The son of a parish

(Baonghean)Born and raised in a revolutionary tradition (Hung Tay commune, Hung Nguyen district), Phan Van Thang dreamed of becoming a border soldier while still in school.

In 2000, after graduating from high school, Thang did not take the university entrance exam like his peers but volunteered to join the Nghe An Border Guard force. After months of hard training on the training ground of Battalion 19, Private Phan Van Thang was able to take the entrance exam to Border Guard High School I, following his long-cherished wish.

After graduating with the rank of Second Lieutenant, Phan Van Thang was assigned by his superiors to work at the Mass Mobilization Team, Dien Thanh Border Guard Station (Nghe An Border Guard). After a period of working, the Party Committee - Command of the unit discovered that he was an energetic, enthusiastic, responsible officer and trusted him to be directly in charge of the religious area.



Senior Lieutenant Phan Van Thang supported the family of Ms. Bui Thi Truyen (Phuc Thinh parish, Dien Hai commune) with 1 million VND to build a Great Unity house.

In the first days of his work, what made him worried and troubled was how to fully develop his abilities, worthy of the trust of the unit and the local Party Committee, government, as well as the masses, because this is an area with complicated developments such as: Criminal crimes, social evils are increasing day by day; low educational level, the number of poor households, the rate of giving birth to third children or more is increasing. Besides, the political system is not operating evenly, the party organization has to operate in combination. Catholics in general still take social work and unions lightly, focusing only on religious work.

Then, with the knowledge acquired at school and learning from the experience of his teammates, Lieutenant Phan Van Thang implemented the motto of "4 adherences" (adhering to the Party's resolutions and policies; adhering to the political tasks of the unit and locality; adhering to the locality; adhering to the people). Through surveys and a firm grasp of the local situation, he advised the Party Committee and the unit's command board to coordinate with the Party Committee and the government of Dien Hai Commune (Dien Chau) to organize the construction and consolidation of the political base of the Phuc Thinh Parish area. He proposed that the higher-level Party Committee establish a Party cell and directly attend activities at this Party cell. Since then, the Party cell of Hamlet 8, Dien Hai Commune Party Committee (Phuc Thinh Parish) was established with 3 Party members. Lieutenant Thang was now both the cadre in charge of the locality and a Party member of the Party cell, closely following and being close to the parishioners every day, thereby advising the Party cell to issue many leadership resolutions that were in line with reality.

Thanks to his enthusiasm, diligence in learning to understand customs and rituals, and gaining support from dignitaries and officials in the parish, he has trained 9 outstanding parishioners to attend the Party sympathy class. To date, the Party cell has recruited 3 Party members.

He also, together with the Party cell and the executive committee, proposed and advised all levels and sectors in the commune and district to invest in building cultural houses in hamlets with full facilities to meet the living needs of the people. Established 12 self-managed security teams, 1 Fatherland Front sub-committee, consolidated the Youth Union and Women's Union to operate in a systematic and in-depth manner. Mobilized the construction of 3 Great Solidarity houses for policy families worth over 160 million VND, mobilized 9 children of the right age to go to school, built 2 models of household economic development that have now escaped poverty. He also regularly supported a child who overcame difficulties to study well.

In addition, he is also a bridge between religious and non-religious people, creating trust and connection between the government and the parishioners; Guiding people to practice "respecting God, loving the country", "living a good life, living a good religion" associated with the movement "building advanced religious residential areas, exemplary Catholic families" in implementing "the whole people unite to build a cultural life in residential areas"; Mobilizing people to actively participate in the fight against crime and social evils with specific models such as the "3 no" movement (no crime, no drugs, no social evils) which was enthusiastically responded to by the people and committed to implementing well. Therefore, by 2007, Phuc Thinh Catholic hamlet was recognized as a district-level cultural hamlet, the Party cell achieved the title of excellent and strong for 5 consecutive years, and the departments and organizations always achieved good or better.

Along with the development and advancement of the Phuc Thinh parish, Phan Van Thang was promoted from lieutenant to lieutenant and then to first lieutenant. He was also awarded 4 Certificates of Merit by the Provincial People's Committee, 3 consecutive years of being a grassroots emulation fighter and 5 consecutive years of being a party member who completed his tasks excellently. Mr. Bui Thanh Nghiem - Party cell secretary of hamlet 8 proudly said: "Now, for all the people in the parish, Cao Thang (most of the Phuc Thinh parish have the surname Cao) is a son of the parish".

Hung Phong - Ngoc Tu