The hardships of Kim Hong village (Ngoc Lam - Thanh Chuong)

(Baonghean)With a poverty rate exceeding 93%, hardship is inevitable. However, the most challenging aspect is the journey for the children of the village to reach school. The difficult living conditions in their new homes have forced 39 households to return to their old residences, while the remaining households are also facing the problem of having no roads or schools...

The Kim Hong village kindergarten has been abandoned.

This is Kim Hong village (Ngoc Lam - Thanh Chuong), the last village to be relocated from the Ban Ve hydroelectric reservoir area (Tuong Duong). Initially, 105 households were relocated, all of them ethnic Thai people. Currently, only 66 households with 280 people remain in Ngoc Lam. 39 households have already moved back to their old homes (along the Ban Ve hydroelectric reservoir - Tuong Duong) to live.

According to regulations, each resident moving to the new settlement will be allocated 2,500 square meters of land. However, nearly five years have passed since the people of Kim Hong village moved to their new settlement, and only 27 households have received land for production (including hillside land, flat land, and rice paddies). The remaining 39 households are still waiting for allocation. Due to the difficult living conditions in the new settlement, when we asked the households who had "moved to the new settlement only to leave again," they all shared the same opinion: the new settlement did not provide land for production!

The village bridge was destroyed by Typhoon No. 8 in 2013.

From the center of Ngoc Lam commune, to reach Kim Hong village, one must cross the Lang stream, which has a fairly large water flow, especially during the rainy season. Currently, all the bridges have been completely damaged. Initially, the villagers relied on a bridge built by the Ban Ve Hydropower Company to travel between villages and other areas. Typhoon No. 8 in 2013 caused the bridge to collapse. Afterwards, the villagers themselves contributed money to build a temporary bridge using wood and bamboo, but it only lasted a few days before being swept away by the water. Near the Lunar New Year in 2014, the Ban Ve Hydropower Company built a temporary road for the villagers to cross the river, but now it is only usable by those villagers who know how to… climb!

Because there is no bridge, the villagers face many difficulties in their daily lives. During the rainy season, they are isolated, and even on normal days, when they want to sell their produce to traders, the villagers have to carry it on their backs for nearly 1 km across the inter-village road.

With a poverty rate exceeding 93%, hardship is inevitable. However, the most challenging aspect is the journey for the children of the village to reach their classes and schools. Currently, the village only has one kindergarten, which is inexplicably unused. There are no primary or secondary schools. All students from Kim Hong village have to cross a stream to attend classes in other villages. Kindergarten students are divided into two groups, studying at two separate school locations in Ma and Ta Xieng villages. Primary and secondary school students study in Ma village. Whether studying in Ta Xieng or Ma, the lack of bridges means that during heavy rains or the rainy season, the children have to miss school.

Van Chien