A teacher couple in Ky Son helped dozens of people escape hunger and cold during the flash flood.

“I wonder if anyone else needs food supplies today?” - these days, Mr. Vi Van Hung and his wife often start their day with such a concern. More than a week after the flood, with the joint efforts of the entire political system, businesses, philanthropists and people inside and outside the province, basically the people in the villages where the flood passed no longer have to worry much about hunger. But having directly witnessed the terrible destruction of the flood, Mr. Hung and his wife still cannot help but worry. They understand that it will be a long time before this border land truly revives.

Hoa Son village (Ta Ca, Ky Son) devastated by flash floods. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Mr. Hung's family lives inHoa Son village, Ta Ca commune- right at the center of the flash flood. This is the place that suffered the most damage, the village has 236 households, more than half of them had their houses swept away by the flood, leaving no trace of their property. A few other households were lucky to be located on high ground, away from the fast-flowing water, so the loss was somewhat less, like Mr. Hung's family. The house was still relatively intact, only the garden, fish pond and some livestock were damaged. "That's already very lucky! Looking around at the villagers, it's so heartbreaking!" - Mr. Vi Van Hung said thoughtfully.

Teachers staying in Hoa Son village, Ta Ca commune, move their belongings to escape the flood at night. Photo: Thanh Cuong

The peaceful village was gone, before their eyes were only giant rocks blocking the road, hundreds of thousands of cubic meters of brown mud covering houses and trees, the elderly, children - students who had only just managed to escape in the night, standing trembling in fear watching the floodwaters. The scene was so tragic, Mr. Hung and his wife could not hold back their tears.

As soon as the sky was dark, although the water was still raging, but overcoming their instinctive fear, the couple shouted loudly, trying to find ways to call and signal the villagers to run into their house for shelter. To help more people get to a safe place, Mr. Vi Van Hung and his wife and two children proactively went to stay at his sister's house nearby, helping 15 people of Hoa Son village have enough temporary accommodation.

“At that time, I didn’t think about anything. Everything happened so suddenly. Everyone was extremely scared. The first thing that came to my mind was how to help as many people as possible,” recalled teacher Vi Van Hung.

That night and the following days, Mr. Hung and his wife hardly slept. In Hoa Son village, in addition to the local residents, there were also many high school students from My Ly and Keng Du who came to stay... The boarding houses were mainly concentrated at the end of the village - where the flood was strongest. Houses, books, personal belongings, food reserves... were all submerged in water after only a few dozen minutes. Not knowing what to do, more than a dozen scared students rushed to Mr. Hung's house. "Teacher, let me stay here!", "Teacher, is there anything to eat? We're so hungry!"... Looking at their students soaked and shivering, hearing them cry out in hunger, Mr. Hung and his wife were moved to tears...

On the first day, Mr. Hung and his wife, along with the women of Hoa Son village, cooked 400 kg of sticky rice to supply to the villagers. Photo: Thanh Cuong

The teacher's house was packed with people who came to ask for shelter. All the rice and instant noodles in the house were brought out to cook for everyone. As more and more people came, teacher Hung and his wife, Vi Thi Hien, a small agricultural trader, continued to open the warehouse to bring out sticky rice and vermicelli to take care of the people's meals. On the first day after the flood, the teacher and his wife cooked 400 kg of sticky rice; after that, thanks to additional supplies, they continued to cook 200 kg each day.

The "field" kitchen was located right in the yard that was lucky enough not to be swept away by the flood. Later, it received more and more help from the women of Hoa Son village; they were busy assigning tasks to people washing rice, people blowing on the fire, people frying eggs and minced meat... Outside, the rain was still pouring down in torrents, but in this small yard, the warm, fragrant smell of new rice wafted up, hot sticky rice was tightly packed into packages, ready to be distributed to each household in the village. "Those who are still healthy can come and get it, those who are old and weak, we will assign someone to bring it to them" - said Mr. Hung.

Simple, warm and meaningful sticky rice dishes have truly "saved" many people from hunger and cold on the first day after the flash flood. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Ms. Ngan Thi Bien - one of the Hoa Son villagers staying at Mr. Vi Van Hung's house emotionally shared: "I can't imagine, I have never witnessed such a terrible flood. The house was swept away, nothing was left, if I hadn't stayed at Mr. Hung's house these past few days, I really wouldn't know where to go. My family is very grateful!". Not only Ms. Bien, many Hoa Son villagers when asked were moved to say that the kindness and practical, timely actions of Mr. Hung and his wife really saved them from hunger and cold in the flood, giving them a roof to avoid the wind and rain...

Ms. Ngan Thi Bien was moved and grateful to Mr. Hung and his wife for enthusiastically helping her family through the difficult time. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Meeting Mr. Hung again more than a week after the flood, the teacher was still busy. After the supply teams reached the village, the people of Hoa Son no longer had to worry about hunger, the "field" kitchen with the pot of sticky rice of Mr. Hung and his wife had also gone out of fire, but he continued to work with the strong men in the village to dig the ground, turn over rocks to soon clear the road, and carry supplies to Tay Son for the students. His hands, accustomed to holding chalk, his feet, which had only "known" the way to school for many years, were now calloused and discolored by the flood water.

Teacher Hung is a man of few words, and is also so busy that he doesn’t even let reporters take a souvenir photo; when asked anything, he just says, “It’s nothing, I’ll do my best to help the people”! But teacher Hung, the effort that you humbly admit is small and not worth mentioning is truly beautiful in the eyes of many people, so that many years from now, in the memories of the Hoa Son villagers about the terrible flood, besides the fear, the pain and loss, there will certainly still be sparkling admiration and faith in the good things of the two words “compatriots”!