Walk among lotus scent

(Baonghean) - There have been concerns about a Kim Lien that is becoming more and more "concrete", and there are also concerns that Uncle Ho's hometown will lose its familiar image... But "The happiest thing is the scenery of my hometown/Kim Lien has good lotus, Ngoc Dinh bells ring" is being restored, after the efforts of Kim Lien people to build a friendly image with people across the country...

Before learning about the lotus in Uncle Ho's hometown, I suddenly remembered an article by journalist Huynh Dung Nhan many years ago in a series of travelogues across Vietnam. That time, when stopping in Nghe An and visiting Uncle Ho's hometown, he was surprised when he asked: "Why is it called Sen Village but the scent of lotus is not seen in the homeland? That must also be contrary to the above song because in the memory of Uncle Nguyen Van Thin, Tru 2 hamlet: In the past, in Uncle Ho's hometown, there were many lotuses, we still called them wild lotus because they grew naturally. The flowers bloomed and spread their fragrance, especially in the summer, right on Uncle Ho's birthday".

Belonging to the next generation, Mr. Tran Le Chuong, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Kim Lien commune, thinks a lot about the above issue. Putting himself in the situation of people across the country when visiting Uncle Ho's hometown, he thinks that everyone will be disappointed if they come to Sen Village and don't see a single lotus plant. Therefore, when there is a policy and support in terms of seeds and techniques, the leaders of Kim Lien commune quickly deploy the project to the households. According to the plan, the entire road running from Kim Lien primary and secondary schools down to the commune People's Committee area to the relic site of Uncle Ho's hometown will be completely covered with lotus. Similarly, the road area from Kim Lien welcome gate to Hoang Tru will also be covered with lotus. However, fearing a large impact on the people's rice fields, the commune has a policy of only using the available ponds and lakes located in the land managed by the commune to grow lotus.

Lotus pond along the road to Uncle Ho's hometown. Photo: Sy Minh

The lotus planted is a pink lotus variety taken from Dong Thap Muoi, where Uncle Ho's father, Nguyen Sinh Sac, is resting. After the lotus was propagated and developed well, the commune assigned each household to manage and care for it, and the income from the commune's lotus was left for the households to manage themselves. With about 4 hectares of water surface, up to now, about 15 households have taken care of the lotus ponds. The households also pledged not to raise grass carp or use fishing nets to prevent the lotus from being damaged.

Taking care of the lotus pond in front of his house since 2012, Mr. Duong Dinh Lam, in Tru 2 hamlet, considers this a blessing for his family. Therefore, he and his youngest son, who is studying at the University of Agriculture, do not hesitate to spend time and effort day and night to take care of the lotus pond so that it can grow and bloom in season. Even when building a house, the family hesitated, then decided to build a wooden house instead of a high-rise building to suit the rustic scenery of the village. There is one thing that Mr. Lam did not say, but through his story, I understand that he does the above work because deep in his heart he is grateful for this Kim Lien land. Before, he lived in Binh Son commune, one of the most remote communes of Anh Son district, bordering Tan Ky and Quy Hop. In 1996, he and his wife came to Hoang Tru to start a business. Working hard, he and his wife started from nothing after nearly 20 years of building a life in their new hometown. Although they are not really rich, they have now started to have food and savings. Grateful for this land, he told himself "to be more responsible for his homeland than the people from the village". Most recently, when the village built a concrete road, he voluntarily contributed nearly 15 million VND to buy construction materials...

Mr. Tran Le Chuong, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Kim Lien Commune, worried: As Uncle Ho's hometown, the government and people in the commune have received many favors. However, the more favored we are, the more we realize that we still have to make great efforts to meet the expectations and wishes of the people of the whole country. It's as simple as building the image of Kim Lien village in the eyes of tourists from all over the country. Everyone understands that tourists coming to Uncle Ho's hometown not only want to see the image of Uncle Ho's hometown, want to witness with their own eyes the place where Uncle Ho was born and raised, but also want to live in the setting of a Vietnamese village. But there is still a messy planning, lacking unity. There is still an increasing process of "concretization". Or even though there have been ideas, Kim Lien has not yet built a cultural space for folk songs and folk songs associated with the cultural activities of craft villages as many tourism developers expect.

Faced with that reality, in the process of building "Kim Lien into a model commune", the commune is aiming to "green" its commune, a new countryside but without losing its pure, purely Vietnamese features. Therefore, at this time, when going to Kim Lien along roads 539 and 540, you can see the black stars starting to grow. In the premises of the commune People's Committee and along the road to Hoang Tru, in addition to trees such as royal poinciana, purple-flowered jacaranda, and acacia, there are now newly planted tamarind and star apple trees. The commune is planning to restore the orchard, especially the traditional varieties such as plum, guava, and hawthorn, to both create a green space and create rustic products to sell to visitors from all over.

Visiting Sen 3 hamlet, the first hamlet in the commune to have a uniform and friendly fence system, close to the village while still maintaining the privacy of each family. Previously, to support this plan, households in the hamlet voluntarily donated land to open roads, each person had at least 20-30m2. Leading the land donation movement, Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong shared: At first, we had to remove the old fence and lose our land. Some people talked back and forth, but then we realized that building a new countryside was for ourselves, so why wouldn't we support it, especially when we were lucky and honored to live next to Uncle Ho's house, sacrificing personal interests for the common good... In her story, Ms. Huong also proudly told the story of her father, Mr. Nguyen Van Thuan, one of the people who was once awarded the title of "unnamed hero", the first person to take on the task of taking care of and protecting Uncle Ho's house during the days of bombs and war. "In the past, my father and the villagers did not spare their blood and bones to preserve Uncle Ho's relics intact. Now that we are the next generation, how can we not continue the tradition of our predecessors?"...

Currently, 18/19 new rural criteria of Kim Lien have been completed, the project "Kim Lien becomes a model commune" has also been sent to the Provincial People's Committee for approval. In that common joy, visitors from near and far coming to Uncle Ho's hometown this May have felt the efforts of the people of the commune, felt the positive changes in building the image of the people of Kim Lien, and have seen again "The happiest thing is the scenery of my hometown/Kim Lien has good lotus, Ngoc Dinh bells ring" as the old song said.

My Ha