Here, mussels are not only a specialty dish with a famous brand throughout the country, but thanks to that, people have a fairly stable income. Every day, thanks to mussels, a section of La River in Ben Hen village is as bustling as a miniature market. Present in Ben Hen village, witnessing the busy buying and selling scene, besides in the village, the stoves boiling mussels smoke and the aroma from boiled mussels spreads throughout the whole area. The smokey mussels boiling stoves in Ben Hen Boiling mussels in a hut, Nguyen Thi Hoa, from Ben Hen village, Truong Son commune, Duc Tho district (Ha Tinh), said: “I don’t know when this profession was formed, only know that generations People in Ben Hen village, when born and grow up, all follow each other in the profession of raking mussels and boiling mussels. All expenses in life, building houses, buying supplies, taking care of their children and grandchildren’s education, all depend on income from mussel farming. According to Ms. Hoa, in the past, mussel making was difficult, very hard, all day long, husband and wife, brothers and sisters were stuck in the river, just worried about making enough to eat, did not have enough money, because at that time the price of mussels was too cheap. About 10 years ago, when mussels became a clean food, a popular specialty, the price was high, so the mussel industry in Ben Hen is growing strongly and bringing a good source of income. determined for the people. Ben Hen is growing stronger and bringing a fairly stable source of income The reason is called the profession “going backward” because in the past, mussel making was not as modern as it is now, to catch mussels, people had to use a rake with a rectangular trough, 1-1.5m long handle to rake. The rake just went backwards and shook it to treat the mussels. Now, just sitting on a motorboat, plugging a rake into the sand and then running the engine along the river a few times, there are dozens of kilograms of mussels. Because the value of mussels is high and the mussels in Ben Hen have affirmed their brand, many traders have come to the place to buy in large quantities and then transport them everywhere for consumption. Thanks to that, mussel workers do not have to worry about output, raking as much as they can consume. The mussel fishing season lasts almost all year round, but the peak season and the most mussels are from January to June of the lunar calendar. Ben Hen village currently has 150 households living by raking mussels – a job “going backwards”. Ben Hen village currently has 150 households living by raking mussels – a job that “goes backward”, sunbathing with his back, his face in the water all day, and working hard at night picking and washing mussels. Although it is less difficult than before, the job of making mussels requires health, perseverance and hard work. After scraping, all mussels are used up, the shells are gathered and calcined into lime for construction, agricultural production or finely milled as food for chickens and ducks; mussel intestine used to process dishes; Mussels are used to make soup. Mr. Nguyen Quang Tuan, a resident of Ben Hen told reporters about the process of making mussels. He said: “We men, who are healthy, go on a motorboat to rake mussels on the river, on average 2-3 people per boat. And women stay at home to soak mussels, boil mussels, treat mussels clean… Every day, work usually starts from 2-3 am until late afternoon”. Mussels enrich the whole village Sharing with reporters, Ms. Nguyen Thi Sen, who has been involved in this profession for a long time, said: “Mussels are “a blessing from heaven” given to these villagers, my whole family has been working as mussel rakes for 4 generations on the La River. I also ate mussels but grew up, so even though I worked hard, I still had to keep the traditional profession of the village, “said Ms. Sen. Currently, mussels here are considered a clean specialty Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa, a resident of Hen wharf confided: “In the past, every day my husband and I just needed to go along the La River to rake a few tons of mussels, but now the mussel production is increasingly depleted, so people have to overcome kilometers along the river Ngan Sau, Ngan Pho or upstream Ben Thuy bridge (Vinh City) to bring back mussels. According to Mr. Tuan, in the peak season, there are boats raking more than 1 ton of mussels/day, the remaining average is 300-600kg/boat. The average income from making mussels is about 500,000 – 1 million VND/house/day. Compared to other occupations, this is the profession that is bringing in the highest and most stable income, creating many jobs for people… Especially, mussels here are now considered a clean specialty with economic value. high so people are very secure to stick to the job.

