‘Old Island’ revived

In the past, Nhon Chau island (or Cu Lao Xanh, Binh Dinh province) was almost isolated from the sea, residents on the island lived in poverty, bravely with harsh waves.

The life of fishermen on Nhon Chau island is increasingly improved. Photo: NGOC OAI Because of difficult life, young men and women left the island to the mainland to make a living, leaving only the elderly, children and women on the island. Because of that, for a long time, Nhon Chau is also known as “old people’s island” or “old people’s island”… Memory Arriving on the island, Mr. Nguyen Duc Battle, Secretary of the Party Committee of Nhon Chau island commune, said that Nhon Chau island not only has the memories of people but also the memories of the purest Vietnamese villages. Indeed, according to culturalist Dinh Ba Hoa (who used to work at Binh Dinh Museum), based on geological and cultural documents left behind, Nhon Chau island has an ancient Vietnamese sea village hundreds of years old. In addition, from the 15th century, the Cham people moved to the island to live, the traces of their residence left on the island are quite clear… In the memory of Mr. Nguyen Van Lem (61 years old), in the past, Nhon Chau was almost isolated in the middle of the sea, living in a situation of scurrying oil lamps. “There are two wells on the island, but the underground circuit produces no water to drink. The most memorable thing is that every night of the drought season, the villagers have to catch every drop of water every night. Terrible suffering. In the past, the villagers of Nhon Chau, even in the middle of the sea, still went to the back of the mountain to grow cassava and upland rice to get food and survive in the midst of harsh winds. Hunger in the middle of the sea for more than a century, but the villagers still cling to the sea and refuse to leave the island…”, Mr. Lem said. It was not until after the liberation day that the people of Nhon Chau officially had their title when they became an island in Quy Nhon city. From here, the inhabitants of the island began to find new livelihoods. They left the mountains to go to the sea to catch and grow seafood. With crabs and fish, islanders sail to the mainland to sell and exchange for food and necessary necessities. However, life still changes day by day. The desire to change fate urges young people to leave the island and go to the mainland, forming a new series of “migratory” days on this island. “In the summer, young people go all the way to the mainland, to the farms or to the companies in the city to apply for a job… Thanks to that, the young generation’s life changes, they inherit more conditions than they do. me the other day,” continued Mr. Lem. Hunger To reach Nhon Chau, we boarded a wooden ship with about 300 horsepower from Quy Nhon port to overcome the waves. The sound of the engine ship was crispy, gliding slowly and steadily through each wave of the rough sea. Sitting by the window of the ship, the clear eyes of Ha Phuong, a native of Nhon Chau island, a student of Quy Nhon University, watched the blue waves of the sea. Phuong said: “I am pursuing my dream of becoming an elementary school teacher at Quy Nhon University”. According to Ha Phuong, the education of children on Nhon Chau island is very difficult. “We only attended high school on the island. Those from high school and above must go to the mainland to study. There are very few children out here going to high school.” Ha Phuong’s father is a fisherman, and his mother works as a porter in the summer to carry construction materials on the island, and in the harsh winter on the island, she almost sits at home. As for Mr. Tran Dinh Van (West village, Nhon Chau island), 35 years old, when he was 15 years old, he started to leave the island to find luck in Ho Chi Minh City, with the desire to escape poverty. However, during nearly 10 years of traveling in foreign lands and his career still did not progress, his heart urged him to return. The opportunity also comes when community-based tourism takes the throne, the islands become a “gold mine” for the tourism industry. So Van decided to return to the island, calling on like-minded friends to embark on tourism. “Initially, the island was in short supply, electricity was intermittent, so tourism was like sea foam. With guests, we take canoes to the island and then use motorbikes to do backpacking tours, sightseeing, setting up tents to light a fire, vegetarian singing along the coast. More and more changing, my group expands and does more methodical tourism than before…”, said Van. With the same aspirations as Van, Nguyen Duc Toan’s journey (26 years old, Dong village) was smoother. Thanks to his experience, his family has economic potential, Toan established a travel company, named Cu Lao Xanh Travel. Toan’s business has been doing well for many years, creating stable jobs for dozens of people and relatives on the island. Revival Cu Lao Xanh meets the criteria of green – clean – beautiful and is an island that has not been affected by the “whirlwind” of tourism and urbanization, so everything is almost intact. The island has many attractive tourist attractions such as: a lighthouse built in 1890, a national flagpole on Thanh Nien island, a freshwater reservoir, Thao Nguyen rock, Yen cape, 3 beaches along with many temples and pagodas. caves, shrines, mausoleums, stone caves, ancient stone fields of the Champa people… Thanks to that, in recent years, people on the island have started to develop community-based tourism. Currently on the island there are 9 quite professional community-based tourism models. In particular, many households are willing to invest billions to build homestay-style tourism infrastructure, green accommodation, cheap … Asked about the economic business of the people on the island, Mr. Ho Nhat Le, Chairman of Nhon Chau Island Commune People’s Committee, was excited: Despite difficult conditions, the people on the island are always curious and creative. Many new production models have been researched or applied effectively by people themselves. In which, the model of raising squid and lobster from the wild has been evaluated successfully, bringing very high economic efficiency to farmers. According to Mr. Le, recently, the “revolution” in electricity has begun to activate, launching many strengths such as community tourism and aquaculture of the people on the island. “The shortages and difficulties of the people on the island are gradually being solved by the State, so basically the life and business on the island changes quite quickly. Trade between the mainland and the people of Nhon Chau has been connected,” Le said. When preparing to board the boat to leave the island, Mr. Le pulled my hand and whispered: When young people accept to leave the mainland and return to the island, it is a good sign for Nhon Chau. Then, the “old island” will wake up and revive as the name Cu Lao Xanh that the first class of Vietnamese residents gave it. In addition to the reconstruction of Nhon Chau island, the authorities of Quy Nhon city and Binh Dinh province are always interested in the areas of health and education for the island. Currently, Nhon Chau has 8 doctors, 23 teachers (mainly teachers born on the island) who are permanently attached to take care of the health and education of the people and children on the island. Nhon Chau began to have good signs…