The 'fires' that inspire
In the highlands or the remotest areas, many young people are still working hard to explore difficult lands and contribute to volunteer activities for the community. They are like warm flames, inspiring perseverance and dedication to bring a better life.
The conqueror Pu Nghiu and Khe Voong restoration
Mr. Lang Van Ve (born in 1990) opened the door of the cow barn and counted 30 cows one by one. Over the years, he could not remember how many cows from Mr. Ve's farm on Pu Nghiu mountain had been sold. All he knew was that whenever traders in Con Cuong district needed quality meat, they would come to Ke Sung village, Mau Duc commune to meet Mr. Ve.
After cleaning the cowshed, Mr. Lang Van Ve had time to share with us about his journey to realize his dream of getting rich on the top of Pu Nghiu, Khe Voong.
Lang Van Ve said that he was born and raised in Ke Sung village, his memories are associated with the green hillsides. The lives of the people here are protected by nature, but unfortunately poverty is persistent. Many local men decided to leave their hometown to work far away in large industrial zones, but Mr. Ve wanted to get rich right in his hometown. That desire and ambition helped Mr. Ve become a student of the Faculty of Agriculture - Forestry - Fisheries of Nghe An University of Economics.
In 2012, after graduating, Lang Van Ve returned to Ke Sung village and joined the local Youth Union. He was both active in the Youth Union and developing his family's acacia plantation in Khe Voong.
At that time, in Khe Voong, people planted a lot of acacia trees, but almost no one took advantage of the ideal area under the hill canopy for raising livestock. To try his hand, Luong Van Ve spent all his savings and borrowed money from relatives and friends to build barns in Khe Voong, buy sows and breeding chickens for raising.
The road from Mr. Ve's house to the farm at that time was just a narrow path. That made it very difficult for Mr. Ve and his wife to take care of their livestock. Therefore, as soon as he had money from selling acacia, Mr. Ve put all his money into hiring an excavator to widen the road. Mr. Ve and his wife also worked together to cast electric poles and upgrade the power transmission system from the village center to the farm. The effort was rewarded when the 1.7 km road from the center of Ke Sung village to Khe Voong was formed, and the road surface was wide enough to transport acacia for consumption.
In the following years, with income from chickens, pigs and acacia hills, Mr. Luong Van Ve continued to invest in production to expand the scale of the herd, then built a cattle farm on Pu Nghiu hill. From the initial few pairs of cows, Mr. Ve persevered in breeding and regenerating the herd. The abundant natural food source in Pu Nghiu helped Mr. Ve save a lot of costs in raising animals. Along with the good application of disease prevention measures, Mr. Ve's cows and pigs continued to develop rapidly.
After more than 12 years of working in Pu Nghiu, Khe Voong, now, Mr. Luong Van Ve has more than 80 pigs, 30 cows, 2 fish ponds, 10 hectares of acacia, earning hundreds of millions of dong each year.
In addition to his achievements in economic development, Mr. Ve also became the leader of the local Youth Union, holding many positions and is currently the Secretary of the Youth Union of Mau Duc commune. People in Ke Sung village where Mr. Ve lives often take Mr. Ve as an example for their children and grandchildren. Knowing the story, Mr. Ve just smiled and said that he was not rich at all, all the money he had was invested in the family farm, and that he and his wife still worked hard day and night to make a living.
There is only one thing that Mr. Ve is proud of, that is Khe Voong, Pu Nghiu has not let him and his wife down. Since being attached to this place, Mr. Ve and the young people in the village have had more hope to build a prosperous and happy life as they dreamed of when they were in university.
Light up the journey of charity
If asked, Mr. Ho Minh Nam (born in 1988) - Head of the Blood Donation Club of Quynh Luu district would not be able to answer exactly how many times he has donated blood. Because besides the 49 times he was awarded the Blood Donation Certificate, there were many times he donated blood to save people in critical situations. In 2019, he was on the list of 100 outstanding blood donors nationwide and received a Certificate of Merit from the Minister of Health, for "having outstanding achievements in the voluntary blood donation movement".
The story began in 2007, when Nam was taking care of his father at the Provincial General Hospital, he saw an emergency case, the victim had blood type O and needed a lot of blood to save his child. The mother, in her grief, knelt down in the hospital hallway to beg the doctor and begged people with blood type O to donate blood to save her child. At that moment, Ho Minh Nam did not hesitate to register to donate blood to help the victim's family. From then until 2012, when his father passed away, he witnessed many times the difficult situations of patients in need of emergency blood. This always made him feel uneasy and urged him to stick with humanitarian blood donation work.
To help more patients, Ho Minh Nam mobilized many local friends to join him. Later, in 2018, he founded the Quynh Luu District Blood Donation Club. At that time, the club had nearly 200 members who were living and working in and outside the district. To date, the club has over 1,000 members, not only from the province but also from neighboring provinces such as Thanh Hoa and Ha Tinh.
The Quynh Luu District Blood Donation Club has organized hundreds of blood donation campaigns, providing thousands of units of blood to hospitals, saving the lives of many critically ill patients. In many emergency cases where the patient’s family was too poor, Ho Minh Nam and the club members had to drive to the hospital where the patient was being treated, donate blood, and then return home without ever receiving any money as a thank you.
Ho Minh Nam and his club also organize many other charity activities such as visiting and giving gifts to patients and families in difficult circumstances, supporting people in areas affected by natural disasters, storms and floods, remote areas, and ethnic minority areas.
In 2024 alone, the Quynh Luu District Blood Donation Club mobilized more than 3.7 billion VND to support people in the northern provinces to overcome the consequences of Typhoon Yagi. At the same time, it supported the construction of 3 charity houses in Quynh Tan, Quynh Thuan and An Hoa communes (Quynh Luu); called for 400 emergency blood units at Quynh Luu District General Hospital and Nghe An Provincial Hematology and Blood Transfusion Center.
Over the past time, Nghe An youth have overcome many difficulties and challenges to promote their youth, carry out meaningful projects and tasks for the community and society. These contributions are like an affirmation that: Youth is the future owner of the country, but youth will not fulfill that noble mission without dedication, training and dedication!