Yet, in remote rural states, health resources are even scarcer. Some places don’t even have any medical resources to deplete. People can only fight the epidemic on their own and look to their fate. 90 people died in the past month, 3 times the average annual death toll. Dinesh Makwana took his father to four hospitals in nearby towns but could not find a single hospital bed. Photo: CNN. “No medical center, no doctors, no nurses” Chogath is a farming community in western Gujarat state, with about 7,400 inhabitants, according to the last census of 2011. Earlier this week, Mr. Jeetu said CNN that there are about 500 to 600 people with Covid-19 in the village. Residents here have also reported a spike in death toll. There are almost no doctors or medical facilities in the village. Meanwhile, the nearest city is more than an hour’s drive from the village. Some neighboring towns have clinics, but these facilities are very small and run out of beds and other essential medical supplies. The sudden spike in the number of illnesses and deaths in the whole village seemed to rest on Mr. Jeetu’s shoulder. An experienced pharmacist, he is in charge of prescribing medicine and supplying oxygen to the patients in the village. “No one, no medical center, no doctors, no nurses. There aren’t any facilities in this village. So I decided to deal with Covid-19 in a way that I see fit, ”he said. In Chogath, the lack of medical resources forced the desperate villagers to travel to the surrounding towns in the hope of finding a hospital bed. Dinesh Makwana, a resident of Chogath, said he tried to get his father with Covid-19 to four different hospitals in the surrounding towns but was hopeless. There are no more vacancies. With no other choice, he brought his seriously ill father to the village. “We are shocked (because of the 2nd Covi-19 wave). The whole village was very shocked, everyone was scared, ”he said. He said many people in the village died of Covid-19 and said: “I am very scared. I am worried that my father will lose “. Pharmacist Jeetu is the only source of medical assistance in Chogath village, Gujarat. Photo: CNN. Mr. Jeetu did his best to be able to provide some medicines to the villagers, including his father Makwana, to help stabilize the patient’s condition. However, the troubles that hit Makwana’s family do not stop there. His sister and mother are also infected. When Makwana talks to CNN, His mother was breathing hard on the porch. “I take care of my family. If I die, my wife and children will be crushed. I am not afraid of death, but only care for my wife, ”said Makwana’s father, Mr. Jivraj. 90 funerals a month Mr. Girjashankar, a resident of Chogath, despite being 70 years old, still helps families in the village to cremate their deceased loved ones. Day by day, he went to the forest or the field to cut wood, filled them with a tractor and then transported to the village, preparing to cremate the deceased. Normally, about 30 people die each year in the village. But within the past month, they cremated about 90 bodies, according to Mr. Girjashankar. Some families, he said, lost several people immediately because of the virus. Mr. Girjashankar, a cremation assistant, said that only a month ago, the village had 90 deaths, 3 times higher than the average annual death rate. Photo: CNN. The government tried to respond to the Covid-19 crisis in the country. They send oxygen supplies to various states and distribute aid from abroad. However, with the huge demand, the supplies do not seem to be distributed across the country. This means that the vast majority of health resources will go to the most densely affected and populous states. Therefore, small villages like Chogath have to survive this deadly epidemic on their own. “The village received no relief from the government. No doctors. There aren’t any government employees. The needed cannot come, and the person who needs to go (the hospital) cannot go ”, Mr. Girjashankar said. Pharmacist Jeetu said he was “very angry” because the people here are not being supported. “What can I do by myself,” he said. We don’t have any solutions, the people here are very poor ”. “All the people in the village are scared. 15, 20 days now, no one dares to step out of the house. Everyone is afraid, ”Makwana said. India uses the temple as a care center for patients Covid-19 Volunteers in the city of Ahmedabad, in western India, converted a temple into a Covid-19 patient care center, comprising a total of 50 beds.

Nuoc Dop residential area is located on a hill on the other side of Dakdrinh hydropower reservoir. This is an area not included in the hydropower project, but the people of Nuoc Dop are indirectly affected by this project.

Tired of waiting for the way

We have returned to the Kingdom many times by different routes. For the first time on December 31, 2014, after one day, hydroelectricity was put into operation, to write the article “Dakdrr hydropower accumulation of water: Locking people in high mountains”. At that time, we rented boats, crossed the vast lake bed with more than 11 million cubic meters of water. Both going and going back took nearly 3 hours, with a price of 500 thousand VND.

Residents of Nuoc Dop residential area, Ra Manh village, Son Long commune (Son Tay) open their own “waterways” across the Dakdrinh hydropower reservoir to travel. Photo: Th. Nhi

Immediately after the press was published, the local government held an urgent meeting, immediately mobilizing the youth force of Son Tay district and Son Long commune to open a dirt road to make a passageway for the people of Nuoc Dop to go from the village to the middle communal mind. The road construction project was then urgently implemented, with a total length of 7.8 km, a total cost of more than 17 billion VND from the budget source. However, due to the design and other shortcomings, the project was stopped.

In 2018, the project of making this route restart. The total length is still the same, but the total cost increases to 30 billion VND, from the funding source of Dakdrinh Hydropower investor. Also since here, the Son Tay district government has to constantly go “debt collection” to have money for road construction. However, that road is still unfinished, even in many sections, it is even more difficult to go than the first day I crossed the lake bed, followed the path to return to this upland people.

Recently, we returned to the Kingdom. A 7.8km road can only make about 3.5km of the beginning of the route. The most important stretch of road is longer than 4km at the end of the route, that is, adjacent to residential areas, it is still sprawling with rocks, deep pools and steep slopes. Due to the difficulty of having no way to travel, the people of Nuoc Dop set up a wharf at the junction of the village adjacent to the Dakdrinh hydropower reservoir and named it “Ben Ra Manh”.

