Kim Hong Resettlement Area: When will there be peace?
(Baonghean.vn) - On the days before Tet, we visited Kim Hong resettlement village (Ngoc Lam commune, Thanh Chuong). Deserted and lonely are what we felt. It was almost Tet, but many houses were still closed and quiet. Walking around the village, we only saw a few children, old and weak people sitting around the fire, while most of the adults were back in their hometowns clearing the fields and working on the fields...
(Baonghean.vn) - On the days before Tet, we visited Kim Hong resettlement village (Ngoc Lam commune, Thanh Chuong). Deserted and lonely are what we felt. It was almost Tet, but many houses were still closed and quiet. Walking around the village, we only saw a few children, old and weak people sitting around the fire, while most of the adults were back in their hometowns clearing the fields and working on the fields...
While people from other villages were busy going to the forest to pick giang and dong leaves to prepare for Tet, the Kim Hong resettlement village was still strangely deserted. When I went to the house of the Party Secretary, Deputy Party Secretary, and Village Chief, I learned that all three men were returning to Tuong Duong to persuade people to bring rice, chickens, and pigs down to celebrate Tet.
While taking care of the vegetable beds in her small garden, Ms. Luong Thi Liem - Head of the Women's Association of Kim Hong village said: "Out of 102 households in the village, 54 households have returned to their hometowns to make a living, of which 14 households have sold their houses and returned to their hometowns to live. In the village now, there are only the elderly, children, women with young children and the sick. Therefore, it is difficult to organize cultural and artistic activities, Spring Festival and Tet celebrations...".
Cassava prices have dropped so Ms. Chu Thi Hue doesn't know where to look for Tet shopping.
The road to the village center was full of weeds, the houses on both sides of the road were closed and quiet, the grass grew in the yard, the walls were covered with moss and mold. Visiting some families in the village, every house was the same, there was nothing valuable except for rickety beds and a few old, faded blankets.
Inquiring about the reason, we learned that the people mainly depend on agriculture, but up to now, after nearly 3 years of moving to the resettlement area, they have not been allocated land for production. Sharing with us, Mr. Vi Thanh Hoa, a resident of Kim Hong village, sadly said: "There are 4 mouths to feed in my family, and I only rely on my war invalid allowance. I have been here for more than 2 years but have only been allocated housing, but still have no land for production."
Mrs. Chu Thi Hue's family has 10 members, no land for production, she had to go to reclaim land to grow cassava, while her husband, son and daughter-in-law returned to their hometown to clear land and work on the farm. It's almost Tet, but she still hasn't bought anything. Mrs. Hue said: "Now I can only wait for my husband and children to bring back whatever they can, I reclaimed land to grow cassava and got nearly 1 ton, but the price of cassava is low so it's not worth it. Tet is coming but there's no more rice to eat, no money to buy new clothes for the children...".
By the end of 2011, the poverty rate in Kim Hong village was 98%, and food shortages were common, especially during lean seasons. Many families, with Tet approaching, could only rely on the State's famine relief rice. On Tet, when they should have gathered together, the people of Kim Hong village still had to endure the situation of "being in two places", the husband in the old village guarding the fields, the wife and children in the new village anxiously waiting... When asked why they did not grow vegetables or raise livestock to improve their lives, many people replied that because they saw the villagers constantly coming and going without stability, they did not dare to invest in anything, afraid that everyone would leave...
More worrying than hunger and poverty is the worry about social evils that are creeping into every family in the Kim Hong resettlement village. Young people without land to produce or jobs often gather at the beginning and end of the village to chat, quarrel, and fight. Some go to work far away, their companies go bankrupt, and when they return home empty-handed, they start drinking and debauchery.
Will the people of Kim Hong village be able to celebrate Tet in warmth and happiness?
Duy Nam - Gia Huy