(Baonghean.vn) -Unlike children in the lowlands and cities who can afford toys bought by their parents, Hmong children on the Trường Sơn mountain range (in Huồi Mới 1 village, Tri Lễ commune, Quế Phong district) have to make their own toys.
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| New Huoi Village 1 is perched precariously in the middle of the vast forest. |
Perhaps the most unique and interesting is the wooden three-wheeled vehicle that the children call a "car." The vehicle looks quite simple; it's made of four wooden planks joined together in a rectangle, with a round wooden wheel at the front and two wheels at the back. A wooden board is placed on top of the "vehicle" for the child to sit on and steer with their feet.
In the afternoons after school, the children in the village would gather on a hill near the school to play a game of racing and sliding downhill. With a moderate incline, they would carry their "cars" to the top of the hill, sit on them, and slowly slide down. Three children would race at a time, passing the turn to another. The track was quite winding, but the children skillfully "drove" with their feet, gliding smoothly without ever slipping off the track. Despite the large group, the children were very orderly, without any fighting or squabbling. Amidst the misty mountain air and the biting cold of the border region, their laughter was bright, clear, and strangely warm.
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| Bring out the "car" to prepare for a downhill race. |
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| Carrying a "car" on your shoulder. |
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| The race was extremely intense and dramatic. |
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| The "driver" repairs the vehicle when it breaks down. |
Huoi Moi 1 village is an ancient Hmong village, isolated from the center of Tri Le commune by dozens of kilometers of rugged, winding forest roads. During the rainy season and floods, this area is completely isolated, cut off from the outside world. The lives of the people are still difficult and lacking, but the children here are very well-behaved and studious, and the dropout rate has decreased significantly. Besides playing and studying in class, the children also help their parents with various tasks such as babysitting, gathering firewood, or picking bamboo shoots in the forest.
Trieu Duong - Thanh Duy
