The giant tree at the gate of heaven in Muong Long

(Baonghean) -Now the voice of the village elder Va Phai Tenh (Father of the martyr - military hero and ba giai) in Muong Long commune (Ky Son) is always respected by the Mong people. Because he is not only an exemplary cadre while working, but even after retirement, he always thinks of the common development and benefits for all people.

Mr. Va Phai Tenh in Muong Long commune is 63 years old this year, and has chronic arthritis, but every morning he wakes up at 4:30 am, if he doesn't pick up a hoe to plant trees, he takes care of the chickens and goats on the farm in Ga Mai valley, or reads books and newspapers to better understand the policies and laws of the State. He has kept this habit since his youth until he became a cadre of Muong Long commune and now he has retired. Mr. Va Phai Tenh confided: "Our Mong people are still patient, hard-working, diligent and industrious. I used to be a commune cadre, now I am old and can't do anything big anymore, so I set an example by farming and planting forests first to develop the family economy, then for people to follow to reduce poverty. Last year I researched planting acacia trees but it was not suitable for the climate and soil in the commune, this year I will try planting xoan trees, if it works, the commune will have a new direction".

Mr. Va Phai Tenh shares experiences and customs of the Mong people with the construction team officers.

When visiting Mr. Va Phai Tenh, he had just gone to several neighbors in the same village to propagate and explain to everyone the new policies, guidelines, and effective ways of doing business that he had just read about in Nghe An Newspaper. Having guests visiting his house, Mr. Va Phai Tenh was very happy. He told about his life of tireless work for the development of the locality and the Mong people in Muong Long: Enlightened early, when he grew up, Va Phai Tenh participated in local activities, in 1967-1968 he was a teacher of the Northwest Meo script, concurrently a member of the Commune Youth Union, Secretary of the Muong Thu cooperative production team; in 1968-1972 he was a police officer in Ky Son district; in 1973 he returned to participate in local government activities and worked as Vice Chairman of the People's Committee and Chief of Muong Thu Commune Police from 1975-1977; In 1977, Muong Thu commune merged with Muong Long commune. Mr. Tenh became Chairman of Muong Long Commune People's Committee and from 1979 until his retirement (in 2005) he was Secretary of the Commune Party Committee...

Mr. Va Phai Tenh shared: During many years of operation, there were both sad and happy stories. The first happy story was that he had mobilized many Mong people to only listen to Uncle Ho's teachings and not listen to bad propaganda and follow the Meo King - Phi Vang Pao. The second happy story was that before the 1990s, Muong Long was the opium capital of Nghe An. The poppy here yielded the highest yield and the best quality. Both Muong Long and Huoi Tu and My Ly communes were filled with opium. Thoroughly implementing the policy of eliminating opium of the State and the province, Mr. Va Phai Tenh and the Standing Committee of the Muong Long Commune Party Committee were determined to do well; finding many ways to propagate and mobilize the people - involving all cadres, party members, village chiefs, and village elders, persistently analyzing and explaining to the people the harmful effects of opium... gradually the people understood and stopped growing opium.

By 1996, after inspection, there was still a household growing opium poppies, Mr. Lau Gia Long's house in Tham Pang village. When invited to the committee to work, he brought his niece along and gave her alcohol mixed with stimulants. She fainted, and he blamed the Party Committee and the People's Committee of the commune for his niece's death. Calmly giving first aid to her, Mr. Tenh asked for the whole story. After analyzing and handling it strictly and reasonably, Mr. Lau Gia Long accepted the fine and apologized. Since then, Muong Long no longer has opium... However, the matter of eliminating opium poppies is one complication, and the matter of "post-opium poppies" is tenfold more complicated. People who are used to producing opium now have to find new production methods. The Party Committee and the People's Committee of the commune have introduced varieties of plants such as plums, Australian peaches, American peaches, and pale peaches, which have been effective but not strong, partly because the traffic is difficult, there is no exit, leading to no output. There were five people who brought plums to the commune headquarters, Mr. Tenh encouraged the leaders of Muong Long to try to buy them so that people could have money to buy salt. However, this period did not last long, people gradually got used to raising chickens, buffaloes, pigs and doing business, life gradually improved; fruit products, thanks to the smooth road, began to have an outlet... There were times when Mr. Tenh pretended to ask if the State would allow planting again, but the people all suggested that the State should not allow planting opium anymore - hunger was too hard, raising chickens and pigs sold more.

Mr. Va Phai Tenh has 9 children, including 7 girls and 2 boys. All of his daughters have left home, his eldest son is the Hero of the Armed Forces, martyr, Lieutenant Va Ba Giai, who died on July 26, 2004 in Tan Son village, Tam Hop commune, Tuong Duong district while preventing two criminal groups from entering the border. His second son is currently a secondary school teacher in his home commune. Although he has retired and is active in the local Party cell, Mr. Va Phai Tenh still regularly helps the Party Committee and People's Committee of Muong Long commune in the role of "advisor"; at the same time, he is an active propagandist of the village and commune to mobilize children to obey the law, eliminate hunger and reduce poverty, and build their homeland. Mr. Tenh is very prestigious in the Mong community in Muong Long - when asked, people all say "what Mr. Va Phai Tenh says is always right". The 7th National Emulation Congress in 2005 and the 8th National Emulation Congress, the 1st National Congress of Ethnic Minorities in Vietnam, Mr. Va Phai Tenh was honored to be a delegate. He confided: "As a cadre of the Party and State, in any circumstance, we must think about the interests of the people, the common interests, from which we work and contribute."

Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Trong Ha, Team Leader of the Construction Team of Facility 7 in Muong Long Commune, said: “Mr. Va Pha Tenh is a big tree, a person with a lot of experience in working in this heaven's gate area, which is more than 2000m above sea level. When the team members come to work on the construction of the facility to help the commune here, if they have any difficulties, they can always come to Mr. Tenh for enthusiastic help, thereby finding good ways to do things, suitable for the local situation...”.

Thanh Chung