Waiting for a new day in the Mong ethnic villages

Culture and Life – Spring and Xia Noi are two Hmong villages in the most difficult border area of ​​Son Thuy commune, Quan Son district.

The Mong people in Spring village live separately from the outside, surrounded by forests and mountains on all sides After filling 3 bottles of gasoline, according to Mr. Thao Van Cong, Mong ethnic group in Xuan village, Chairman of Veterans Association of Son Thuy commune, we started the journey to the H’mong village. After nearly an hour and a half, traveling more than 24 km of winding roads, we were at the Spring village. Standing on the top of a high mountain, looking ahead are the old wooden roofs and walls, nestled in the middle of the old forest. The dirt road to each house is as small as a thread, sometimes you have to cross a small stream to reach the other household. For generations, the Mong people in Spring village have lived in this land, living in difficult farming, isolated on all four sides are hills, terrain, and traffic are complicated. People’s life is very difficult. Mr. Thao Van Cong said that at present, Spring village does not have electricity, roads and medical stations, and schools are still facing many difficulties. In the old, shack, Mr. Thao Van Dia, Secretary and Head of Spring Village told us that the village has 114 households with 525 people. Here, because a number of concentrated domestic water works are degraded and cannot be used, people have to connect pipes to streams to bring water back to use. Dia shared, in the rainy season, roads are difficult to travel, people cannot go in and out of the village, the food source mainly depends on shifting cultivation, some households grow a little more rice and corn to store for the next season. County borders. The rest raise small barns around the house. After lunch, fearing that it would rain, we continued our journey to Xia Noi village. From Spring Village to Xia Noi is only 5 km, but it takes half an hour for the group to arrive. To get to Xia Noi village, you have to cross small roads, cross streams, and in the rainy season, the water is heavy, the village is almost isolated. Due to the dilapidated and badly damaged Spring Village Kindergarten, the children were arranged to study temporarily at the old elementary school. The head of Xia Noi village Sung Van Cau said that the village currently has 35 households with 168 members, in addition to difficult transportation, essential needs such as electricity, medical stations, television… are also the long-awaited wishes of the village. citizen. In recent years, people have been regularly provided with maize and rice varieties to actively cultivate, so they no longer have to worry about the lack of food in the off-season. However, due to difficult roads and fragmented farming practices, productivity is low. Even more difficult, when sick people move to the center of the commune, the road is both far and bad. To get to Xia Noi village, the only way is to cross the forest road, cross the stream, travel becomes very difficult in the rainy season. Outdated customs and practices, small production, low education level, and lack of synchronous investment in electricity, roads, medical stations, etc., make the life of the Mong people in the two villages of Xuan Xuan and Xia Noi meet. many difficulties. Discussing this issue, Mr. Ha Van The, Vice Chairman of Son Thuy Commune People’s Committee said: “We want the authorities at all levels to pay more attention, invest in electricity infrastructure, roads and stations so that people can have a meeting. live better”. The poverty rate in Xia Noi village is still high Mr. Mac Van Toi, Deputy Head of Economic Infrastructure Department of Quan Son district, said that in Mua Xuan village, the Department of Industry and Trade is implementing a power grid investment project. In Xia Noi village, the district is currently applying for policies and funding to support investment in the power grid. As for the road system to Mua Xuan and Xia Noi villages, according to Mr. Toi, the district has developed a medium-term public investment plan, period 2021-2025, currently there are a number of projects of the Provincial Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs and one Several other projects are under construction…