The richest Mong old man in Tham Tham

(Baonghean) - Going to Nhon Mai commune (Tuong Duong), asking: "Who has the most fields?", people will answer: "Mr. Va Tong Su's house!"; if asked further: "Who has the most buffaloes and cows?", Va Tong Su's house will also be mentioned. Perhaps that is why this old Mong man is considered the richest in this remote border commune.

A corner of Mr. Va Tong Su's farm in Nhon Mai commune (Tuong Duong).

I met General Secretary Va in Vinh when he was about to go with a delegation of prestigious people from the province to Phu Tho to attend the commendation ceremony organized by the Northwest Steering Committee. When asked, he said: “When I was young, I did not go to school so I was illiterate. I know the common language but I cannot speak much. If journalists want to know about farming and raising cows, come with me to my house!…” As promised, the day General Secretary Va returned from Phu Tho, I followed him up the forest to Nhon Mai.

The land and sky at the border were covered in frost, the cold wind penetrated through each layer of clothing and crept into the skin. The frost condensed into drops that fell on the samu roof like summer rain. That night, by the red-hot fire, sipping a cup of wine, the General told many stories, all of them interesting and fascinating. He was illiterate but spoke very charmingly. The more he drank, the more captivating his story became...

And the General made the Mong knife handle from a buffalo horn.

And the General was born and raised in Huoi Co - a village located on the highest mountain in the region, a day's walk from the commune center. As a child, his family was poor and had many siblings, so he was not allowed to go to school. Growing up, he got married early and had 6 children. Although he was not allowed to study, And the General always thought about how to have many buffaloes, many fields, and have food and property.

The land in Huoi Co is quite fertile but not much, so we have to think about migrating to other areas to have more land. On the trips to Tri Le market (Que Phong), passing Tham Tham village, we saw that there was still a lot of land here, with only more than 10 Khmu households living there. We also heard that there was going to be a big road running through, so the General decided to go down the mountain.

After the Tet holiday of 2003, Va Tong Su’s family and his two younger brothers moved from Huoi Co to Tham Tham. From here, the difficult days began, there were times when he was discouraged and decided to return to Huoi Co. The land in Tham Tham was plentiful but barren, the rice plants were always thin and flat. “I have cleared several fields, sown dozens of kilograms of seeds but sometimes it is not as good as in Huoi Co, or is the land in Tham Tham not suitable for us?”- And Tong Su was troubled with many thoughts near and far. Then he remembered the field located along Ho stream with a gentle slope, quite a lot of stream water. “That’s right! Dig terraced fields, block the stream to get water for irrigation!”- that thought flashed like a ray of light...

The rooster had just crowed in the morning, and the General had already gone to Tiger Creek, looking down from the top of the slope, he shouted to himself: “I have found the way!...”. He woke his children up, ate breakfast and discussed the work of reclaiming the rice fields. Not one day, two days; one month or two months, but had to be calculated in years. All the big and small rocks had been lifted up and moved to another place. Then ditches and channels were made to lead the water to flow back, regulating the water to flow evenly from high to low, that was a mountain of work.

The places where water could not reach were used to grow melons, the melon plants grew well, the melons were like little pigs lying on the field. Diligent like a bee building a nest, after 3 years, the General Secretary made nearly 1.5 hectares of fertile rice fields. He took the trouble to find a good rice variety that was suitable for the altitude and climate in Tham Tham to grow. Each year, he only planted one crop (from April to October), because the rice variety was long-term, and the cold season in Tham Tham came early and left late, so he could not plant two crops. However, the rice granaries were never empty, each year he only ate half, the other half was kept in the granary, each year he built several new granaries. And the General Secretary happily said: "Working on the fields is very hard, after a few seasons the land gets worse and we have to abandon it to go to another place further away, and then further and further away. The fields can be worked forever, and they are close by, the more you work on the fields the better, the granaries are full every season!"

Mr. and General Su harvest rice from terraced fields.

With fields and plenty of food, we have to think of ways to get rich, and here there is nothing better than raising buffaloes and cows. Father and son Va Tong Su spent their efforts to enclose a forest, invested capital to buy buffaloes and cows to graze. Buffaloes and cows find their own food, we just have to look after them every day, collect and count them. Now, the number of buffaloes and cows in the family is nearly 50. That is just an estimate, because they live in the forest, it is rare to collect enough to count. Va Tong Su's trick is to choose to buy small, thin, cheap ones to take care of, choose places with lots of grass to graze, after a while they grow up, fat and beautiful, and can be sold for a high price. With the current number of buffaloes and cows, Va Tong Su's family has nearly a billion dong in hand.

Not to mention more than 50 black pigs and countless black chickens, a large pond full of fish, and income from vegetables, bamboo shoots... All of that creates income, each year the family has no less than 300 million VND, while living expenses are very low, because there is rice in the warehouse, pigs and chickens in the coop, fish in the pond, vegetables in the field. Every day, Va Tong Su spends most of his time on the farm, hanging around with the cows, pigs and terraced fields. Only when necessary does he return home, to the village. His second son, Va Ba Co, is currently studying at the Agricultural Academy, planning to return to Nhon Mai after graduation, contributing to the family and the village to do business and develop.

The Tay Nghe An road running through Tham Tham, past the gate of Va Tong Su's house, has been open for more than a year, opening up many expectations for the old Mong man who is hard-working and bold in his ideas. Every day, people come to his house, sometimes even drive cars to ask Va Tong Su to buy buffaloes, cows, pigs, and chickens. Many people praise: "Va Tong Su is illiterate but has a good mind, so his family is certainly rich!"

Cong Kien