Remembering the first journalist in Quy Hop

(Baonghean) - In the 60s of the 20th century, our country entered the most difficult period of the war against the destructive war of American imperialism. With the spirit of patriotism, in Chau Quang (Quy Hop), there was a person who diligently traveled day and night to all the villages in the commune to deliver each letter and each newspaper to the people to read. Moreover, he was also the first person in Quy Hop district to boldly write a newspaper to reflect the social activities of Quy Hop at that time. That was Mr. Sam Phach...

On April 19, 1963, according to Decision 52/CP, the old Quy Chau was divided into 3 districts: Quy Chau, Que Phong, Quy Hop. In the early days of Quy Hop district's establishment, there were many hardships and difficulties, and it was necessary to fight against the American invaders. At that time, Mr. Sam Phach was assigned to work as a traffic culture officer of Chau Quang commune - an important base, the headquarters of the District Party Committee. With the special task of delivering and transferring official documents to every hamlet. During his work, he saw that there were many issues that needed reporting and writing. But at that time, no one in Quy Hop did this job. He said that at that time, Quy Hop was lacking in every way, not even enough to eat, so who could think of anything? Understanding that, he started writing and collaborating for Nghe An Newspaper. These are information and articles about practical topics: Participating in production, irrigation, paying food and foodstuff obligations, then the 3 responsibilities of women, 3 readiness of youth, good people, good deeds, good production... When Quy Hop was still in its early stages, not many people knew or cared about it, Mr. Sam Phach was the pioneer in providing information.

Mr. Sam Phach

Those were all difficult days, he had to walk to every corner of the vast Chau Quang commune. But the special thing here was that he had to walk barefoot (because in those days, having a pair of good sandals to wear was also a luxury), on sandy, thorny roads. But the difficulties on the way to work did not dampen the will of this Thai young man. Getting information was difficult, writing articles was even more difficult, there was no reference material other than a pen and a piece of paper. Then every night he toiled, bent over the paper until late at night, under the flickering light of an oil lamp hidden in a bamboo tube.

Then, handwritten copies were sent to the editorial office by post, written on one side of student paper with pencil. At that time, these news and articles were very precious. After finishing writing, Mr. Sam Phach had to walk more than 3 km to the district post office to send the article. Having a name on the Western Nghe An Newspaper (now the Ethnic and Mountainous Region section of Nghe An Newspaper) at that time, Mr. Sam Phach had to go through many difficulties. Not to mention the times when letters were lost, unexpected incidents happened... The royalties were small, only 1-2 dong, sometimes only a few cents, but for him it was a great pride. Although it was not much compared to the effort he put in, thanks to that, the ethnic people in Quy Hop understood and knew him more and more.

In 1967, the American invaders came up with a trick to poison our people through psychological effects. They spread psychological warfare items to Vietnam, including radio stations... In Quy Hop alone, people collected 15 of them. The commune and district organized their destruction. That was the event he reported on the Western Nghe An page. When talking to us, Mr. Sam Ngoc Du - Secretary of Chau Quang Commune Party Committee added: Mr. Sam Phach is a person who has contributed a lot to the culture of his commune. As a member in charge of culture of the commune, and also a talented artist, he both composed folk songs and participated in performances...

During the time Nghe An Newspaper evacuated to Tan Ky district, throughout the years 1968 - 1970, Mr. Sam Phach was always a typical collaborator. The State recognized and awarded him the 3rd Class Anti-American Resistance Medal...

In 1985, due to poor health, he wrote articles less and less. In 2014, at the age of 86, he became sicker. After a stroke, on May 10, 2014, he returned to his ancestors... The news and short articles from nearly 50 years ago in the Western supplement of Nghe An Newspaper will remain forever as a beautiful memory of the journalistic life of a simple, innocent man with a passionate love for his homeland!

Ngoc Son - Le Hanh

(Literature and Arts Club of Quy Hop district)