The Awakeners of the Sitting Sleeping Clan

Crossing the waterfall into the forest to teach literacy

After graduating in 1998, Vi Thi Cuc carried rice and fish sauce, wading upstream of the Giang River to her village.Dan Lai people(Mon Son commune, Con Cuong district, Nghe An province) teaches. The day she entered the village, Cuc was just 21 years old. Going to the "end of the mountain and water" with Cuc were 6 other colleagues. They were all young people in their twenties, not married. Each person carried about 10 kg of luggage including: rice, food, personal belongings for many days, Cuc and her colleagues went upstream, crossed waterfalls, followed the footprints of buffalo and cows to enter the village.

Teacher Vi Thi Cuc in class. Photo: Thanh Cuong

It was a day inrainy season, everyone had to carry a rope, ask someone who knew how to swim to tie the rope to a tree to cross the stream. Cuc tried to count how many rapids she had waded through, how many waterfalls she had crossed by picking up a small stone each time she crossed a waterfall to count again. But the arduous journey, the small stone in her hand also became a burden that Cuc had long since thrown away...

Teacher Vi Thi Cuc confided, “Until now, I still don’t know how many hardships I’ve gone through to get to school… Once I’m in here, I only come out when it’s absolutely necessary and I can’t be absent. Sometimes I only come back once every 3 months. Every time I see someone from outside, I feel as happy as if I’ve found gold.”

In 2001, Cuc got married. After giving birth to her first child, she was transferred to an outside school. Two years later, she gave birth to her second child. When her child was 10 months old, Cuc was assigned to return to the "khe" (Co Phat).

Rafting across Giang River. Photo: Dao Tuan

In early August 2004, the new school year began, and the Giang River was still high and flowing rapidly. Cuc carried her 10-month-old daughter on her chest, got on a dugout canoe with three other people and went upstream to return to school. While trying to cross the rapids, they encountered a strong whirlpool, the boat swayed, filled with water and drifted away. The people on the boat shouted to each other to bail out the water but could not. The boat became heavy and gradually sank. Only when two men at the tip of the bow reached a tree by the stream did they stop the boat. Cuc and her mother seemed to have returned from the dead.

This time returning to Co Phat (Mon Son commune, Con Cuong district), Ms. Cuc stayed to teach for 4 years. "During the childhood years, when my children needed me the most, I was hardly at home. During their childhood, without their mother, they were sent to their grandparents" - Ms. Cuc sadly recalled the past.

According to legend, the Dan Lai people originated from the Kinh people. According to the village elders, the ancestors of the people here were fleeing the tyranny of the Hoa Quan tyrant when they were forced to find 100 golden bamboo trees and a rowboat with an attached roof, or else their entire family would be massacred. These things are completely impossible.

The whole village carried each other and fled to the mountains. They ran and ran until they reached the upper reaches of the Giang River, where they could no longer hear human voices before they dared to stop. From there, a new tribe named Dan Lai was born. They spent hundreds of years living a difficult, backward life in the deep forest.

At that time, Co Phat school was located in the middle of the village. The classrooms were built of bamboo, thatched roofs, and three sides were covered with bamboo fences. The teachers' resting place was a thatched house divided into four rooms. Every year, everything had to be rebuilt once due to termites.

The teachers here teach one session a day, and another session is divided into following the villagers into the forest to collect bamboo shoots and catch fish in the stream to improve their living conditions. Life is difficult and hard, especially with the language barrier. The Dan Lai people live a closed life, afraid to communicate with outsiders.

Dan Lai children are shy when they see strangers. Photo: Thanh Cuong

“People do not speak Kinh. They understand what I say, but they only speak Dan Lai, which creates an invisible barrier in communication and teaching,” said Ms. Vi Thi Cuc.

To understand the Dan Lai language, at night, Ms. Vi Thi Cuc and other teachers often go to the village to play, learn about the customs and learn the local language. When teaching, Ms. Cuc also takes the opportunity to learn the Dan Lai language from her students. Using the Dan Lai language to communicate and teach, students will feel closer and friendlier. From there, they will gradually absorb the lessons, become familiar with writing and calculations.

“Fall off, get up and keep going”

Coming to Co Phat school today, there are many new features. The school is built spaciously and solidly. It has all the functional buildings, including a row of classrooms, a teachers' quarters, a communal kitchen... Teachers no longer have to walk, wade through rapids, and cross waterfalls to get to school. Traffic is easier when there is a dirt road connecting the commune center to Co Phat village. However, it is only better than before, but to go on the dirt road also requires a lot of hardship, falling off a bike is normal. Especially on rainy days.

The road to Co Phat village on a sunny day. Photo: Thanh Cuong

“In the past, the road was difficult to travel, teachers had to wade through streams to get in. Now that there are roads and bridges, it is less difficult, however, every time it rains, the road is slippery and has landslides, making it almost impossible to travel, teachers keep falling off their bikes. Like last year, when Ms. Cuc was riding her motorbike up Co hill, she fell into a hole, got stuck on a tree, and her bike slid down the cliff. The villagers called out to each other to cut down trees to help her down. The village also held a ceremony for her.”

