Missing Cha Lum!
Cha Lum village, Yen Tinh commune - Tuong Duong, is hidden in a valley covered in clouds all year round, where there are still vast forests with few human footprints. But few people can imagine that in this gloomy mountain forest, drugs have made the village bankrupt and devastated...
Cha Lum village, Yen Tinh commune - Tuong Duong, is hidden in a valley covered in clouds all year round, where there are still vast forests with few human footprints. But few people can imagine that in this gloomy mountain forest, drugs have made the village bankrupt and devastated...
The road to Cha Lum is full of hardships and dangers, only steep slopes and deep ravines. When we reached Yen Tinh Commune People's Committee, the sun was at its highest point. Commune officials said that from here to Cha Lum it would take almost half a day to get there. The road leading to the village was narrow, passing through dense primeval forests, with clouds so thick that the sky and earth seemed to blend together.
The motorbike taxi driver said: Going to Cha Lum is "chiller" than before because drug addicts often hide along the roadside, and to get money for drugs, they can do anything. From afar, you can see Cha Lum village nestled in a valley shaded by coconut trees, with makeshift, rickety houses, skinny, dark children playing, and pale-skinned Thai women sitting on the doorstep.
Mr. Luong Van Dong - Vice-village of Cha Lum sadly said: In those days, Cha Lum was very prosperous and peaceful, every family had big and small rice bins, buffaloes and cows filled the floor, the people were gentle and hard-working with their fields. But Cha Lum suddenly became a drug village without them knowing, the young men of the village, like lim trees and sen trees, were suddenly turned into cripples by the "white ghost". In the past few days, the drug prevention police team of Tuong Duong district has been ambushing Cha Lum to arrest drug-carrying subjects.
Lieutenant Nguyen Thanh Son - Tuong Duong Police said: "Cha Lum is a rather complicated area, the terrain is difficult, the subjects carrying drugs often come from Luong Minh commune and from Que Phong district, the police have ambushed and arrested a number of cases but that has not reduced the problem of drug carriers for hire. The trick of the drug lords is to use money to flatter people, then let them inject "white medicine" to get addicted, then to have money to buy drugs, they have to carry drugs for them.
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Lo Van Khoan is starving for "white medicine", lying writhing next to his children. |
The night in Cha Lum is very deserted, everyone turns off the lights and goes to bed early for fear of drug addicts. Deputy Dong said: "Cha Lum has 195 households, with over 100 drug addicts, but I think that number is even higher because many people still hide their drug addicts." The drug whirlwind has left behind heartbreaking tragedies, many families are ruined, children are separated from their fathers, wives are separated from their husbands, many drug addicts die from drug shock or are infected with HIV.
The most heartbreaking was the family of Lo Van Khoan, who had 5 children. To have money for drug use, all the family's assets were "gone", even the stilt house they had to live on was sold to "burn" into the white smoke. Khoan and his wife and children had to build a dilapidated shack by the stream to stay temporarily. Following the edge of the forest, I found Khoan's house.
The shack was in tatters. Khoan was lying curled up like a shrimp, his body was just skin and bones, his eyes were closed, and his three small children were lying nearby, crying. Mr. Thien - Deputy Director of Hop Vinh Mineral Exploitation Company in the area, said: "Seeing Khoan's situation, I felt so sorry for him. Every week the company gave him rice to eat, but now he is so addicted, if the company stops giving him rice, the whole family will starve to death." Khoan's wife went deep into the forest every day to dig cassava to feed her young children. Her husband was addicted, and looking at the children made her feel even more sorry. The youngest child was 4 years old, pale and yellow, with ragged clothes, while the two older children spent all day in the stream looking for fish.
At that time, it was said that Khoan's family was quite well off, Khoan was strong and sturdy, the drug addicts discussed with each other, "To take Khoan down, we don't need spears, bows and arrows like shooting a deer, we just need to let him inhale white smoke..." Then Khoan was "shot down", his strength was exhausted, Khoan said weakly: "I also love my wife and children very much, I want to quit but I'm afraid I can't subdue this white ghost..." On the other side was the house of Pay Van Thuan, who was also a heavy addict, had 7 children and only his wife was supporting the whole family. I heard that his wife had a severe case of malaria these past few days, and was eating poorly, not knowing if she had enough strength to overcome this extreme situation.
That afternoon, a storm suddenly broke out, the wind howled fiercely, Pay Thi Lam's hut swayed, she had to climb up to the house and re-insert the thatched roof to prevent the rain from leaking. Her family had 3 children, and they had only learned most of the letters and then returned them to the teacher. All 3 of those young children had to follow their mother into the forest to pick bamboo shoots, catch bamboo rats, and catch fish in the stream just to survive. In the past, Cha Lum never stole, but now, at the slightest provocation, the addicts would steal everything, even pigs and chickens.
Teacher Dinh Thu Trang - a kindergarten teacher "staying in the village" said: Because the village has too many drug addicts leading to poverty, education here is not taken seriously. Even as kindergarten teachers, sometimes we have no students to teach because parents do not send them to school, so the illiteracy rate in the village is still quite high.
When they went to their parents to persuade them, there were cases where the parents explained that studying would not fill their stomachs. As for the middle school students in Cha Lum, they had to go to the commune center to study, which was nearly 20 km away through the forest and the terrain was dangerous, so many children were discouraged and did not want to study.
In Cha Lum, in order to make a living besides forestry, the village also has the profession of mining for alluvial gold. It is said that in the past, Cha Lum was the "navel of gold", the people here every day brought their tools down to the stream to dig for alluvial gold.
Children from 5 years old and up can pan for gold. After a tiring day, they can pan for 1-2 cups of gold, which is sold for about 30,000 VND/cup. Before the sun rises, the whole Cha Lum village is already up and working for gold, the whole stream is bustling with laughter. Lo Van Vuoc, who was only in 5th grade, dropped out of school to work for gold. Vuoc said: "I really wanted to go to school, but my family was crowded, my parents didn't make enough to eat, so they forced me to drop out of school to work for gold."
Mr. Dong added: Cha Lum has enough conditions to reclaim rice fields to stabilize food supply and develop livestock farming. However, drug addiction is so widespread that no one wants to work in the fields. The village is poor and desolate all year round. 100% of the villagers are hungry, 8-10 months a year.
Mr. Nguyen Ho Canh - Chairman of Tuong Duong District People's Committee said: Every year, the district has to support more rice for people to celebrate Tet. Trung Tin and Hop Vinh Company has built a community house worth 220 million VND for Cha Lum for people to live and hold meetings. In particular, about 7 km of road from the commune center to Cha Lum has been opened, trucks can now enter the village. This is a favorable condition for the State to invest in building infrastructure for Cha Lum.
Regarding drug addiction, the district is strengthening the direction and mobilization of drug addicts, sending police forces to block and destroy drug lines passing through here. The direction is to integrate programs and projects to develop the economy and society to wake up this remote countryside.
Leaving Cha Lum in the afternoon, I still saw the shabby huts, the dull, sad eyes immersed in the heavy rain, the drug addict village was anxiously immersed in white smoke, when will Cha Lum stop using drugs so that life can return to the peaceful life of the past.
Van Truong