The 'prison-carrying' grandmothers in the border commune

(Baonghean) -In the whole of Mon Son commune (Con Cuong), there are 13 villages, of which 8 have female party cell secretaries and 3 village chiefs. In 2 villages, both the party cell secretaries and village chiefs are women. This is rare in mountainous areas, where the role of women is not really focused on.

Grandma 20 years "in prison"

For the past 10 years, Ms. Ha Thi Thin has been elected as the Party Secretary of Lang Xieng village, Mon Son commune (Con Cuong). Before that, she was the head of the village women's association for two consecutive terms, each term lasting 5 years. So for 20 consecutive years, Ms. Thin has been a village cadre, something that not many Thai women in highland villages can do.

Party cell secretary Ha Thi Thin is also a good brocade weaver in Lang Xieng village. Photo: Huu Vi.

Recently, Lang Xieng Village became the first village in the district to be recognized as a craft village, Lang Xieng Village Brocade Weaving Village. Nearly ten years ago, she and the members of the management board mobilized women in the village to revive the brocade weaving profession that was on the verge of extinction.

At first, there were only a few supporters, then a handicraft production facility was formed. Now the production facility has been recognized as a craft village. This is a great joy for someone in the role of leading the movement in the early days like Ms. Thin.

This is just one of the happy events during 20 years of “carrying the load” of a woman living in a “four-generation” family. Now a grandmother, Mrs. Thin still wakes up at 2am every day. Her first job is weaving to contribute products to the craft village. The sound of the shuttle clacking is a familiar sound in the small Thai village along the poetic Giang River. Around 5am, the 53-year-old woman lights the fire to prepare breakfast for the whole family.

When the sun had just risen and breakfast was finished, Mrs. Thin went to the river to feed the fish. For more than a year now, her family has participated in the cage fish farming model on the Giang River. Her family also takes care of a 10-hectare forest and 6,000 square meters of rice fields with two crops per year.

The board of directors has a female majority.

Nearly ten kilometers from Lang Xieng is Bac Son village. In this Thai village, positions such as Party cell secretary, village chief, head of the Elderly Association, Farmers Association, and statistics are all held by women. On a plot of land about 3000m2 wide² On the outskirts of the village, Party cell secretary Nguyen Thi Nhuan and her husband are putting up a fence to prevent chickens from destroying the corn crop they have just planted. This woman, who looks more austere than her 32 years, is leading a Party cell of 12 members in Tan Son village. From being a head of the Women's Association, in September 2016, Ms. Nhuan was elected Party cell secretary.

Party cell secretary of Bac Son village Nguyen Thi Nhuan and her husband work in production. Photo: Huu Vi.

Ms. Nhuan said: Although she is a village official, her family is still a near-poor household. In this small border village, the rate of poor and near-poor households is still high, so the role of the community leader is even more important.

During nearly half a year as Party cell secretary, Ms. Nhuan has implemented a model for people to grow corn. The model is invested by TH Milk Factory from seed sources, fertilizers to product consumption. When the corn plants flower until the young corn stage, the factory will buy it for the people. Thanks to this policy, many rice areas that only grow one crop due to lack of water have a new direction to increase income for the villagers.

A short distance from Ms. Nhuan's house is the small house of village chief Vi Thi Dai. She is considered by the community to be a proactive, enthusiastic person, always taking care of the village's work. Also because of her straightforward nature, saying what she does often goes hand in hand with doing, the mother-in-law has had these 3 sons-in-law trusted and elected to lead the village's organizations for more than 3 years now.

Like Ms. Nhuan and most of the female village secretaries in the commune, Ms. Vi Thi Dai was also the head of the women's association for 14 consecutive years and was familiar with the job of a village cadre. However, when she was assigned the new task, she initially felt pressured because the common work of the village took up more time than family matters. Thanks to the sympathy of her children, she overcame and fulfilled her role as the head of the village well.

For Ms. Nhuan and Ms. Dai, the task of developing the village is still arduous. Many roads in Bac Son village have not been concreted. Traveling is still very difficult. Most of the production land of the people in Tan Son village is on the other side of the Giang River. Going to the fields and the fields requires crossing the river by motorboat or rowboat. The people here are trying their best to overcome the difficulties. As the heads of the village, the two women understand better than anyone their role in helping the people overcome the difficulties.

Please escape poverty to set an example for the locals

On the way back, we stopped by Khe Lo village. This is also a village where both the Party cell secretary and the village chief are women. Although she is a party member with many difficulties, since the end of 2016, Ms. Luong Thi Tam was elected as the village party cell secretary. The young "mother" born in 1984 discussed with her husband about submitting an application to be removed from the list of poor households.

Young "mother" Luong Thi Tam was elected Secretary by the Party members in September 2016. She then persuaded her family to write a petition to be removed from the list of poor households. Photo: Huu Vi

In the pale afternoon sun, with a hoe in one hand, Tam told about her family situation. She got married in 2004. Although her family was not doing well, she and her husband encouraged each other to work hard. The family had little land, so they only had enough rice to eat. Determined to stay in the village and not go to work far away like her peers, in 2009 Tam accepted the position of head of the village women's association.

Thanks to that, she has had more contact with the government's economic development policies for particularly difficult areas, and has participated in agricultural training courses. Thanks to knowing how to apply production techniques, the family's economy has improved, but in terms of criteria, the family has not escaped poverty. "Even so, I will definitely not be on the list of poor households anymore." Ms. Tam expressed her determination.

Village chief Vi Thi Dai with her granddaughter. Although she is 45 years old, she is still trusted by the villagers for her dynamism and enthusiasm in carrying out her duty as a "prisoner". Photo: Huu Vi

Talking about the story of Ms. Tam's family's request to escape poverty, Ms. Vi Thi Viet, head of Khe Lo village, shared: "Although the difficulties are not over yet, considering that both husband and wife are at a healthy working age, Ms. Tam submitted an application to escape poverty to set an example for many others to follow. Because in the community, there are still many people who still want to rely on the government's poverty policy."

Saying goodbye to the female village cadres in the border commune of Mon Son, we suddenly felt strangely happy. For them, fulfilling their leadership positions at the village level is not easy. But everyone shares the same consciousness of trying for the community, aiming to contribute to the development of this particularly difficult commune in all aspects.

You are