and drop off passengers. The next morning, we waited again to board the bus running from Hoa Binh to Ban Ve. Not only that, we had to wait at Thuong Luu wharf (next to the hydroelectric dam) for the motorboat. Coincidentally, on the motorboat was Mr. Tran Anh Tuan, an Art teacher at Huu Khuong Primary School. Tuan was born in 1988, this was his second year in teaching and also his second year in this land. Knowing that we intended to visit the school, the young teacher enthusiastically said: "If only you could come on the opening day, it would be more fun, because you would meet all the teachers and students. Now the principal and vice principal are attending a meeting at the Department of Education to receive policies and implement the new school year plan, only a few local teachers are staying behind to complete the universal education work. As for the students, it will be a few days before they start going to school." Mr. Tuan is the leader of the Youth Union, so he had to go ahead to mobilize some teachers and students to practice some performances to celebrate the opening ceremony...

After a journey of more than 2 hours, the motorboat turned into a small creek, entered a mountainside with a trail. "We're almost there, now get on the boat, continue up the slope to the other side to reach Con Phen village, the center of Huu Khuong commune". Climbing the slope, the sun was blazing, we were breathing through our mouths and ears. The final stop was the dormitory of the elementary school teachers, a row of houses built with 4 small rooms, the porch and kitchen roof were covered with thatch. This is where the teachers of the main school, Con Phen village, stay and is also the stop for teachers at the satellite schools when they go to meetings or go back and forth. We were greeted by 3 young female teachers, who had just graduated a few years ago and were here to take up work. It wasn't the opening day of school yet, but they came here early to do research and popularize education. Ms. Hien was assigned to work in Con Phen village, Ms. Thom in Xan village and Ms. Thuong in Bung Bon village. All three teachers completed their mission of popularizing education and waited until the weekend to go home for a few days, buy more necessary items, and then go back up the lake here.

Road to the branch school in Huu Khuong commune - Tuong Duong.

The sky was sunny and suddenly dark clouds gathered. It rained heavily. "It's the rainy season here, the weather is erratic, if you're not used to this kind of weather, it will be very uncomfortable," explained teacher Nguyen Thi Hien. The rain got heavier and heavier, the thatched roof sagged because of the large amount of water. Looking at the heavy rain, teacher Nguyen Thi Thom suddenly said: "When it rains like this, the scariest thing is when you're on the way back to the remote schools, because the roads are slippery, the streams are high and fast flowing, so you can be swept away at any time. Once, when I was going back to the Xan village school, I normally took a 20-minute boat ride, then continued walking for nearly 2 hours. But that day it started raining on the way, so I walked from early afternoon until dark before I got back to the village. My hands and feet were bruised from falling, my body was shaking, I felt so sorry that I cried alone." Sitting next to me, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuong continued the story: "That was still not as scary as the time when I had a family matter and had to go to the dock to catch the boat back. Heavy rain at the source caused the stream at the beginning of Con Phen village to rise and flow rapidly, sweeping away the temporary bridge that the villagers had just built. I had to go back and ask the teachers to tie a rope to a tree on the other side of the bank and then follow the rope to help me across. The water rose up to my neck, sometimes splashing straight into my face. Only after I got to the shore did I really come to my senses." At nearly 6 p.m., the rain was still pouring, and the light bulb suddenly went out. "So the stream water rose high, carrying sand and trash, making the turbine unable to operate" - after saying that, Mr. Tuan went out in the rain to the stream to fix the mini hydroelectric turbine.

Dinner was served. The main dishes were dried fish and bamboo shoot soup, familiar dishes of teachers in the highlands. Only dried fish can be stored for a long time, so every time they return to their hometown or go to town, in addition to buying rice and a few other necessities, the luggage of teachers in the lake area cannot be without a bag of dried fish. It is the bamboo shoot season now, and here there are forests and mountains on all sides, so bamboo shoots are not lacking. With the steep terrain and harsh weather, it is very difficult for vegetables to "take root" in this land, because just one rain will wash away all the daily efforts of cultivating and watering. The people of Huu Khuong still maintain a self-sufficient lifestyle, raising pigs and chickens just to meet the needs of the family when there are important events such as weddings, funerals, housewarmings, and ceremonies.