We arrived at Ra Manh wharf, Mr. Dinh Van Nghe thought that tourists would go on a trip, so he enthusiastically invited the boat to go to the lake for a walk. Mr. Nghiep said: This boat is the means of transportation of the whole village, carrying acacia, carrying the harvested noodles around the lake bed and on the rising hills between the hydroelectric lake. The investor of hydroelectricity only recovers the land at the foot of the hill, the rest of the people still grow acacia. Have to swim across the lake bed to clear grass, plant trees, then go sawing, taking boats to the shore. The small boat, piled with dozens of acacia trees, rowing all day to come ashore, but there is no other way.

Road to Nuoc Dop residential area. Photo: Th. Nhi

Bringing the story of persistent debt shortage to the leader of Dakdrinh Hydropower Joint Stock Company, Director of Dam Duc Thong Company said: “Hydropower is willing to pay for road construction, but until now, it has only paid about 17 billion, 13 billion more in debt. The reason is that the district has not completed the documents to be able to disburse it “. The file that this director explained is the final settlement of the project, that is, the district must complete, accept, hand over, then transfer the dossier to hydroelectricity for consideration and disbursement. However, on the side of the unit authorized to implement the Nuoc Dop road project, which is the Management Board of Construction Investment and Development of Land Funds in Son Tay District, said that if the capital is not arranged in advance, it will be very difficult for construction. Therefore, we hope that hydroelectricity will consider and make capital investments to make this road more flexible, because the longer it lasts, the more difficult people’s lives.

The electricity was creeping

For many generations, more than 100 people in Nuoc Dop residential area have not had access to the national electricity grid. For many years, Son Tay district has invested money to bring electricity to Nuoc Dop, but for many reasons, the project has not energized yet.

Residents of Nuoc Dop residential areas harvested the noodles and waited many days for traders to come and buy them. Photo: Th. Nhi

In Nuoc Dop, the medium voltage poles rise high, the wire is ready, but waiting to complete some procedures before it can be energized and supplied to households. Because it is too difficult when the life has no electricity, the people of Nuoc Dop residential area pay their own money to buy wires and pull electricity thanks to acquaintances from other KDC. Long distance, small wires, weak electricity, electric lights creeping not much brighter than kerosene lamps. “I hope to have electricity to light up for my children to study, watch television and listen to the radio to enjoy. Now I use electricity thanks to the time I lose. I don’t have electricity in my village,” said the village elder, Dinh Van Xon.

Because pulling electricity far away, the cost of pulling electricity back to the village is up to 4-5 million VND. Someone has to borrow hot money to get money to pull electricity. The electric lines like forest wires tangled in the pillars are actually dry acacia tops, low and low, with a section just at the knee. “I know that it is not allowed to connect electricity like that, but the family needs electricity very much before having to do so. I only hope that electricity can be brought back to the people on a large pole, a large wire for people to be assured to use. With electricity, a new life will be required. less suffering “, Ms. Dinh Thi Un confided.

It is difficult to pull electricity back to Nuoc Dop residential area because partly there is no road. When implementing road investment here, the district has planned to implement the road in parallel. However, the road project just kept sluggish and electricity so was also slow to follow.

When will the promise come true?

The day we got back to Dop, it was on the day when a truck came to buy noodles for the people. Dozens of households in Dop were very happy. Before Tet, the constant rain and flood, the noodles were left on the field. After Tet, when it was sunny, people harvested, bagged, carried them down the road, sent people to the center of Son Tay district to call people to buy. 3 days new car appointment The whole village rushed to pick it up, put the noodles in the car, laughed loudly. There are many people who divide the money to sell noodles into each item: pay for electricity, buy rice, give their children money to go to the district to go to boarding school, buy acacia seed to grow … All essential expenses of life. “Luckily, we can sell noodles, but if we can’t sell, we go” hot “to take care of our family but know how,” said Dinh Thi Xang.

The people of Nuoc Dop residential area plant and care for the areca tree. Photo: Th. Nhi

Also because there is no sugar, the agricultural products in Dop are sold at a much cheaper price than other places. Currently, the purchasing price of Acacia wood here is only about 600-700 thousand VND, which is about 200,000 VND / ton cheaper than the convenient roads. Difficult, low income, but here people do not have side jobs. Chairman of Son Long Commune People’s Committee Do Thanh Qua said: All households in Nuoc Dop are poor. In recent years, life has been more difficult due to the fall in agricultural prices. There are times when there are storms, traffic is divided, agricultural products cannot be sold. The commune hopes that the superiors will quickly build the road and bring electricity back to Nuoc Dop residential area so that the people can improve their living conditions and gradually reduce poverty “.

Now Dop is in a raging season for acacia cultivation. On the green acacia hills, groups of 5-10 people work hard to clean up. In Nuoc Dop, people still keep the same “rhyme” as in the past. Every family has important work, everyone in the village who is free will come to help. They help each other as wholeheartedly as family members. Therefore, despite the difficult life, the roads are back, electricity has not come back forever, but no one left the village to go elsewhere. The special thing is that the village has no evils of gambling, theft … And for many years, they have been united, sharing with all difficulties of the government, the investor of Dakdrinh hydroelectricity and patiently. waiting for a promise …