Visiting Chau Son village, one of the two Dan Lai villages in Chau Khe commune, Con Cuong district, as soon as we reached the entrance to the village, we heard the bustling laughter of many people digging the foundation to build a dike in front of the community cultural house. Chau Khe commune Party Secretary Tran The Tai pointed to a young woman who was enthusiastically working with the people and introduced: That is comrade La Thi Van, born in 1996 - Chau Son village Party Secretary, the only female party member to be the head of a village in Chau Khe!
Talking, La Thi Van said: Chau Khe village has 222 households, more than 850 Dan Lai people, divided into 2 clusters, in which the cluster is in Khe Nong, nearly 30km from the main cluster. Each time there is a meeting, the Party Committee and the village management board have to move to 2 places, in the rainy season or when the weather is not favorable, the road to the inner cluster is very difficult because they have to move through 4 streams. There are years when the organization of holidays such as Mid-Autumn Festival, June 1st for the children of the inner cluster is delayed because of the high water level, the road cannot be entered. Regarding life, Chau Son people still have many difficulties, men go to work far away, women stay at home to raise livestock, whoever is hired does whatever they want, because the land for production is small, only 50% of the people in the village have fields, the house with fields is only about 200-300m² on average.
During her teenage years, unlike other Dan Lai girls, after getting married and giving birth to two children, La Thi Van still actively participated in social activities, becoming the Head of the Women's Association of the village. In 2019, she was honored to join the Party (joined the Party at the same time as her husband, formerly the Deputy of Chau Son village).
The election of La Thi Van as the "leader" of the village is a "big deal" for the Dan Lai people in Chau Son. In the Party cell, there are 24 party members (3 party members are exempted from activities), only 2 female party members, Van and Ms. La Thi Nguyet. However, there are 2 commune officials who are the Vice Chairman of the People's Committee, Chairman of the Farmers' Association and border guards who have joined the activities. Everyone supports and guides the young female Party cell secretary to overcome the initial confusion. According to Village Chief La Thanh Binh: "The important thing is that Comrade Van herself is very hard-working, always taking the lead in all movements, so she is trusted by cadres, party members and people. For example, today, when launching the foundation digging to build a cultural house embankment, each household mobilized 1 person to participate, but the Party cell secretary's family went with both husband and wife...".
Secretary La Thi Van also worked with the Party Committee and the Chau Son Village Management Board to carry out many practical "for the people" activities such as calling for financial support, working days, money, and rice to help households in difficulty and hardship. Among them were Mr. La Van Hong's household whose house burned down, and Mr. Lang Van Dao's household whose house was moved due to landslides, to stabilize their lives. Notably, after many years of not being able to admit female party members, in 2022, the Chau Son Village Party Committee prepared a dossier to admit Ms. La Thi May - Head of the Village Farmers' Association. "If we try to match our words with our actions, people will trust and love us...", Secretary of the Party Committee La Thi Van shared more.
In Luu Thong village, Luu Kien commune, the story of Mong girl Vu Y Do - from Ta Ca commune, Ky Son district, who married into Luu Thong village and became the only female Mong party member of the commune and then the first female Mong village party cell secretary of the remote district of Tuong Duong, is mentioned by many people with love and admiration.
As a daughter-in-law of Luu Thong village, Y Do was given the opportunity by her husband's family to participate in women's work since 2003. In 2005, she was trained and guided into the Party by Mr. Vu Chong Mua, former Secretary of the Luu Thong village Party Cell. At that time, Y Do was 25 years old. At that time, although supported by her husband and his family, Y Do still had concerns. "At first, I was hesitant to participate in party activities because the Party Cell was full of men, and Mong women have always been excluded from family discussions, let alone social discussions. But after gaining a lot of knowledge and communicating a lot, I understood that women are equal to men and can also contribute ideas to build the village, so I became bolder and more confident."
By 2020, Y Do was elected as Secretary of the Luu Thong village Party Cell. The promotion of women to become village leaders shows the innovation in the thinking of the Mong people. "The backs of Mong women are now not only used to carry corn and cassava, but also to carry the Party's policies and guidelines to the villagers, like Y Do, doing very well," said the village chief Tho Ba Cho, former village Party Cell Secretary.
As the “locomotive” in the village, Y Do, along with the Party Committee, the Party Cell and the Village Management Board, always wondered how to make the people prosperous and united to build a new life. In addition to planting elephant grass, growing banana leaves, taking care of and protecting the forest, growing upland rice, squash, taro, raising buffaloes, cows, goats, pigs and poultry (Currently, the whole village has nearly 100 buffaloes, 68 cows, and 65 fish ponds). The Party Cell of Luu Thong village also mobilized the people to build roads to the production area, build welcome gates, maintain the village environment, and properly implement the livestock regulations with fixed barns. Now, the lives of the people of Luu Thong village have improved significantly; the village is also known as a bright spot in maintaining security and order. For many years, the village has been in the "3 no" category: no drug addicts, no lawbreakers, no people serving prison sentences, and was chosen to build the model "Drug-free village" and the "Preservation and development of Mong village culture" club.
