Huoi Moi 1 Village is home to the Mong community with typical samu wood-roofed houses.

Huoi Moi 1 has been renovated

We arrived at Huoi Moi 1 village when the sun was about to reach its zenith. It was unmistakably the late autumn in the Western part of Nghe An, in the cool breeze, the sun still shone on the Pha Ca Tun range - where Pu Hoat mountain peak is the highest in the Northwest of Nghe An. "Stopping" us right at the beginning of the village was a man wearing a leaf camouflage uniform. After a while of questioning, questioning, and carefully checking his ID, he openly invited the whole group to rest at Huoi Moi Border Station. He was Nguyen Dang Viet - Major - one of the border guards on duty here. Major Viet led us to visit Huoi Moi 1 village.

According to Mr. Quang Van Tuan - Deputy Head of the Mobile Team of Pu Hoat Nature Reserve, "Huoi Moi 1 is the most beautiful Mong residential village in Western Nghe An". More than 80 sa mu tiled houses of the village are built according to the slope of the mountain roof, in the midday sun, Huoi Moi 1 truly possesses a rare beauty. The first house we visited was the family of Mr. Va Ba Thai - Deputy Secretary of the Party Cell, Head of Huoi Moi Village. In an excited mood, the 35-year-old village chief with an impressive smile and bright yellow teeth said that the Huoi Moi cluster has 2 residential villages, of which Huoi Moi 1 has 83 households, nearly 500 people. "Our village is still poor, but it has changed a lot compared to before. Last year the poverty rate of the village was more than 50%, by the end of this year it has decreased a lot, according to the target of Tri Le commune, in 2019 the village will reduce the poverty rate to 42%. Also happy".

Chief of Huoi Moi 1 village and Ba Thai (left cover) talking with reporters

Located on a terrain of more than 1,000m above sea level, bordering Laos, the changes in Huoi Moi 1 can be seen as the "transformation" of the Mong ethnic community here. The villagers do not have fields, their lives depend on a few wet rice fields that take half a day to reach; transportation is also extremely difficult and dangerous. However, the villagers still do not stop trying.

First of all, we must mention the solidarity of the Party Cell and the Village Management Board in the work of hunger eradication and poverty reduction. Many economic models and poverty reduction solutions have been discussed and guided by the Party Committee and the Executive Board of Huoi Moi 1 Village to the households. Thanks to that, from 100 cows, the village now has more than 300 cows, of which Mr. Tho Ba Sinh's family has nearly 40 cows. In addition, each household in Huoi Moi raises at least 30 black chickens and 5 pigs.

People's income also comes from many crops considered specialties of the Mong people such as: melon, taro, squash, peach. According to calculations by village chief Va Ba Thai, in Huoi Moi 1 there are 2 hectares of taro, each season a family earns nearly 6 million VND; in the squash and melon season each household also has an additional income of 2 million VND. Especially with peach trees, on average each family earns 10-15 million VND from selling branches during Tet, not to mention selling peach fruit. These are the ways for Huoi Moi 1 people to escape poverty and backwardness.

Each household in Huoi Moi raises at least 30 black chickens and 5 pigs.

Arriving at Huoi Moi 1, we were also shown by the village chief Va Ba Thai the notebooks that recorded everything in the village. For example, in the village diary, with neat and clear handwriting, Va Ba Thai listed many "events" in the village. These were stories such as lost chickens, marital conflicts, or the village organizing a day to encourage learning, responding to the day of great solidarity. In particular, in the village meeting book, there were boxes drawn for each household and corresponding to 12 months. Any household that did not participate in the monthly village meeting would be marked and would be "fined" from 5,000 - 10,000 VND for each absence. Or stories of marital conflicts that made the village "waste" the effort to reconcile would have to pay to organize a meal to invite participants; manifestations and behaviors that affected the community were reprimanded, criticized and fined. The fine amount was added to the village fund to support learning promotion activities and community welfare activities. “Everyone agrees with this approach. Before implementing the regulations, the Party cell and the village management board met to discuss and reach an agreement with the villagers. Thanks to that, the village is peaceful and united,” said Mr. Va Ba Ca, a resident of Huoi Moi 1 village.

The change of the village under the Pha Ca Tun mountain range has had a significant contribution from 14 party members in the Huoi Moi 1 village party cell. "These are important factors, all movements of the village are implemented by party members who set an example" - Deputy Secretary of the Party Cell Va Ba Thai shared more.

Muong Qua Voice

Preserving traditional Thai culture

Saying goodbye to Huoi Moi 1 with the friendly village chief, we continued our journey to the Southwest region of Nghe An. The destination was Cang village, Mon Son commune (Con Cuong). It was the off-season, so when we arrived at the village, we saw many women working hard at the looms weaving fabric, embroidering skirts and shirts, which showed that the wedding season and holidays were approaching. At this time, the men took advantage of the opportunity to work as construction workers and porters for extra income.

Cang village has 165 Thai ethnic households with nearly 650 people, the main source of income for generations has been wet rice farming. Muong Qua fields are irrigated by Giang river and Moi stream, so they are lush all year round, helping the residents here always have enough to eat, rarely falling into poverty. Mr. Luong Van Thuy - a resident of Cang village said: "The fields are good, there is water for irrigation all year round, but in the past, food was only enough to eat, not many families had surplus. About 10 years ago, thanks to the policy of converting the structure of crop varieties, first replacing old rice varieties with hybrid rice varieties, productivity and output increased dramatically. Households all have surplus rice to sell or develop livestock to increase income".

Along with rice varieties, farmers also converted to hybrid corn varieties, which significantly increased productivity, which is a basic condition to promote livestock development. Along with raising buffaloes and cows for traction, meeting production needs, almost every household raises 3-7 pigs and dozens, hundreds of chickens. The average income is 720,000 VND/person/month. In particular, some families boldly borrowed capital to invest in farm economic development, bringing in high income, becoming well-off and rich households, and buying cars. Typically, the households of Mr. Ha Duc Loi, Lo Van Tu, and Luong Van Dinh have an income of hundreds of millions of VND/year.

A meeting of the Folk Song and Dance Club of Cang village, Mon Son commune

Once they had enough to eat and save, the people of Cang village had the conditions to build spacious and solid houses and contribute money and labor to build rural roads and community cultural houses. The internal roads were concreted, convenient and safe for travel, contributing to creating a clean and beautiful village landscape. At the same time, when they no longer had to worry about food, the Thai people in Cang village had time to take care of preserving their traditional cultural identity.

Along with maintaining the brocade weaving profession, the Cang Village Folk Song and Dance Club was established more than 10 years ago and has been recognized as a provincial model. This is a gathering place for talented members to compose and perform Thai folk songs (khap, lam, nhuon, xuoi); folk dances (xoe, nhay sap, lam vong) and create and use traditional musical instruments (khen be, pi, dan tap tinh, etc.). The Club is the core of the local cultural and artistic movement, representing the commune and district in participating in festivals and performances and winning high prizes. The Cang villagers are even more proud when Mr. Luong Van Nghiep - Chairman of the Club was awarded the title of Folk Artist. Mr. Nghiep specializes in staging art programs and creating and using traditional musical instruments of the Thai people.

Talking to us, Village Chief Lo Thi Huong said: “With a gradually stable source of income, the people of Cang village are aiming to improve their material and spiritual life. Compared to 10 years ago, the appearance of village life today can be considered a great step forward.”