Remembering the first journalist in Quy Hop

(Baonghean) - In the 1960s, our country entered the most difficult period of the war against the destructive war waged by the American imperialists. With a patriotic spirit, in Chau Quang (Quy Hop district), there was a man who diligently traveled day and night to every village in the commune to deliver letters and newspapers to the people. Furthermore, he was the first person in Quy Hop district to boldly write articles 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 district was divided into three districts: Quy Chau, Que Phong, and Quy Hop. In the early days of Quy Hop district's establishment, there were countless hardships and difficulties, including the struggle against the American invaders. During that period, Mr. Sam Phach was assigned to be the cultural and transportation officer of Chau Quang commune – an important base and the headquarters of the District Party Committee. His special task was to deliver official documents to every village and hamlet. During his work, he realized there were many issues that needed reporting and writing about. However, at that time, no one in Quy Hop was doing this kind of work. He said that Quy Hop was lacking in everything; even food was scarce, so who could think of doing anything like that? Understanding this, he began writing and contributing to the Nghe An Newspaper. These were articles and information on practical topics: participation in production, irrigation, fulfilling food obligations, the "three responsibilities" movement for women, the "three readinesses" movement for youth, examples of good people and good deeds, examples of successful producers... When Quy Hop was still in its early stages, not widely known or cared about, Mr. Sam Phach was the pioneer in disseminating information.

Mr. Sam Phach

Those were all arduous days; he had to walk to every nook and cranny of the vast Chau Quang commune. But what was special was that he had to walk barefoot (because back then, owning a pair of decent sandals was a luxury), on roads full of sand, gravel, and thorns. But the difficulties on his reporting journey did not dampen the spirit of this young Thai man. Gathering information was difficult enough, but writing the article was even harder; he had no reference materials other than a pen and paper. Night after night, he would toil, hunched over his paper until late at night, under the flickering light of an oil lamp hidden inside a bamboo tube.

Then, one by one, handwritten articles were sent to the editorial office via post, written on one side of student paper with a pencil. At that time, these news articles were truly precious. After writing, Mr. Sam Phach had to walk another 3 kilometers to the district post office to send them. Getting his name on the Western Nghe An Newspaper (now the Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Regions section of the Nghe An Newspaper) required him to overcome countless difficulties. Not to mention the times letters were lost or unforeseen incidents occurred… The meager royalties, only 1-2 dong, sometimes just a few cents, were a source of immense pride for him. Although it was insignificant compared to the effort he put in, it helped the people of the ethnic minorities in Quy Hop to understand and know him better.

In 1967, the American invaders devised a tactic to poison our people through psychological manipulation. They dropped psychological warfare materials over Vietnam, including radios… In Quy Hop alone, the people collected 15 radios. The commune and district organized their destruction. This event was reported by him on the Western Nghe An page. When speaking with us, Mr. Sam Ngoc Du – Secretary of the Party Committee of Chau Quang commune – added: Mr. Sam Phach made significant contributions to the culture of the commune. As a member of the commune's cultural committee and also a multi-talented artist, he both composed folk songs and participated in performances…

During the period when Nghe An Newspaper was evacuated to Tan Ky district, throughout the years 1968-1970, Mr. Sam Phach was always a prominent contributor. The State recognized this and awarded him the Third Class Resistance Medal for his contributions to the war against the US...

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

Ngoc Son - Le Hanh

(Quỳ Hợp District Arts and Culture Club)