Lighting up the dream of the Giang River source

(Baonghean) -In late August, we traveled upstream of the Giang River to Bung village to attend the inauguration and handover ceremony of Mon Son 3 Primary School - the farthest school in the border commune of Mon Son (Con Cuong - Nghe An). This is a project invested by Nghe An Border Guard and sponsored by Vietnam Oil and Gas Finance Corporation to improve the lives of Dan Lai people at the source of the Giang River.

The Dan Lai people at the source of the Giang River (also known as Khe Khang) have 3 villages: Co Phat, Khe Con and Bung with 176 households. Implementing the project "Conservation and sustainable development of the Dan Lai ethnic group in the core zone of Pu Mat National Park" since 2006, more than 60 households have been relocated to Tan Son and Cua Rao villages (Mon Son commune) and Ba Ha village (Thach Ngan commune), and more than 110 households still remain in the core zone of Pu Mat National Park. With the goal of ensuring border security, combining forest protection and developing ecotourism on the Pha Lai - Co Phat route, it is necessary to invest in infrastructure such as opening roads, building schools and clinics for the Dan Lai people here.

Up to now, Bung village has a military-civilian medical station and a spacious primary school. The primary school has 5 classrooms with full teaching and learning equipment, a 3-room solid public house and a spacious, cement-covered playground. Talking to us, the teachers of the school could not hide their joy and emotion at the new school. However, besides that boundless joy, the teachers also confided that there are still many difficulties and hardships ahead, such as a lack of books, documents, teaching aids...

Teachers cross the Giang River to go to school.



A class of teachers and students at Bung Primary School.



Clean water facilities are invested in the school.

The Bung village military medical station was also inaugurated not long ago. According to Major Vu Van Quynh, the head of the Bung village Border Guard team in charge of this station, the station currently has a doctor, spacious facilities, and a relatively large amount of medicine, partly provided by the unit and the rest funded by the State, enough to examine and treat common diseases.

To complete the Bung village primary school and medical station, the people who worked the hardest were the Nghe An Border Guard officers and soldiers in the logistics department and Mon Son Border Guard station. Captain Nguyen Thanh Hoi, who directly monitored these projects, recounted: "Just counting the Mon Son 3 Primary School project in Bung village with a total investment of 2.5 billion VND in the context of constantly fluctuating material prices, the construction and installation part accounted for nearly 2.2 billion VND, of which the cost of transporting materials accounted for half of the construction and installation value. The most difficult and arduous part was transporting materials to the project. Due to the requirement of completing in time for the new school year, the construction started right in the dry season, the tonnage of the motorboat was very low (only 150 kg/trip), each trip had to mobilize soldiers to wade through streams to push the boat through rapids dozens of times, and from the boat dock, they had to carry and carry it uphill to the project. Despite the difficulties, with the determination and solidarity of the units from design, construction, supervision... the project was guaranteed to be completed on schedule and meet technical requirements".

Another good news for Bung village, the Station will soon continue to set up a project to build a Kindergarten for the village; replacing the temporary classrooms with bamboo and thatch next to the Primary School. Another new project here is another time to light up the joy, light up the dreams of the poor Dan Lai children at the source of the Giang River.

Mai Ho Minh -Photo: Ho Minh - Thu Huong