Compared to other sandbanks in the middle of Linh Giang River, Con Se (Quang Loc Commune, Ba Don Town, Quang Binh) has many things that are the most, some things to be proud of but also some things that are not. This is the place with the most high-rise buildings, the most births and… the most bank loans.
Rich Con Se, seen from above
P HO ON THE ISLE
Standing on this side of the river and looking across, Con Se stunned the writer right from the first images. Those were high-rise buildings located close together with modern and expensive designs and architecture, not inferior to those of the city. This was completely different from the initial imagination of the poor fishing villages... Connecting to the island is a small bridge, only 3 m wide, less than 100 m long, a gift from the Youth Union of the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group in 2014. It seemed that just by crossing this bridge, visitors would be lost in another world, full of splendor.
Mr. Nguyen Cuong, 63 years old, Head of Con Se village, modestly estimated that the village only has about 50% high-rise buildings, but if we counted carefully, the increase rate is probably at least 70%. It is understandable, because despite being known as a sandbank area, the whole village only has 17 poor households.
Modern houses in Con Se are built close together.
Con Se Bridge, a small bridge but changes every aspect of life of the people on the island
Mr. Nguyen Anh Them, former Chairman of the People's Committee of Quang Loc Commune from 2004 to 2011, said that Con Se now and during his tenure are completely different. "In the past, Con Se was "10 no's", which means there was nothing. Now, as you can see, the houses of the locals are spacious, sometimes even more beautiful than mine," said Mr. Them.
Mr. Them is not exaggerating. Although the road infrastructure is not yet developed, high-rise buildings worth billions of dong are springing up in this sandbar area, each one more beautiful and bigger than the last. Even now, when the general economic situation is sluggish, many families in Con Se are still busy building big houses. It seems that many generations of hardship, having to live in dilapidated huts, have urged them to build big houses when they have a little money in hand.
In Con Se, next to the "huge" houses are boats...
However, there is a reason for that splendor in Con Se. According to the village chief, if we compare the percentage of households, the people of Con Se have the most bank debt in Ba Don town. "People borrow a lot. Some borrow to build boats, buy fishing gear, send their children to work abroad. But there are also people who borrow to build big houses or do things that they think are necessary. So on the surface it looks like that, but I wonder if everything is okay on the inside?", Mr. Cuong was a bit worried.
Mr. Nguyen Xuan Hoan, Party Secretary of Con Se village, with a passion for raising fish in cages
" SUPER BIRTH VILLAGE"
Con Se has 868 households but 4,068 people. This figure seems "wrong" in terms of population size if calculated on average per family. Walking around the island, you can see children everywhere. So many that the government had to build a separate large primary school on this small island.
Mr. Le Van Canh, Chairman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Quang Loc commune, smiled and said that there was a time when Con Se was called "a super-fertile village". People gave birth "freely", giving birth until they "ran out all their eggs". "In the past, it was normal for each family to have 6-7 children. Now the government has been lobbying until their throats are hoarse, but they have managed to bring the ratio back down to 3-4 children per family", Mr. Canh said.
There are quite a lot of children in Con Se, so the local authorities established an elementary school on the island.
The reason why the people of Con Se are good at giving birth is that long ago, when people came here to reclaim land about 300 years ago, they practiced fake fishing. They needed sons to have people to go to sea, the more the better. "Before, people did not live on the shore, but on the boat. Husband and wife would trip over each other when going in and out, so... things happened. No one knew what a "plan" was," said village chief Cuong happily.
Now, in Con Se, there are powerful families such as Nguyen, Mai, Pham, Cao… with many young men. Whenever there is something, they just need to shout and their children will flock back. But because of the large number of births, Con Se suddenly becomes crowded. The island is less than 1 square kilometer but contains so many people, signaling a future that will require many changes in residential planning, or the people of Con Se will have to leave this place to have enough land to live.
M EDUCATION AMONG THE WATER WAVES
From small boats that were only enough to fish along the river, today Con Se has a fleet of more than 60 offshore fishing boats. Each time they go out to sea, Con Se boats can completely support each other at sea when they catch a large fish or when they encounter trouble. Fishing in Vietnam's waters is not enough, Con Se people also go abroad. About 600 Con Se people are "earning a living" in Korea, Japan, Taiwan... with the seafaring profession.
Net weaving profession thrives in Con Se
However, there are still people who do not want to leave their hometown. They choose a profession close to the river life: raising fish in cages. About 40 households are doing this job, including Mr. Nguyen Xuan Hoan (45 years old), the first person to graduate from university in Con Se, now Secretary of the Con Se village Party cell, and a delegate of the People's Council of Quang Binh province. "I studied social sciences but I like raising fish. There is nothing wrong with that, because my ancestors also raised me with fish and shrimp. I raise red snapper and sea bass, many other households also raise grouper. In general, this job is profitable, and I do not have to wander in a foreign land," said Mr. Hoan.
There is another profession that is also flourishing in Con Se. Village chief Mr. Cuong proudly said that Con Se people weave and repair nets for many boats from the north to the south. "Today it's raining, so people don't set up nets, but on normal days you'll see nets hanging all over the alleys. Here, there are contractors like Mr. Mai Xuan Hiep, Pham Son, Pham Dao... who are very famous for this profession," Mr. Cuong boasted.
Until now, with the splendor of Con Se, many people still say that the wealth does not seem to be truly sustainable. But it is also necessary to see a strong rise there. Because from a poor fishing village growing up in the middle of the sandbank, with honest people, Con Se seems to be shaking off the mud, carrying the desire to get rich and stepping out into the modern world. (continued)
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