Mr. La Van Linh - Secretary of Co Phat village Party cell

Today, Ms. Vi Thi Cuc and Ms. Vi Thi Bay - Head of Co Phat School had to go to school by boat. A few days ago, on the way out, Ms. Bay fell off her bike, fell 3 times, and her body was still sore. This time, she had to rent a boat to get to school.

Ms. Bay is a Thai person from the center of Mon Son commune. She first came to Co Phat in 2009. That time, it was the rainy season, the flood water came, and boats could not move. She came and stayed at the school for 17 days. At night, she cried and missed her children. But when she thought about the students here, she tried to overcome it.

“I was born and raised in a mountainous district, I understand the difficult life of the children here, so I love them very much. When I first entered school, I cried until I had no more tears, when I fell off my bike in the forest I didn’t know who to call, but after a while I got used to it. Falling off my bike, getting up and continuing, all for the children’s future.”

Ms. Vi Thi Bay - Head of Co Phat School

"To teach a student to read and write, teachers have to put in five or six times more effort than outside." Photo: Thanh Cuong

The greatest motivation for Ms. Bay, Ms. Cuc and the teachers stationed here to teach is the Dan Lai students. They accept to stay here regardless of the lack of meals and restless sleep.

In previous years, people's lives were still difficult, backward, and they were afraid to interact with outsiders. Children's education was not given much attention. Books and school supplies were also scarce. When the school bell rang, only a few students came out of curiosity. Students were not interested in studying. If they wanted to go, they would go; if they didn't, they would stop.

To change the habit of bringing the children to class, the school and teachers decided to spend money every year to buy all the books and school supplies for the students. Teachers were assigned to go to each house to encourage parents to create conditions for their children to study, and to get students into the habit of studying at night. Every time there was a community activity, teachers participated to remind parents and encourage them to study. When they saw a child was absent, they went to the house to encourage them. Thanks to the teachers' persistent efforts and hard work, parents began to pay attention to their children's studies, and students also began to study harder and make more progress.

In addition to teaching during the main session, teachers at Co Phat School also organize extracurricular activities in the afternoon. Every week, 2 to 3 evenings, students gather together for tutoring. "Here, to teach a student to read and write, teachers have to put in five or six times more effort than outside," said Ms. Bay.

Co Phat School - Mon Son 3 Primary School. Photo: Thanh Cuong

In the 2020-2021 school year, Co Phat School had 65 students, the rate of promotion to the next grade was 97%, only 2 first graders stayed; 100% of 5th graders moved up to 6th grade. If in the past, many students could not read or write, in recent years, most of them have completed the class program.

"You are my benefactors"

Returning from Malaysia, La Van Thai (born in 1993) in Co Phat village continued to Binh Duong to find work at a leather shoe manufacturing company. Thai was the first student of Ms. Vi Thi Cuc. Thanks to the perseverance and enthusiasm of Ms. Cuc and the teachers in the school, Thai learned to read and write, and learned about the outside world - downstream of the Giang River. After finishing primary school, Thai continued to go to the center to study at junior high school and high school, then boldly registered to be recruited to work abroad. Thai became the first Dan Lai person in Co Phat to go abroad. Following Thai, Co Phat had 4 more people also find their way abroad, bringing a good economic return for their families.

Or like La Van Son (born in 1992), after finishing primary school and then graduating from high school, Son went to Vinh to learn cooking. Currently, Son is the head chef of a large restaurant in Con Cuong. Son said: "If I had not studied to learn to read and write, I would probably be in the forest collecting bamboo shoots or peeling acacia bark for hire in Anh Son, Thanh Chuong."

Besides Son, Thai,… many other Dan Lai people in Co Phat village also went out and found jobs in factories and large industrial parks.

Thanks to the perseverance of teachers in remote areas, each generation of children grew up knowing how to read, write, and calculate, thereby opening up a new path, the path of knowledge. Photo: Thanh Cuong

“I must say, the teachers here are not only hard-working but also enthusiastic. If they were not enthusiastic, the children would not be able to be like they are today. The teachers patiently tutor each student, and all the students know how to read and calculate… thanks to that, they can continue their studies or go out to find work. For the Co Phat people, the teachers are a benefactor.”

Mr. La Van Linh - Secretary of Co Phat village Party cell

Thanks to the perseverance ofteacher in remote areas, each generation of children grows up knowing how to read, write, and calculate, thereby opening up a new path, a path of knowledge for them to see the world. Dan Lai is changing day by day thanks to the efforts of teachers. The people who sleep sitting up no longer run away in the middle of the night. They are gradually moving forward.

The Dan Lai peopleMon Son communelive mainly in Co Phat and Bung villages with more than 220 households, 1,200 people, 1 near-poor household, the rest are poor households. The two villages have only over 14 hectares of land to grow rice and corn. The largest household has 1 sao of land, while most of the other households only have small plots of land, difficult for buffaloes to turn around when plowing, and not much can be cultivated.