Son Tien wishes for a bridge
Son Tien village, Tho Hop commune, Quy Hop district has 108 households, located on both banks of Dinh river. Half of the village, including 54 households, is located...
Son Tien village, Tho Hop commune, Quy Hop district has 108 households, located on both sides of Dinh river. Half of the village, including 54 households, is located on the other side of Dinh river, isolated by the river, people have to cross a very fragile bamboo bridge. The bridge was built by the people themselves, bamboo and wood, very rudimentary, about 120 m long. Below are bamboo trees, small wooden bars tied together with bamboo rope, above are split bamboo trunks, spread on the bridge surface as paving slabs.
Because the bridge was so crudely built, traveling was extremely dangerous. Mr. Truong Van Thong, the commune's cultural officer, said: There have been many accidents, both people and vehicles falling into the river, causing injuries. During the flood season, the water rises and washes away the bridge, making it impossible for people to travel. In the village, there are about 50 students of all levels who cannot go to school and must wait for the flood to recede. Some families have to send their children to other areas during the flood season so they can go to school.
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Mr. Truong Song Huong, former village chief, said: "After each flood, people had to contribute materials to build the bridge. Each of the 54 families in the village contributed 10 meters of bamboo, and then sent people to work. Every year, people had to rebuild the bridge at least 7 times, and also repair it several times, which was extremely hard work."
Mr. Truong Xuan Thanh, former village Party Secretary, said: "The floodwaters rose very high, and we had to deal with them very hard. Fortunately, we have experience living with floods, so we have ways to protect our buffaloes, cows, and rice. We only feel sorry for the children who cannot go to school and their studies are interrupted." Then he pointed to the door bars, where the floodwaters often rise. Every year from April to October, the Dinh River rises, preventing children from going to school.
When asked why they did not build a concrete bridge, Mr. Truong Song Huong said: All the villagers are Tho ethnic people, the whole village only has 17 hectares of sugarcane land, harvested once a year, the income is very low. During the off-season, those who have the labor force work for the quarries, the job is also unstable. In the village, more than half of the households are poor. In addition, due to the difficulty of traveling, the price of the villagers' agricultural products is also reduced by 5% compared to the other side of the bridge. The village also proposed the construction of the bridge to the commune since 2007 but so far there has been no movement.
When we crossed the bridge, we were really scared because of the fragility of the bridge. All the ropes were made of bamboo, many of the ropes were broken, many of the bamboo tiles were broken, motorbikes running over the bridge shook as if it was about to break. Yet every day people still cross the bridge, students from kindergarten to high school have to cross the bridge to go to school and back home.
After waiting for a while, we saw children coming home from school. Although it was drizzling and the bridge was slippery, many children still drove their motorbikes across the bridge, looking very adventurous.
Seeing us off, artist Truong Song Huong advised: "Remember to be careful when crossing the bridge."
Tran Quang Dai
