Sam Van Binh, the man who misses the forest

(Baonghean) - Oh, strange, why do they call him “the one who misses the forest?”, he still lives in his hometown, he hasn’t gone far away? How many people have called him, called him correctly, very well: “the green forest tiger”, “the one who calls the Thai soul”, “the one who digs”, “the one who revives” or “the scholar” of Thai… Yet, he is as quiet as a lim tree in the old forest. In his nostalgia for the sound of the cuckoo bird in the palm-leaf ripening season. In his memory of the ant lions that he used to find in funnel-shaped sand pits during his childhood and let them fight each other. In his memory of the flute made from straw pipes that was played melodiously during the harvest season. In his memory of the old monk’s prayer during the soul-calling ceremony…

And starting with that nostalgia, he took me back to his village of Chieng Yen. Chieng Yen is peaceful with the Pu Che mountain range, with the legend of Tao Khun Tinh, and Pu Chieng Yen. There, he was born in the hardships of his family as well as many Thai people in his hometown. He said that he was born in the year of the buffalo (1961) so he always had to carry the yoke. Hard-working, diligent, but also very slow, leisurely... Below him, there were 6 younger siblings. Yet he was still able to go to school and never had the intention of dropping out. Perhaps it was partly thanks to his father, who "lived and died" for the sake of education, telling his children the story of his hardships to come to the letter to set an example. Mr. Hoa (Sam Van Binh's father), when he was 14 years old, carried food with his 11-year-old brother and walked 60 kilometers through the forest to Quy Chau to learn to read and write because at that time, his hometown Quy Hop did not have a teacher to teach him to read and write. Only when they were proficient in reading and writing did the two brothers return. By that time, there was a mass education program, and Mr. Hoa, thanks to his literacy, was later appointed to work as a commune cadre.

The first magical world that opened up to Sam Van Binh, different from the forests, mountains, bumpy roads, thatched roofs... of his hometown, was thanks to the pages of the Thieu Nien newspaper that his father brought back. He knew that, besides this village, there were many other large villages, besides the Thai people and the Kinh people who settled in this land, there were many people from other ethnic groups. And to fly out of the forest of his hometown, the only way was to study. At that time, Sam Van Binh had to study from one class to another. The teachers were just students who had just learned to read and write. The classroom was sometimes under the floor, sometimes in a small corner of a house. In the 7th grade, the excellent student with the achievement of winning the provincial Literature prize, Sam Van Binh was able to attend the International Summer Camp in the German Democratic Republic. That was an indelible mark in the heart of the little student who had never left the forests of his hometown...

Sam Van Binh passed the entrance exam to the University of Waterways (later merged into the University of Maritime - Hai Phong), a "rare thing" in the village at that time. He said, he also did not know why he decided to study a field that was completely unfamiliar to him. Perhaps, because of a little curiosity, the desire to explore of youth? A "forest man" studying ship design and construction with the desire that his ships would cross the vast ocean, was it risky?

After graduating, Sam Van Binh struggled to find a job. Until now, he still wonders why a job was so difficult for him. Temporarily forgetting his university degree, temporarily forgetting his desire to cross the ocean, Sam Van Binh returned to being a farmer to raise his three children. After working as a laborer and a farmer, he turned to working for hire in a quarry, participating in tin ore mining, digging up roots, then borrowing money from the bank with his brothers to buy a milling machine to work for hire... The life of making a living swept him away, so that at times he was startled in sadness: Oh, I used to be an exemplary student, went to Germany to attend a summer camp, held a university degree... and then still couldn't go anywhere from Yen Luom village, from Pu Che mountain range. But the shame, the greater loss that he realized in time, was that he was Thai, living in the Thai community but felt like a lost person. Why can't I explain where a Thai custom originates, why can't I read an ancestral worship prayer, why can't I understand Thai customary law, why can't I feel sorry when many old people who understand customs gradually go away, and many cultural identities gradually disappear? At that moment, his father's advice suddenly awakened him: "You are the eldest son in the family, and also the head of the family, you need to know everything related to Thai customs, village affairs, and family affairs. Don't let something happen and you have to hire someone else and you are the "outsider" because you don't understand anything."

From then on, Sam Van Binh started to study again, from just "knowing" to "understanding", from just knowing how to listen to knowing how to explain in detail, finding out the rules of things related to Thai customs and Thai culture. At that time, in Sam Van Binh's house, there was an ancient Thai book, but he, like many people in the house, could not read it. Another time, he went to a friend's house to play, this person also brought out an ancient Thai book written on Do paper, asking if he could read, please help him read it. Once again, Sam Van Binh was startled, realizing that he and many other Thai people did not know Thai. Why was he, who was educated and knowledgeable, so indifferent and heartless?

