Dan Lai people struggle to make a living in Khe Nong

Difficulty finding words

Although he is the head of the Khe Nong residential area, for many years now, the house of La Van May (28 years old) has been deserted. All the work of the “cadre” has to be entrusted to the deputy. Due to the difficult life, May and her husband had to leave their young child with their grandparents and go to Hanoi to work as construction workers. Every year, they only take time off during Tet to visit their child.

Previously, May was the head of Khe Nong village. However, since the implementation of the policy of merging villages and hamlets, that position no longer exists. Khe Nong, with less than 50 households in Dan Lai, is not enough to form a village, so it was forced to merge with Chau Son village in the center of the commune. Therefore, May is only the cluster head. Even though it has been merged, it takes nearly 30km from Khe Nong to Chau Son, and the roads are difficult. Therefore, this place is still like a separate village. And people still call May the head of the village.

A Dan Lai child in Khe Nong next to a dilapidated house. Photo: Tien Hung

Khe Nong is the most remote village of Chau Khe commune - the second largest commune in the country. The road from the commune center to here is full of steep, jagged rocks, with only occasional short sections that have been partially concreted. To get to Khe Nong, we had to travel by motorbike over 4 streams, through old forests, taking more than 1 hour.

The houses in Khe Nong are mostly thatched roofs and rickety bamboo walls. There is almost only one house here that is solidly built, which is the primary school principal. However, it has been abandoned for nearly a year now. Previously, this school was a place for both primary and preschool students, but since the beginning of the last school year, from grade 1 upwards, they have to go to the commune center to study. “Because the distance is too far, every week, the children here have to wake up at 4am, so that their parents can take them to school by motorbike. Then they come home on the weekend. Families without motorbikes have to ask their neighbors to help them study,” a parent in Khe Nong said about the difficult learning of their children.

To attend primary school, some children are sent by their parents to stay with relatives or friends in the commune center, while others stay in boarding schools and are looked after by teachers. Therefore, the learning journey of Dan Lai children in Khe Nong is as difficult and arduous as the road leading to the village.

“In Khe Nong, there are about 20 students at all levels. But every year at the beginning of the year or after Tet, we have to coordinate with the school, set up many working groups to go to the place to persuade the students to go to class. If not, they will stay at home with their parents,” said Mr. Nguyen The Anh - Vice Chairman of Chau Khe Commune People's Committee.

Kindergarten students in Khe Nong have just started school for a few days. Photo: Tien Hung

Since the primary school year moved to the main school in the commune center, the kindergarteners in Khe Nong have been left alone, staying at home with their parents. When we were there, although it was the end of March, the kindergarten class had only had a few sessions since the beginning of the school year. It was called a class, but in fact there were only two teachers teaching seven 5-year-olds, along with a few younger children who were occasionally brought by their parents to play with their older siblings. The head of the primary school had been abandoned, so the teachers and students here had to temporarily borrow a wooden house from the border station. “The kindergarten here only has a 5-year-old class. From now until the end of the year, we will teach 36 sessions for the children, to equip them with some knowledge for first grade,” said a teacher.

Inside a house in Khe Nong. Photo: Tien Hung

Lack of land for production, difficult livelihood

According to the village elders, the Dan Lai people originated from the lowlands, now Thanh Chuong district. About 300 years ago, they lived together in a hamlet. During a village meeting, the village chief assigned this hamlet to go into the forest to cut down 100 yellow bamboo trees and a dugout canoe with oars. Not knowing where to find them, afraid of being massacred, they ran into the forest together at midnight. Among them, a group crossed Pu Mat, forming the current Khe Nong residential area.

"In the past, we lived a nomadic life, building huts out of leaves, and when the leaves turned yellow, we moved to another place. Living in the forest with many wild animals, and fearing that the army would pursue us, our ancestors had to sleep sitting up. Every night, the whole tribe gathered around the fire and used a wooden stick with a prong to lean on their chin to sleep," said Mr. La Van Tinh (49 years old). Now that the threats are gone, the Dan Lai people have given up the habit of sleeping sitting up.

Living in isolation in the deep forest, this ethnic group still maintains backward customs. Therefore, in 1979, a project to relocate the Dan Lai people to the civilized world was carried out. Dozens of households in Khe Nong were moved out of the forest to live in Chau Son village near the commune center, right next to National Highway 7A. This was considered a "revolution" to change the lives of dozens of households in this remote place.

Thatched-roof houses. Photo: Tien Hung

Life in the new village is considered much better than the old place, but due to lack of land for production, unsuitable customs and farming habits in the new place, many households then sought to return to the old village to produce. In 2009, the project to build a permanent village to bring 50 Dan Lai households back to the old Khe Nong village was approved with a budget of nearly 20 billion VND, to help people stabilize their living place. "We can't stand it there, we're used to living in this forest, it's easier to find food," said Mr. La Van Tinh about the reason why people insisted on returning.

Like other Dan Lai villages, people in Khe Nong mainly live by hunting and gathering. The name Khe Nong is also associated with their way of making a living. Hot is the name of a tree with a very poisonous resin that grows abundantly in this area. Local people often use tree resin to coat their arrows when hunting animals.

Livelihoods depend on the forest, but for many years now, the forest has been strictly controlled, making life for the people of Khe Nong increasingly difficult. When the authorities regularly patrol and strictly handle wildlife hunting, people have had to give up bows and arrows and traps. The surrounding forests have all been handed over to Con Cuong Forestry Enterprise. When they can no longer rely on the forest, young people flock to work for hire everywhere. The people have low education level, they mainly do hard work with low wages. When we arrived in Khe Nong, although it was very early, the scene here was quite desolate. Most of the people of working age had to go far away to work, the rest stayed home to go into the forest to pick bamboo shoots and wild vegetables.

“There is no land here to produce crops, so we don’t know what to do. Each family has only a small plot of land just big enough for a buffalo to plow, and each crop yields only about 1 sack of rice, enough to feed chickens. If we don’t work for hire, we don’t know what to eat,” said La Thi An (43 years old).

Ms. An can't remember her age, only that she is now over 30 years old and got married when she was only 13. Photo: Tien Hung

Houses in Khe Nong are mainly thatched roofs and bamboo walls. Photo: Tien Hung

Mr. Kha Van Thuong - Chairman of Chau Khe Commune People's Committee said that Khe Nong is the most difficult residential area in Con Cuong district, 100% of them are poor households. Although the project to build a settlement village to bring 50 Dan Lai households back to the old Khe Nong village was approved in 2009, it was only recently that funding was allocated to implement infrastructure investment. During the rainy season, the water in the 4 streams on the way to the village rises, completely isolating this area. "For a long time, nearly 50 households have had to live on the land of the forestry farm. Recently, after many proposals, the forestry farm has cut 70 hectares for people to live and cultivate, but that is still too little. People still lack land for production and still have to rely mainly on government support," said Mr. Thuong.

Difficult to make a living from agriculture, the Dan Lai people in Khe Nong cannot rely on livestock farming. According to Mr. Thuong, the climate in Khe Nong is very harsh, completely different from the rest of the areas in Con Cuong. Here, there are many types of insects such as fruit flies, beetles... They often suck the blood of livestock, even humans. Therefore, no matter how well cared for, the buffaloes and cows in Khe Nong are very stunted. "It is difficult to help people here escape poverty," Mr. Thuong said, shaking his head.