Growing the tree of life on the red rocks

Green again Thuy Van land

At the age of 81, Mr. Le Xuan Tu (in Dong Cong village, Chau Binh commune, Quy Chau district) is still lucid, remembering very clearly the day he followed the call of the mountains and forests, returning to contribute to the work of rejuvenating his homeland: It was a rainy day in Cuc Phuong forest, in 1971, Mr. Tu, who was then an officer of the Tropical Research Institute (Forestry Institute), received an official dispatch from the Ministry of Forestry with the content that Song Hieu Forest Industry Company (Nghe An) established a Forestry Research Station and asked the Ministry to send staff to work. From a purely research position, faced with the opportunity to do applied science, and to return to serve his homeland, Mr. Le Xuan Tu and 6 other forestry engineers volunteered.

Coming to the new unit, the difficulties were numerous when the Forestry Research Station was just a round number: no headquarters, no facilities, even the basic purpose, guidelines, and tasks of the station had not been built. "All beginnings are difficult", Mr. Le Xuan Tu and his colleagues assigned each other to work. At this time, Phu Quy mountain forests (Nghia Dan, Quy Hop, Quy Chau) had many places that were poor and bare due to the great demand for wood to serve the struggle for liberation and national construction. The station's mission was clearly defined: Researching strategies, methods, and forestry measures to plant timber trees in the forest, helping the forest to have wood, becoming a rich forest with a large amount of effective biomass on an area.

Mr. Le Xuan Tu said: “With a basket on the back, rice balls in the pocket, myself and the officers in the station rolled around the forests, mountains, deserts, and rain-soaked areas of Phu Quy to conduct surveys, land, vegetation, and native plants. From there, we have shaped forest planting methods such as white-scraping or opening ditches; planting formulas for tallow trees, lat hoa, doi, rang rang mit, lim xanh... then implemented models of propagation, demonstration planting, testing, and expanding mass planting...

Each stage has different tasks, accordingly, the Forestry Research Station has changed its name many times to the Forest Regulation Center and later to Co Ba Forestry Farm. For more than 20 years at the Station - Center - Forestry Farm, forestry engineer Le Xuan Tu has continued to "dig hard, plow deep", devoted to forestry research, conservation of tropical forest species and afforestation. Among the forestry engineers of Nghe An province at that time, Mr. Le Xuan Tu is considered an excellent scientific researcher. Mr. Pham Quang Tan - Head of Dong Cong village (former officer of Quy Chau Forestry Farm) recalled: As a good forestry scientific researcher, Mr. Tu often worked with foreign delegations, from the Ministry whenever they came to the regulation area, the forest farm, and Song Hieu Company. He was very knowledgeable, I often came to learn more about forest development, forestry, and forestry from him.

In 1994, Mr. Le Xuan Tu retired according to the regime. But he was still troubled, because for many reasons, the model forests that he devoted himself to could not be protected; the primeval forests and large timber forests in the region were gradually replaced by short-term acacia plantations. “Acacia trees are just a problem of instant noodles, unable to bring sustainable benefits. After 4-5 years, acacia trees are harvested again, the hill forests are cleared and burned, the soil cannot recover, and humus is washed away after each heavy rain. In order for the forest to be green, stable, and bring long-term ecological and economic value, it is imperative to plant large, long-term trees with high economic efficiency,” Mr. Le Xuan Tu expressed his thoughts.

With this thought, Mr. Tu diligently went into the deep forest of Thuy Van land (the old name of Quy Chau district), collecting seeds and seedlings of large, precious wood species with high economic value, at risk of extinction such as green lim, doi, lat hoa... and brought them to the hill behind his house to plant. After successfully growing them, Mr. Tu sold them or shared them with local people to plant together, serving the local forestation. Mr. Le Xuan Tu said: "No matter how much money you have, it will all be spent, but cutting down the forest is a lifelong regret. I don't want my children and grandchildren to only see precious wood through books, newspapers, TV...".