Unable to delay any longer, unable to let himself drift away in that indifference any longer, Sam Van Binh "started" the work of "digging", collecting, asking questions to read, to understand and to compose Thai script. Sam Van Binh still remembers the first time he saw Thai script printed in a book, when his heart trembled with emotion. That was when he "discovered" the precious "treasure trove of knowledge" at Quy Hop District Library. He said, once again, books and newspapers opened up a new horizon for him. Among the countless knowledge that he considered "opening the way" for himself thanks to the days of going to the district library, he found the book "Vietnamese Thai Customary Law" compiled by Ngo Duc Thinh - Cam Trong. In this book, there were pages with Thai script (Son La) on one side and common Vietnamese script on the other, talking about the teachings, wedding and funeral customs, and songs of the Thai people. Sam Van Binh carefully recorded his research on rhyming and writing rules, then compared them with his native Thai script. His diligence surprised many people. He brought paper and pen to the fields, asked every old person in his village, his village, and even went to other villages to ask about Thai script, Thai customs, and stories of Thai people. During the day he went to learn, and at night he lit a lamp to write. He told how many villages he had visited, how many people he had met, how much wine he had drunk from the villagers to collect each letter - the soul of the nation. Then the Thai scripts Lai Xu, Lai Tay, Lai Pao, Xu Thanh... were discovered one by one. The more he learned, the more he realized how little he knew. Fortunately, thanks to his research on Thai script, Sam Van Binh became known and was invited to attend many domestic and international conferences and seminars on Thai script, so that he could see that he, who was previously just a "frog at the bottom of a well", now gradually had a vision of a panoramic picture of Thai script.

I asked him, what fate made him become the "Sam Binh teacher" that all Thai people know? He said, by chance, in 2006, when he was plowing the land in the field, someone came to see him. It was a leader of Chau Cuong commune (Quy Hop) who wanted to invite him to "teach" at a newly opened Thai language class in the commune. Encouraged, he boldly accepted. The first students of this class were district officials, communes and students of Chau Cuong and Chau Quang communes. Becoming a "teacher" when he had no textbooks in hand, just a day of pedagogical practice, but with his heart, his enthusiasm, his tireless efforts, and his daily self-improvement, he "overcame". The class became more and more crowded. He said, his greatest happiness was seeing the strong revival of Thai language thanks to the love and respect of the people for the precious asset of their nation.

From his initial capital of Thai Son La, he researched to compile his own Thai script textbooks. "Lai Tay script", "Lai xu Muong Ham" became valuable documents containing his sweat and dedication. Following these documents, he continued to research and compile many valuable documents and textbooks such as: Lai script system of Thanh Hoa, Lai script system of Muong Mun, Lai script system of Muong Muoi, Lai Pao script system, Solutions for using consonants, rhymes... along with hundreds of research papers and articles discussing Thai scripts in newspapers, magazines, and forums. He taught many Thai script classes, participated in many seminars and conferences, participated in the "Preserving ancient capital" column on the Ethnic - Mountainous Regions Special Page of Nghe An Newspaper, participated in the network for preserving indigenous knowledge... The trips and meetings, strangely enough, made him want to return. Returning, that is his origin, returning as a Thai person indebted to his ancestors and relatives, returning because of the call of so many more things that need to be discovered and named.

Mr. Sam Van Binh is compiling Thai language textbook.

He said that what he has learned over the years is “don’t assume that everything you know is correct.” Therefore, he really needs criticism of the research he has published.

I asked him what he was most concerned about right now, is it about Thai script? He smiled slowly: “No. I know for sure that Thai script will not disappear. There are many people who love it, many people who are passionate about it, and many people who have learned Thai script. I am only afraid of losing Thai customs. I see that and cannot help but feel sorry. The hustle and bustle, the strong interactions of life, the indifference and carelessness of people, especially the lack of understanding, or more precisely, the unclear understanding of those in the position of “holding the scales of justice” are gradually making the true value of Thai culture in particular and the culture of ethnic groups in general disappear. I am currently working hard to learn about Thai customs and practices through prayers. Luckily for me, my uncle, before he passed away, left me a large “fortune”, which are audio tapes, video tapes, photos… of the times he returned to his hometown, attending big and small ceremonies in the clan, family, and village. That is the person who built a foundation for me, I have the responsibility to continue to build build that foundation firmly."

Sam Van Binh said, then sat down and pondered. He looked out at the patches of sunlight at the end of the afternoon. As if he wanted to find the sound of the flute, the sound of the cuckoo bird, the sound of the old monk praying in the soul-calling ceremony. Wasn’t that right, he – the son of the forest, sitting in the middle of the forest and missing the forest?

Thuy Vinh