Outside, it was still raining heavily, the strong wind made the kitchen and porch roof tilt and make a "cracking" sound. Ms. Hien suddenly said: "Once, I was sitting in the kitchen cooking, suddenly heard a cracking sound like just now, looked up and saw the kitchen was tilting and about to collapse. I threw everything away, rushed out the door, and turned back just in time to see the kitchen completely collapsed". Ms. Hien is an art teacher so she does not teach at any fixed school. According to the direction of the Board of Directors, she goes to a school each month to do her duty. Like that, in a school year, she is present at all 7 schools, this month in Con Phen, next month she can follow the lake bed to Bung Bon, then continue up the mountain to Tung Hoc, after finishing her duty, she goes up the mountain to Cha Lang, where the winter is cold as cutting flesh and thick fog blows into the bamboo classrooms. Ms. Hien, Ms. Thom and Ms. Thuong are all from Tam Quang commune (Tuong Duong), about 100 km from Huu Khuong. That distance requires walking, boating and two bus trips. Each time they return home, the travel expenses are nearly 500,000 VND, while the salaries of newly graduated teachers are still low. Ms. Thom shared: "If I don't return, I miss home, because there is no phone signal here, so there is no way to contact. But returning is both tiring and expensive."

Two days later, Principal Nguyen The Quang arrived at the school, just as the afternoon rain began to pour down. Mr. Quang said that his father-in-law was seriously ill and unlikely to survive, but because the preparations for the opening ceremony were so urgent, he had to go to the school to check and actively coordinate with the local authorities so that the ceremony could take place smoothly. Through him, we learned that in the new school year, Huu Khuong Primary School has 26 classes (including 8 combined classes) with a total of 210 students divided into 7 school locations in 7 villages of the commune.

Of the 7 schools, the school in Con Phen was built with wood and roofed with corrugated iron according to the 135 program and is currently in disrepair. The remaining schools are mostly makeshift, roofed with cement panels, bamboo fences, and the school in Cha Lang is made entirely of bamboo and thatch. Except for the main school in Con Phen, the dormitories for teachers in the 6 separate schools are all very makeshift, built with bamboo and reed. Most of the students in Huu Khuong are from poor families, with difficult economic conditions and limited thinking, so the parents here have not really cared about their children's education. Therefore, the work of popularizing and mobilizing students to go to school has encountered many difficulties.

This was once again confirmed by Mr. Lo Van Chuyen - Secretary of the Commune Party Committee: "Education in Huu Khuong is still very difficult, most of the schools are temporary, lacking desks, chairs and boards for students. Life is still poor so the socialization of education is also very limited. Every time a new school year comes, we can only mobilize people from the villages to contribute bamboo and labor days to build schools, build classrooms, and build dormitories for teachers. As for secondary school, students from the villages gather to study at the school in the commune center. The children go by boat and walk across steep and steep passes to get to school. At the beginning of the year, their parents have to come and set up tents for their children to stay and study." Passing by the row of rickety tents along the stream, we saw some parents dismantling them to set up new tents. Asking the district, Mr. Vi Van Tien in Bung Bon village told us: "I have a child in 7th grade this year. The road is far and dangerous, he can't go home, so he had to come and rebuild this tent so that he and his friends can study. On weekends, his mother or older brother brings him rice. As for food, he finds it himself, bamboo shoots in the forest, fish in the stream, whatever he finds, he eats."

The rainy season in Huu Khuong is really worrying, sometimes it is endless as if it doesn't want to end, sometimes it suddenly pours down so the plan to visit a few villages cannot be carried out. "Catching" news that storm No. 5 will affect us, the rain will be heavier and last longer, so the next day we were forced to follow Mr. Quang to the dock to leave the "oasis" area. On the boat down the lake, Mr. Quang told the story of 16 years ago, when he first crossed hundreds of waterfalls to the area along the Nam Non River to "sow letters". Compared to that time, teachers in the highlands now have much less trouble. On the boat, there was also teacher Lu Thi Thanh, who has been with Huu Khuong for nearly 10 years. This time she went to the school to hand over the work and books, because she had just received a decision to work in her husband's hometown, Quang Phong commune (Que Phong). Ms. Thanh's husband continued to stay in Huu Khuong to teach. The distance as the crow flies from Huu Khuong to Quang Phong is not very far, but by bus, the distance is approximately 400 km, through 3 bus stops, one boat stop and one hybrid bus stop...

As we sit in Vinh Street writing these lines, we are still haunted by the persistent jungle rains, the rushing streams, the schools and teachers' dormitories precariously perched on the mountainside in the "oasis" of Huu Khuong. In that difficult area, "sowing letters" and the journey to find letters is still very arduous!

Cong Kien