When asked the secret to making people "satisfied" and believe in the "guidance" of the village Party Cell, Vu Y Do smiled gently: "If we just "real people, real work, real results", the villagers will believe. To do that, cadres, party members and families must be exemplary and take the lead!" That's why, not only taking the lead in economic development: growing vegetables, growing rice, raising buffaloes, being the first household in the village to raise goats, and at the same time using social networks to sell agricultural products on Facebook; Y Do's family is also a typical cultural family in the village, with 2 children studying at university, being obedient and filial. Y Do has become an example of women in the border area rising up to take control of their lives, affirming their role and position in the family and community, contributing to building a prosperous and happy village.
Visiting Puc village - a Thai ethnic village in the border commune of Nam Giai (Que Phong), the first impression is the clean concrete roads covering from the main road to the branch roads. Secretary of Puc village Party cell - Ms. Ngan Thi Phuong, born in 1987, the only female village head in Nam Giai, said: "The road has just been completed, the cement was supported by the Provincial Military Command, and the village mobilized people to contribute working days and 36 million VND to buy sand and gravel to build 5 main roads and 2 secondary roads. In the spirit of "people know, people do, people check", the Village Management Board assigned 2 residential groups to build 1 road. Thanks to that, the traffic roads in Puc village have now been almost completely renovated."
After two terms as the village “leader”, Ms. Ngan Thi Phuong also said: Women bear the responsibility of “carrying the prison and”, she herself has to make a lot of effort to complete the village work, especially directing and mobilizing people to develop the economy, eliminate hunger and reduce poverty. Currently, in addition to planting 30 hectares of cinnamon and 20 hectares of acacia, the people of Puc village are also actively raising buffaloes and cows. Almost every family has 5-6 buffaloes and cows, some families have up to 38…
Currently, Puc village has been merged with Meo village, the population has increased to 120 households, 580 people. As Deputy Secretary of the village Party Cell, Ms. Ngan Thi Phuong also regularly works with the Party Committee and the Party Cell to pay attention to the work of developing the Party, especially for female ethnic minority party members; based on reality to have appropriate mass mobilization solutions. In 2020, Puc village Party Cell admitted 2 female party members, in 2021 developed 2 party members including 1 female, in 2022 alone, Puc village Party Cell introduced 5 outstanding female masses to study party subjects... Commenting on the female "leader" of Puc village Ngan Thi Phuong, comrade Sam Van Thanh - Secretary of the Party Committee of Nam Giai commune said: She is an energetic, enthusiastic village chief, good at village work, good at housework, loved by the people, trusted by the Party!
The female village chief of the Thai Thanh Tien ethnic minority village (Thanh Son commune, Thanh Chuong district) is mentioned as an example of a party member who is "good at village work and good at housework". Admitted to the Party in 2010, with her dynamism, enthusiasm and exemplary role, Ms. Lo Thi Pom was elected by the people as the village chief for 3 consecutive terms. "Good at village work" - Ms. Pom, together with the Party Committee and the village management board, has been trying to find ways to gradually help the village escape poverty. That goal is determined: First of all, the cadres, party members and mass organizations themselves must set an example. Thinking and speaking go hand in hand with doing, up to now, the Thanh Tien village management board has more than 800 collective acacia trees, the Veterans Association, the Women's Association has a collective acacia plantation, and the Elderly Association has nearly 100 banana trees...".
Although the village chief Lo Thi Pom herself is busy with the work of leading the village and taking care of her children, she has pioneered economic development with the model of planting acacia, corn, raising 4-5 buffaloes and cows, 4,000 frogs, growing clean guava... She also spends time participating in the activities of the village women's association to discover "factors" and together with the Party Committee train women to strive to join the Party. Thanks to that, in 2020, the Thanh Tien village Party Cell admitted 1 female party member who is a village health worker, in 2022 introduced 2 female masses who went to study party sympathy as members and vice-chairmen of the Women's Association...
Although each of the female village leaders we met has their own way of working, they have in common that they all "take the people as the root" and are therefore trusted and supported by the people. It is worth noting that in recent years, thanks to the attention of Party committees at all levels, many ethnic minority female party members have been entrusted with the important responsibility of "taking the lead" at the grassroots level. Typically, Que Phong district has 23 ethnic minority female party members as Party cell secretaries, heads of blocks, villages, and hamlets; Quy Chau district has 26 ethnic minority female party members as Party cell secretaries and deputy secretaries of village and hamlet cells; Con Cuong district has 33 ethnic minority female party members as Party cell secretaries and 14 as heads of blocks, villages, and hamlets; Tuong Duong district has 27 ethnic minority women working as secretaries, block, village and hamlet leaders... And, their contributions are all noteworthy, affirming the role and position of women in mountainous areas and ethnic minority areas in the family as well as in society.