New wind in Tra Lan area
(Baonghean) - Welcoming us back to the Con Cuong forest with a bright smile, District Party Secretary Nguyen Dinh Hung could not hide his joy when the land full of hardships has now changed a lot. Orange gardens, tea hills, and vast green rice fields are a solid foundation to help people escape poverty and reach a better life. Blowing a new wind into that prosperity is the relentless effort from a team of young cadres full of courage, creativity and enthusiasm. They are likened to the leading birds of Tra Lan region.
Passion from small things
September brought great joy to the people of Bong Khe commune (Con Cuong) when, after much effort, the locality reached the new rural finish line. Passing through the wide, straight roads leading to Khe Ran village, village chief Lo Van Thang has not forgotten the early difficult days when 100 Thai households of the village were in a state of constant hunger, their income only depending on a few fields of corn. Then, since the policy of the local Party Committee and government to choose Khe Ran as one of the four villages of the district to be a model for community tourism, the people's lives have taken a new turn.
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| Secretary of the Party Committee of Bong Khe commune Phan Thanh Hung (right) visits the orange growing model of village 2/9. Photo: Thanh Quynh |
From a stranger, Phan Thanh Hung became a child and sibling in every family in the village.
Walking on the road leading from Khe Ran to Thanh Nam, Tan Hoa and Thanh Dao villages, Mr. Lo Van Thang has not forgotten the memories associated with those slippery trails for many years. Until comrade Phan Thanh Hung transferred from the District Department of Natural Resources and Environment to take on the role of Secretary of the Bong Khe Commune Party Committee, that was also the time when the ideas and aspirations of the people became reality.
With many years of experience in land clearance, he understands the work he needs to do to bring the people standard roads. Along with professional expertise is closeness, sincerity and understanding of the difficulties that the people are facing. From a stranger, Mr. Hung became a son and a brother in every family of the village. Therefore, it was not difficult for him to receive the consent of the people to donate land and contribute working days to concretize nearly dozens of kilometers of inter-village and inter-village roads.
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| Many types of flowers are planted along National Highway 7A through Vinh Hoan village, Bong Khe commune (Con Cuong). Photo courtesy of Ho Phuong |
The countryside is new, but how to make people's lives more civilized is a question that always worries the commune party secretary born in 1977. And then, once again, he stood up to mobilize people in the whole commune to build more than 400 smart trash pits for their families, actively improve the landscape, environment and security and order. Just that one detail, but it is enough to make foreign guests impressed with Bong Khe after each visit, so that they themselves return, spreading the good messages of the villages here.
As a former student of the University of Agriculture, Secretary of the Party Committee of Bong Khe commune, Phan Thanh Hung, has long cherished the search for dynamic economic development directions to breathe new life into the thinking and working habits of the people. As the head of the Party Committee, he has actively encouraged people to expand concentrated farm farming models such as growing red-fleshed dragon fruit, developing livestock towards commodities and accompanying 7 models of cage fish farming in the commune... Along the Lam River alluvial plains of Thanh Nam, Thanh Dao, Khe Ran, 2/9 villages... are now full of vitality with each season having its own food, from spring peanuts, summer-autumn beans, to winter corn. Recently, people have added Taiwanese guava, Thai jackfruit, green-skinned grapefruit, and apples to their planting, reviving the land.
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| More than 400 household trash pits have been built in Bong Khe commune, making an important contribution to preserving the green, clean and beautiful landscape. Photo: Thanh Quynh |
Now, the whole commune has more than 20 models of raising buffalo, cows and pigs with high economic value, the average income in 2018 of the commune reached over 30 million VND/person/year, the poverty rate is only 2.24% - a dream number that people did not dare to think of in previous years. That is the premise for Bong Khe to gradually reach a prosperous and happy life. In that achievement, people also have high hopes that the leader Phan Thanh Hung will continue to accompany to bring new and good things to each village and hamlet here.
Sowing red seeds in Don Phuc region
After a year of joining the Party, Lu Van Duc in Xieng village, Don Phuc commune still considers it a meaningful turning point for himself. He, like most of the villagers, used to think that "joining the Party" was something lofty and not for himself, or rather, he did not have any benefits as a Party member. Until 2017, after being selected as one of the three elite masses of Xieng village to participate in the Party sympathy class, Duc realized that the things he learned were closely linked to his own interests and the community he lived in, especially the Resolutions, policies and Projects being implemented, which had a direct impact on the livelihood of the village.
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| Secretary of the Don Phuc Commune Party Committee Nguyen Xuan Nam (center) and young party members on the village road that has been upgraded according to new rural criteria. Photo: Thanh Quynh |
Accompanying the young Thai man born in 1990 in the process of changing that perception, Secretary of the Party Committee of Don Phuc commune Nguyen Xuan Nam has almost become a close brother in the family. According to him, Don Phuc has more than 90% of Thai ethnic people with rugged terrain, far from the district center, so this is one of the most difficult localities of Con Cuong.
Of course, the Party development work in the commune also faces more difficulties than in other areas. The difficulty in Don Phuc is how to develop the economy and culture for the people, while at the same time "nurturing" the red seeds to improve the fighting capacity of each grassroots Party cell. That concern is the heart of Party Secretary Nguyen Xuan Nam, born in 1982, throughout his working time.
Secretary of the Don Phuc Commune Party Committee Nguyen Xuan Nam with Xieng villagers. Photo: Thanh Quynh
The important thing is to make people believe. Once they believe and understand, they will agree to do it.
To find a way to eliminate the existing shortcomings in the work of developing party members in the locality, he chose the weakest Party cell, which was the Xieng village Party cell, which for many years had been considered a "bottleneck" that needed to be resolved. As a former officer of the district's Culture Department, he understood better than anyone the unique cultural features of the Thai people. The important thing was how to make the people believe. Once they believed and understood, they would unanimously implement.
After tireless efforts, joy came to Xieng village Party Cell when in 2018, 3 party members were officially transferred to the party, in 2019, 4 more party members were admitted. After "solving" those initial difficulties, Don Phuc had more confidence in the work of creating a source of party members when in the past 2 years, the locality officially transferred the party to nearly 15 individuals.
Saying goodbye to the great Con Cuong land, District Party Secretary Nguyen Dinh Hung shared with us many concerns. Although the locality has a rather low starting point and is currently still facing many difficulties and challenges, over the years, in remote villages, many young cadres have promoted their mettle to quietly and wholeheartedly stick to the grassroots. They are the "bridge" between the Party, the State and the people, the leading birds to bring hope to change the difficult land.
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| View of Con Cuong district. Photo courtesy: Nguyen Book |