Now Mr. Le Van Tu is no longer sad. He is happy because in recent years, Quy Chau district, where he lives, has paid attention to afforestation, the forest coverage rate in 2020 reached 78%. The State and Nghe An province have focused on promoting the development of forest economy and planting large trees. Recently, hearing that Quy Chau district is creating a native forest on Ke Le slope (on National Highway 48, bordering Chau Hoi and Chau Hanh communes) to develop forest economy and tourism, he immediately registered to donate 20 precious Kim Giao trees. These Kim Giao trees were brought by Mr. Tu from Cuc Phuong National Park to plant in his garden. Mr. Tu just hopes that he can contribute a small part to keep Quy Chau forest green forever. "Kim Giao trees are precious, but the heart of forestry engineer Le Van Tu is much more precious," said Mr. Luong Tri Dung - Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, People's Committee of Quy Chau district.

Sowing words in the rocky land

In retirement, with a lot of free time, Mr. Le Xuan Tu has the opportunity to pay attention to the education of his children and grandchildren. He realized that the education of his children and grandchildren, the children of his friends in the forestry farm and the children in the village and commune was not good. Education in the locality was not really concerned for many reasons... Chau Binh commune in the early 90s of the 20th century was the "storm center" of social evils and loss of security and order. Thousands of people came here to dig for red stones (rubies) underground, many of whom had to pay with their blood and lives. In the whole Chau Binh commune, men, women, old and young, all brought hoes and shovels to the mountains to find red stones, no longer caring about other things. The forest was devastated, the fields were abandoned, and social evils came rushing back. The red stone fever made people rush into the vortex of money, the education of children was neglected and taken lightly. When the fever subsided, the consequences left for this land were still very severe.

Mr. Tu said: “The education in Chau Binh is not good because of the awareness and lack of interest of the parents who are migrant forestry workers and local Thai people. With the desire to do something to improve the locality, I decided to change and open a tutoring class for students in the area. I am an outsider, but in return, I have a scientific mind, method of doing things, and a good knowledge of foreign languages, math, and chemistry. I have carefully studied textbooks and updated innovations; visited teachers in the area to learn more pedagogical skills; set goals, developed teaching methods, and ways to achieve those goals.”

After retiring for 1 year, Forestry engineer Le Van Tu became a "teacher". He made tables, chairs, and boards at home to tutor local students from grades 6 to 9 in English, Math, and Chemistry on weekday afternoons. "Teacher" Le Xuan Tu focused on helping students review their lessons in class, thoroughly and deeply explaining basic knowledge in textbooks with the viewpoint of "valuing basic knowledge, when students are fluent in basic knowledge, then they can expand and improve". With Mr. Tu's enthusiasm, dedication, and patience in teaching, students in his extra classes made rapid progress, especially in Math and Chemistry. At the end of the semester and school year, students all achieved high results...

The good news spread far and wide, parents in the village, commune and the whole district sent their children to Mr. Le Xuan Tu for tutoring; even brothers and relatives in the hometowns of the two grandparents, Thanh Chuong, Dien Chau, Hung Nguyen, also sent their children to the teacher's house to study during the summer. From a few initial students, in about 13 years, hundreds of students in the district came to study in Mr. Tu's class. Mr. Kim Van Minh - Deputy Head of the Economic Infrastructure Department of Quy Chau district said: “In 1997, when I was in grade 7 at Chau Binh Secondary School, I learned about Mr. Tu's class and came to study. In the class, Mr. Tu taught very carefully, easy to understand, helping students absorb lessons quickly. My class had 12 people, studying continuously from grade 7 to grade 9. Students in Mr. Tu's class continuously won high prizes in the district and provincial excellent student competitions. In the 1999 high school transfer exam, our extra class had 1 student passed Phan Boi Chau Specialized School, 1 student passed Vinh University Specialized High School... Despite the reputation of teaching and studying extra, the tuition fee the teacher charged was not much, many poor students did not charge money but even gave them extra to buy books and clothes".

In 2016, due to old age, heart disease and high blood pressure, Mr. Tu stopped teaching in class. Every week, he only tutored 2 or 3 Math and Chemistry sessions for his 3 granddaughters and enjoyed the countryside. However, although his body was free, his mind was not free. At the rare age of over 80, forestry engineer - teacher Le Xuan Tu still worried about the development of his hometown Quy Chau. He said: "At the beginning of last year, the Secretary and Chairman of the district came to visit my house. I discussed with them that in order to develop our poor district, we need to follow Uncle Ho's teachings: "For the benefit of 10 years, plant trees, for the benefit of a hundred years, cultivate people". Planting trees and afforestation for economic development is an immediate and regular task; paying attention to training human resources is the core and long-term..."