Those who miss the forest

(Baonghean) - It has been 8 years since the Thai and Khmu people from the Ban Ve Hydropower Reservoir (Tuong Duong District) moved to a new settlement in Thanh Chuong. Life has changed somewhat, but the people in the Ngoc Lam resettlement commune still face many difficulties.

As early as 2006, the first days of the people in the Nam Non river basin returning to the resettlement sites in Thanh Chuong, including Ngoc Lam commune, consumed a lot of ink in the press. Initially, people talked a lot about a better life for the people when they returned to their new homes. Of course, that was the promise of many levels and sectors to console the people in the reservoir for the Ban Ve Hydropower Project. Then, when life in the new place encountered many difficulties, the people flocked back to their old hometowns, which also became a major concern for newspapers and radio stations inside and outside the province. So, the problem of peace in these resettlement areas is still very difficult!

Kim Hong village mother helps her child cross the bridge to class.

After a while, the story about the lives of the people living in the Ban Ve Hydropower Reservoir in the resettlement areas has somewhat quieted down. Has the press forgotten about them? Or have their lives improved? The thoughts that kept burning in my mind urged me to go back up the mountain to visit the Thai and Khmu people...

It was said to be going up the mountain, but when I returned to Ngoc Lam, I did not have to work as hard as when working in the highland districts of Tuong Duong and Ky Son, although the two communes of Ngoc Lam and Thanh Son seemed to be the most "wild" in Thanh Chuong district. The resettlement villages were not far from the main artery of the Ho Chi Minh road. I leisurely turned the throttle of my motorbike, passing the straight rows of tea on the way to Ngoc Lam commune. A young man spoke with a broken voice, typical of a minority pronouncing Kinh, which made me know that I did not need to ask any more questions. This was Ngoc Lam! So where was the commune cadre? "In Ma village. Go another 2 kilometers," the young man enthusiastically showed the way. This was the new "capital" of people from Muong Lam, which is rich in fish and shrimp. They had become the southernmost commune of the Thai people in our Vietnamese territory.

Party Secretary Luong Quang Canh, after learning about my highland background, immediately spoke to me in Thai like a real village elder. He said that Ngoc Lam commune had moved from Tuong Duong to here 8 years ago, but it was still not free from difficulties. When it first moved, the whole commune had more than 90% poor households, now it is still over 80%. There was progress, but as slow as a leech in the forest. In 2012, some households returned to their old places of residence, their household registration was still managed by the local authorities here, but they were not considered to enjoy the State's policies and regimes, such as the poor household regime, subsidized rice or health insurance, while most of these households were poor and in extremely difficult circumstances. The whole commune has 14 villages, with over 5,800 people, most of whom are Thai, and their circumstances are similar. But "worse" is Kim Hong village. They were originally residents of Kim Tien commune (old) of Tuong Duong district. This village was the last to be relocated among the resettlement villages in the hydroelectric reservoir area, so it is the most difficult. Currently, 1/3 of the households in the village have moved back to their hometowns to live freely in the middle of Ban Ve Lake. "If you have time, come visit Kim Hong village tomorrow morning to see!"

It was late afternoon. The sound of the loudspeaker of Ta Xieng village startled me. The voice of the Youth Union officer heard through the old loudspeaker sounded miserable, but it brought good news. Tonight, the children of Ta Xieng village were organized by the management board to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. I know that in the past, in the forest area of ​​Nam Non river basin, people only knew about Mid-Autumn Festival when they learned the poem "Mid-Autumn Festival, the moon is as bright as a mirror/ Uncle Ho looks at the scenery and misses the children...", through the radio and newspapers that often arrived half a month late. At that time, Mid-Autumn Festival was still strange to the people of the lake...

The weather is changing. 6pm, it is getting dark. Tonight I asked to stay at the house of the Party Secretary. The commune leader went to attend a funeral to call for his son-in-law, dinner had to be delayed for about half an hour and I took the opportunity to watch the children of Ta Xieng village enjoy the Mid-Autumn Festival. When I arrived, the village cultural house was packed with people. The boys and girls were all accompanied by adults. Some wanted to enjoy the happy atmosphere of the children, while others were old people who came to see what the Mid-Autumn Festival was like. Therefore, it was difficult to distinguish whether adults or children made up the majority. After listening to the Party Committee member read the letter from the Provincial Chairman to the children, each child received candy, spicy chips, and sweet chips. The Mid-Autumn Festival only lasted half an hour, the gifts in the difficult border village were only that, but everyone was happy.

“The commune is still facing difficulties, so it is very precious that children are cared for like this on Mid-Autumn Festival!”, Party Secretary Luong Quang Canh shared as soon as we finished dinner.

While talking, the Party Secretary suddenly picked up a bamboo toothpick and continued: “Those who return to the forest also have a cause. Here, even a tiny toothpick like this or a cradle for a child to sleep in, must be bought. Before the Xiangyang people came here, the forest was already devastated. Now, it takes half a day to go into the forest to find a bamboo tree. In the old place, the forest is still rich, food is readily available, suitable for a self-sufficient life. And it will take some time for those who come from the Nam Non basin to get used to the new life, although the infrastructure of electricity, roads, schools and stations is quite basic...”.

As planned, the next morning, I stopped by Kim Hong village. The village has 104 households separated from the main road by a large stream. The bridge to the village was washed away in storm No. 8 in 2013. A temporary bridge consisting of mahogany tree trunks placed on bamboo poles to make way for children to cross to school.

Seeing that the village had a stranger, Mr. Chuong Xuan Tinh invited him into his house to drink water and chat. The old man had lived through seventy seasons of farming, and his legs could no longer work in the fields, so he returned to rely on his grandchildren. He was the only one living in the house at the end of the village, locking the door and leaving it there to live with his grandson to ease his loneliness. Walking around the village, he saw only old people and children at home. The healthy people had returned to their hometowns to work in the fields, while others had gone to find hired work. Some others were going to the divided forest land, digging holes to plant tea. On the doorstep of the house opposite, a head appeared. Mr. Quang Dien Hoan said that it was his granddaughter, named Quang Thi Hai. Only 14 years old, Hai was the main laborer in the family. For more than half a year, she had been paralyzed and could not go anywhere.

At noon, I left Kim Hong village and headed uphill to Thanh Son commune. Along the road, there were endless hills of acacia trees in the growing season. Somewhere, I saw people harvesting the first acacia crop. On some hills, tea plantations had appeared. I remembered the conversation with Party Secretary Luong Quang Canh yesterday afternoon. Tea trees are suitable for the soil here. Recently, the district government implemented a project to bring tea trees to two resettlement communes. It is expected that by 2017, about 550 hectares of tea will be developed in Ngoc Lam and Thanh Son communes. Mr. Canh hopes that after five or seven years, when the tea harvest is stable, people will be able to settle down, make a living, and somewhat ease their nostalgia for the old forests?!

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