Simple flowers in the countryside of Nghe An

Hardworking women in the countryside of Nghe An.

"Queen of brocade"

Many households in Buoc village, Bac Ly commune (Ky Son) now have a stable income from the traditional brocade weaving profession and always remember the efforts and dedication of Ms. Luong Thi Phon. People do not hesitate to call her the "Queen of brocade".

After graduating from high school, without the opportunity to continue her studies, Ms. Vi Thi Phon (born in 1993) returned to her hometown to work in production. Her Thai village has nearly 120 households, and has a long-standing tradition of weaving brocade. The women of Buoi village are skillful in weaving beautiful skirts, shirts, and scarves, but they are still poor because they always have no outlet for their products. The young girl Vi Thi Phon has been constantly thinking about ways to help bring the weaving products of the villagers further afield, helping people increase their income. The Thai ethnic brocade weaving cooperative was established on the basis of uniting the women in the village, Ms. Phon was elected as the group leader.

Ms. Vi Thi Phon and the sisters of the Buoc village brocade weaving group exchange experiences when completing the product. Photo: Sach Nguyen

Although still young, the Thai girl from Buoc village boldly traveled everywhere in the region, even to Hanoi to participate in seminars and fairs to find outlets for products, then called for financial support and weaving looms to expand the scale of production. Through the initial difficulties, the Buoc village brocade weaving cooperative has been increasingly prosperous, the products are increasingly easier to consume, even Lao and Thai customers also order, bringing the income to more than 5 million VND/person/month. The scale has been expanded, in 2019 Buoc village was recognized as a brocade weaving craft village, with the great contribution of Vi Thi Phon. She confided: "The greatest joy is that the brocade weaving craft in the village has been revived and developed, there is still a lot of time ahead, I will continue to find ways to expand the scale of the craft village, bringing the products further".

As Vice President of the Women's Association, Ms. Phon also actively encourages members to save, help each other eliminate poverty, support and share production experiences, build "Warm Houses of Love", promote the movement "Women are good at economics". Strengthen propaganda to members to not let family members get involved in social evils, especially drug abuse, and strictly implement border regulations. Like Ms. Bui Thi Van, Ms. Phon is being proposed to receive a Certificate of Merit from the Vietnam Women's Union.

Design of the blooming path

Coming to An Hoa commune (Quynh Luu), looking at the roads full of flowers makes everyone admire the beauty of the coastal countryside. Local people said that these roads are partly thanks to the efforts of Ms. Nguyen Thi Luyen - Vice President of the Commune Women's Union.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Luyen and her family group planted more than 500m of new flower road. Photo: Viet Hung

Carrying out the campaign of "building a family of 5 no's and 3 clean's", contributing to the construction of new rural areas, in addition to her professional duties, as the head of the inter-family group in But Ngoc village, Ms. Luyen mobilized families to donate land for rural traffic and to build canals within the fields. Thanks to that, her inter-family group donated a total of 2,017 m²land, remove fences, donate trees and crops worth 35 million VND.

Ms. Luyen is also a pioneer in building a flower road, together with other households in the inter-family group, planting 500m of new flower roads to beautify the village. In addition, to make the living environment cleaner and more beautiful, she goes to each house in the inter-family group to mobilize waste collection, limiting pollution, and up to now, 100% of households have voluntarily participated.

Realizing that there were still difficult circumstances around, Ms. Luyen proposed to the hamlet executive committee to deploy and replicate the waste collection model to raise funds to help poor households. Up to now, the money saved from waste collection has bought 80 chickens and donated 500,000 VND to poor households. Her contributions have contributed to reducing the poverty rate in the commune to 1.0% from 68 households (in 2019) to 37 households (in 2020)...

Ms. Nguyen Thi Luyen mobilized members to collect scrap to raise funds to help the poor. Photo: Viet Hung

“As a union official, first of all, I must be exemplary, dedicated, enthusiastic, sacrifice family work, and regularly be present at the grassroots to encourage and find ways to resolve difficulties for female union members. From there, I can attract and gather union members to participate in building the movement, contributing with the people in the whole commune to complete the goal of building a new countryside,” Ms. Luyen shared.

Ms. Tran Thi Loan - President of the Women's Union of An Hoa commune said: "With her role and responsibility, Ms. Luyen always completes the assigned work well, and is highly appreciated by the local Party Committee, government and the superior association. In particular, in 2019, she was awarded a Certificate of Merit by the Central Committee of the Vietnam Women's Union for her outstanding achievements in the new rural construction movement."

Share with the unfortunate

In Nghia Yen commune (Nghia Dan), when mentioning Ms. Bui Thi Van, everyone praises her kindness and willingness to help people in difficulty and misfortune. Ms. Van is from Quynh Luu district, and lives with her family in Chong hamlet, Nghia Yen commune.

Ms. Bui Thi Van encouraged members to give up a portion of rice in each meal to help those in difficult circumstances. Photo: Minh Thai

Having gone through difficult times and economic hardship, she understands better than anyone the hardships and deprivations of those in difficult and unfortunate situations. It cannot be said that her family is well-off and well-off, but she is always ready to help those in difficult circumstances and mobilize savings funds to help women borrow capital with low interest rates to develop production.

In the neighborhood, there is a very pitiful child named Le Chi Nguyen (10 years old). His mother is mentally ill and lives with his elderly grandmother. He has osteoporosis and is paralyzed in both legs. Unable to bear seeing the child in pain and with an uncertain future, Ms. Van mobilized philanthropists to support Nguyen with more than 150 million VND for medical treatment.

Having money but lacking people, Ms. Van arranged her work and volunteered to take Nguyen and his mother to Hanoi and Da Nang for treatment. The journey was extremely difficult because the mother was sometimes conscious, sometimes unconscious; and the child was in pain and struggling.

Now that the mother and son’s health has improved, Ms. Van has taken the initiative to apply for local government support for cement so that Nguyen and his son can repair their house. She herself has contributed with labor and some expenses, thanks to which the family now has a small, sturdy, and more spacious house, without having to worry about the rain and wind.

Ms. Bui Thi Van considers Le Chi Nguyen as her own child, and when she has time, she comes to her house to help her with her studies. Photo: Minh Thai

In addition, she also helps Cao Thi Hai, also in Chong hamlet, who is in grade 9. Her father died early and her mother has a mental illness. At the beginning of this school year, Hai intended to drop out of school because her family's financial situation was so difficult, she didn't have enough food, let alone books and clothes. Feeling sorry for the young girl, who would have no future if she dropped out of school, Bui Thi Van called on friends and philanthropists to help.

A government agency has given Hai a pair of breeding cows worth 21.5 million VND to help his family earn a living, have a source of income and treat his mother's illness. And a charity organization has agreed to help Hai with his monthly tuition fees of 500,000 VND until he finishes university.

Every year on the occasion of Lunar New Year, Ms. Van gives small gifts to each poor and disadvantaged house in the neighborhood to share, encourage, and help bring more joy to the New Year.

Ms. Chu Thi Trinh - President of the Women's Union of Nghia Yen commune said: "Ms. Van is a good businesswoman, compassionate, willing to help those in difficult circumstances and misfortunes, and received a Certificate of Merit from the Central Women's Union".