Pork Flour Porridge - the "3-free" version!

(Baonghean) - Previously, the lives of the households in Xop Chao village (Luong Minh - Tuong Duong) were fraught with difficulties due to the river separating them. Now, after the Ban Ve hydroelectric dam began impounding water, Xop Chao is like an isolated "island" in the middle of a vast lake. Xop Chao is currently a village with three "no's": no roads, no electricity grid, and no mobile phone signal.

To reach Xop Chao village, there's only one way: by motorboat. At the Thuong Luu dock by the hydroelectric dam, the boat owner patiently waited, even though it was already past the usual departure time by half a day. Our companions were four teachers from the Xop Chao school: one kindergarten teacher and three primary school teachers.

It took us almost an hour to reach Xop Chao village. The houses, hidden deep within the forest canopy, seemed to be playing hide-and-seek with strangers. The entrance to the village was "camouflaged" by leaves, vines, and all sorts of rotten wood and rubbish. Xop Chao used to belong to Kim Da commune (Tuong Duong district). When that commune was dissolved, many villages moved to two resettlement communes in Thanh Son and Ngoc Lam (Thanh Chuong district), while Xop Chao and another village, Pung Co Moong, remained in their original location. Those households affected by flooding only moved to higher ground. Now, Xop Chao village has 87 Khmu households with 462 inhabitants. The village is divided into four production teams scattered across the hills, and because there are no roads, the only means of transportation between settlements is by boat. Therefore, children in the village, as young as three, have to get used to boats and docks by the time they start kindergarten.

Children in Xop Chao travel to school by boat.

In Xop Chao village, there are 40 primary school students and 21 preschool children, more than half of whom live in production teams such as Xop Chao, Xop Vi, and Khe Pang, while the school is located in Pung Meo team. If their families don't own boats, the students have to take a private ferry, costing 10,000 VND for a round trip. Thus, each month, students from disadvantaged families without motorboats spend an additional 200,000 VND on transportation. When the money runs out, parents have to abandon their fields and use rafts to take their children to school. Despite the difficulties, according to village head Lo Van Hung, children here are very eager to learn from kindergarten onwards. Only a few children in the village drop out due to particularly difficult circumstances; very few primary school students drop out midway through their studies.

Early in the morning, Mr. Moong Van Thach from the Xop Chao production team (Xop Chao village) was driving his boat, carrying his two young children to school. While the father sat at the helm, the older child stood at the bow, clearing away debris, and the younger child used a plastic ladle to bail out water that had seeped through cracks into the boat's hull. Mr. Thach happily said, "My two children are in first grade and fifth grade. Before we had motorboats, we had to use rafts to take them to school. Now that we've bought this old boat, we take them ourselves." According to Mr. Thach, his boat is now very old and dilapidated, but he doesn't have the money to repair it, so he hasn't considered buying life jackets or lifebuoys to ensure the children's safety.

In the 2013-2014 school year, Mr. Bui Van Thang, a teacher from Luong Minh Primary School (Tuong Duong district), was assigned to teach at the Xop Chao branch school. With over 20 years of experience in teaching, and having served as a teacher in remote villages many times, this was Mr. Thang's first time teaching in a village so far away. He was joined by two other teachers and a kindergarten teacher in this remote village. Each primary school teacher in Luong Minh commune takes turns teaching at either the Xop Chao branch or the Pung Co Moong branch school for two years at a time.

Due to poor transportation links, the teachers often stay at the school for months at a time. The amount of food they bring home each time is usually only enough for one or two weeks. Goods and food are mostly sent by boat, which is often very slow. After class, the teachers divide up the tasks: some go to the forest, some gather vegetables, and others carry nets to the stream to catch fish. Fortunately, the Pủng Meo stream is quite abundant with fish, so there isn't a severe food shortage.

As a particularly disadvantaged village, all infrastructure is still in its initial stages of construction. The school has received substantial investment from the government, but the road leading to the village is only 500 meters long, from the riverbank to near the Xop Vi production team. Currently, this section of road is completely submerged under the rising water of the lake. Village head Lo Van Hung added: "This season can be called 'happy' because boats can get close to the village. Every year, there are 3 or 4 months when the water recedes, usually from April to July, about ten kilometers from the village. At this time, the road to the village is muddy and waist-deep, so the village is almost isolated." Teacher Bui Van Thang, head of the Xop Chao block, continued: "During the receding water season, maintaining student attendance also becomes complicated. Because they cannot attend class, it is normal for the children to stay home for a whole week."

Students from Xop Chao village go to school.

For three days, without a boat to get back, we were "stranded" in Xop Chao village, experiencing life without electricity, phone signal, or contact with friends. Because of this, this small "oasis" of Xop Chao seemed even more isolated from the outside world. Being quite talkative compared to the reserved Khmu community here, village head Hung confided: Since relocating to the high hills, the lives of the majority of the Khmu people in Xop Chao village have become much more difficult than before. People's transportation depends entirely on old, dilapidated motorboats, posing many safety risks, especially during the rainy season. Because they lack independent transportation and live in such remote areas, some people are reluctant to go to the hospital when they are sick. Ms. Moong Thi Niem, from the Xop Chao production team, who recently underwent treatment at the district general hospital, said: "At first, I only had a cough. Because the health station was far away, I just let the illness heal on its own. Unexpectedly, the illness became serious, and I had to stay in the hospital for almost a month, costing nearly ten million dong."

Perched precariously in the middle of a lake, whenever the village headman, Hung, wanted to hold a meeting, he had to notify the production team leaders in writing three days in advance. After receiving the notification, the team leaders would go to each alleyway that evening, using megaphones to announce the meeting to the villagers. Only then would the people paddle their rafts to the village headman's house to attend the meeting.

Leaving Xop Chao, we were left with many questions. Like many other villages in the Ban Ve hydroelectric reservoir area, the people of Xop Chao village have given up their land for national projects. Therefore, the villagers here are hoping for more attention from the authorities at all levels so that their lives can be less difficult, and their children can study with peace of mind, hoping to escape poverty in the future.

Text and photos: Huu Vi