And as a habit, whenever Nghe An has an important festival, we return to this land. This December marks the 60th anniversary of Uncle Ho's second visit to his hometown. Standing in front of Uncle Ho's simple house in his maternal hometown of Hoang Tru, the sunlight still lingers on the thatched roof. And it seems like his image is still warm here.

Homeland with Uncle Ho

After leaving his homeland to seek a way to save the country, 50 years later, President Ho Chi Minh returned to visit his hometown for the first time in June 1957. The second and last time he visited his hometown, he went straight to Hoang Tru village. That day was the morning of December 9, 1961. Hoang Tru land - his maternal hometown - was where the boy Nguyen Sinh Cung cried out at birth and took his first steps.

After burning incense for his maternal ancestors at the Hoang Xuan family temple, Uncle Ho walked into his parents' three-room house with emotion. It seemed that there, the figure of Mr. Pho Bang Nguyen Sinh Sac - Uncle Ho's father - was still sitting there writing at a simple bamboo table, the figure of his mother Hoang Thi Loan was still working hard at the loom. And the laughter of the eldest brother Nguyen Sinh Khiem and the elder sister Nguyen Thi Thanh still filled the corner of the garden...

Leaving Hoang Tru, Uncle Ho went to Lang Sen stadium to talk to the villagers. He said: “The last time I came back, “each family had its own light”, “each family used its own pot”, and we did business on a small scale. Now the village has organized a cooperative, the villagers are united, always helping each other. That is a big change”... This time when returning to his hometown, Uncle Ho also advised the villagers to build a good cooperative, upholding the spirit of mastery: Mastering the village, mastering the cooperative, mastering the country. Each person considers the work of the cooperative as their own work and is responsible for making the people rich, the country strong, and the national defense strong…

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60 years later, Uncle Ho's words and his image still seem warm around here. From Hoang Tru to Lang Sen, the promise to Uncle Ho is still imprinted and faithful. Nam Dan hometown became a new rural district in 2017. And this year, the district has met the criteria of an advanced new rural district and is moving towards building a model new rural area.

Aspirations of young people in Uncle Ho's homeland

As if to demonstrate the efforts to fulfill Uncle Ho's wishes and instructions for his homeland, Mr. Tran Khac Nghia - Vice Chairman of Kim Lien Commune People's Committee said that in 2021, in the context of being strongly affected by the Covid-19 epidemic, the commune's economy continued to grow well, estimated at 6.32%. The total production value of the commune is estimated at 508,490 billion VND. The production value of the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery sector is 132,539 billion VND; The production value of the Industry and Construction sector is 255,313 billion VND; The Service and Trade sector is 120,638 billion VND. The average income per capita/year is 52.4 million VND, an increase of 2.7 million VND/person/year compared to 2020. In particular, many new economic models and economic practices have appeared in the commune, meeting the requirements of innovation in thinking and creativity of the trend.

To further prove what he said, the Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Kim Lien commune took me to visit the Sen Que Bac Agricultural Cooperative model in the village... This cooperative has up to 7 products that meet 4-star OCOP standards of Nghe An province.

Operating as a joint stock company with 7 members and 22 associated households, Bac Sen Agricultural Cooperative is directed by Mr. Pham Kim Tien (born in 1986). What is even more special is that this economic model operates with raw materials and products that are not unfamiliar to Kim Lien land. That is lotus - products processed from lotus. Mr. Pham Kim Tien opened his "show-off" with a few lines of poetry given by a journalist:“Sip a sip of Kim Lien lotus tea/Uncle Ho's love and mountains warm the land near and far/The fragrant aroma of home/A peaceful cup of morning tea with friends”.

Mr. Pham Kim Tien said that he was lucky to be born in Lang Sen, since he was in high school at the district school, he had cherished the dream of making "something" from his hometown's lotus. However, after graduating from Hanoi Agricultural Academy, he worked in the northern provinces for 8 years. And as a promise to his homeland, in 2013 he returned to Lang Sen. Initially, he participated in supplying agricultural materials, seeds, and fertilizers. In 2018, with the program to build Kim Lien into a model new rural commune, the Party Committee and People's Committee of Kim Lien commune mobilized young people to take the lead in building a new economic model. Like a drought meeting a shower of rain, Mr. Pham Kim Tien immediately started building a cooperative to process lotus products.

The commune has created conditions for the young director to rent 12.5 hectares of ponds and water surfaces to expand the lotus area. On that basis, Tien has worked hard to restore some ancient lotus varieties of his hometown, and selected nearly 20 ancient white lotus varieties from North to South to filter out the only variety suitable for the Nam Dan soil to plant and expand the area. Up to now, after 3 years of establishment, the cooperative with Mr. Pham Kim Tien as Director has expanded the raw material area to more than 80 hectares, in addition to Nam Dan, the raw material area has also been expanded in the districts: Nghi Loc, Hung Nguyen, Thanh Chuong ...

With the unique values ​​of Nghe An land, it can be said that every part of the lotus plant, from the root, stem, leaves, and seeds, are processed to create products.

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“I struggled a lot when deciding to name the cooperative “Sen Que Bac”. From the bottom of my heart, I wanted to do something for my homeland, to express my deep gratitude to Uncle Ho and this land. And I also wanted to change my own way of thinking and doing, to contribute a small voice to the place where I was born”.

Mr. Pham Kim Tien

Leaving Kim Lien, we arrived at Xuan Hoa commune. We were greeted by a young girl with a bright smile, Nguyen Thi Thuy Dung, a young party member, a dynamic and daring Secretary of the Commune Youth Union, not only of the commune but also of Nam Dan district. Thuy Dung was born in 1990, and she was admitted to the Party in 2015. Dung graduated from the Academy of Finance (Hanoi). In 2015, she returned to her locality and participated in grassroots Youth Union activities.

Not only is she the leader of the Youth Union, Nguyen Thi Thuy Dung has also become a role model for local people when she researched and established a soap production facility from natural, environmentally friendly materials. These are products such as: bitter melon soap, lemongrass, turmeric, lemon; shampoo, filter bags from soapberry, betel leaves... which are always available locally. Not only that, she is also the owner of a workshop producing longan cakes - a traditional product recognized as meeting 3-star OCOP standards.

With Minh Chau brand products, Thuy Dung has won many awards such as: Third Prize in the 2021 Startup Competition organized by Nghe An Provincial Youth Union; Third Prize in the 2021 "Women Confident in Doing Business" Competition launched by the Central Committee of the Vietnam Women's Union. Nguyen Thi Thuy Dung's production facility creates regular jobs for 7 workers, including 2 village youth union secretaries. For many years, Thuy Dung has been an outstanding youth of Xuan Hoa commune and Nam Dan district.

Faithful to the promise to Him

The success in the renovation and construction of the homeland today has the important contribution of many young people - Mr. Bien Van Trung - Head of the Propaganda Department of Nam Dan District Party Committee shared this with us. He said that since the beginning of the year, Nam Dan district has admitted nearly 200 young party members. There are party members under 30 years old but are business owners, typical examples in the movement of renovation, creativity, self-reliance, career establishment, and good economic performance. Young people have seen their role and responsibility when joining the emulation movements to build their homeland, including participating in building Nam Dan into an advanced and exemplary new rural district.

The Head of the Propaganda Department of the Nam Dan District Party Committee also said that after 3 years of implementing Decision No. 17/QD-TTg, dated January 4, 2019 of the Prime Minister approving the Pilot Project "Building Nam Dan District, Nghe An Province to become a model new rural district in the direction of cultural development associated with tourism, period 2018 - 2025", the whole district mobilized 1,986.6 billion VND; of which, socialized capital (enterprises) was 77 billion VND; Capital mobilized from the community was 565.3 billion VND, accounting for 28.45%. People voluntarily donated 30,431m²land, demolition 10,111m²fence and contributed 50,240 man-days to its construction.

Infrastructure, rural transport, school facilities, irrigation, and healthcare systems are constantly being improved. Cultural institutions and spiritual life for the people are constantly being improved; tourism development infrastructure continues to create many important highlights. Thanks to that, the district's economic growth rate in 2021 is estimated at 8.5%. Total production value is estimated at 8,546 billion VND. Average income per capita is estimated at 57 million VND/person/year, an increase of 2 million VND/person/year compared to 2020.

After 60 years since Uncle Ho visited his hometown for the second time, Nam Dan has gathered enough factors to become a model district of Nghe An province and the whole country. That was also the expectation and wish of beloved Uncle Ho during his lifetime. The Party Committee, government and people of Nam Dan today still faithfully keep their promise to Uncle Ho, striving to build their homeland more and more beautiful, worthy of the love and trust that he had given them.