The "fulcrums" of Dien Bien border villages

Lesson 1: Confronting and eliminating bad customs

In the “war” to eliminate bad customs, eliminate drug abuse… to build a civilized lifestyle in the highlands of Dien Bien province in general, and in the border communes in particular, there is a great contribution from the team of village elders, village chiefs, and prestigious people (NCUT). With the prestige, responsibility, exemplary behavior, and voice of the village elders and village chiefs, NCUT is like a “fire” that illuminates and helps people rise up.

I have to set an example…

The rain in the forest was still falling. Following the commune cadres, I went to the house of village elder Vang Giong Cha, a party member, NCUT of Van Ho village, Si Pa Phin commune (Nam Po district). In a low-roofed wooden house, wearing traditional Mong ethnic costumes, old Cha laughed heartily and said: "Since it is a beautiful tradition, we must preserve and maintain it, but bad customs must be resolutely eliminated and abandoned so that life can improve!". 71 years old, more than 40 years in the Party, having held many positions from Secretary of the Commune Party Committee, Chairman of the Fatherland Front Committee of Muong Nhe district, Secretary of the Party cell, old Cha is a witness to the breakthrough changes of the Mong people here.

His eyes were filled with sadness, remembering the old days of the Mong village, which even old Cha himself could not overcome the "village customs". Old Cha recalled: In the past, many bad customs were deeply rooted in the lives of the Mong people in Muong Nhe, Nam Po such as: Shooting a gun to signal a death; not putting the dead in a coffin but carrying them on a stretcher hanging in the middle of the house for many days, slaughtering many buffaloes and cows to show filial piety to the deceased... Even in my family, when my father passed away in 1999, under the bad customs and pressure of the elders in the family, we did not put him in a coffin, but buried him 7 days later, and held an expensive funeral!

Maintaining these bad customs not only makes people's lives poor and backward, but also threatens the environment and health... Overcoming prejudice, when his mother passed away, old man Cha was determined and pioneered in putting her body in a coffin immediately after the embalming; at the same time, he organized a ceremony and buried her within 48 hours. Old man Cha firmly said: Even though relatives and even his own family opposed and did not support her, I have to set an example to encourage people to follow.

Not only a guide, old man Cha also travels to all the upper and lower hamlets where Mong people live to propagate and mobilize people to eliminate bad customs in funerals. Along with that, old man Cha meets with elders, clan leaders, and influential people in the Mong community to convince them to join hands in eliminating bad customs. Mr. Mua A Hoa, Chairman of the People's Committee of Si Pa Phin commune, said: "Old man Cha is a great contributor to building the cultural lifestyle of the Mong people in this highland. Up to now, 100% of Mong funerals in the commune put the deceased in a coffin and no longer fire a gun to announce when someone dies like before; 100% of Mong villages have included the convention of implementing cultural lifestyle in funerals in the village's covenant, funerals are buried within 48 hours, and the organization of lavish meals at funerals has significantly reduced".

Besides eliminating bad customs, many traditional cultural beauties are promoted and developed by village elders, village chiefs, and NCUT.

The long story about bringing a new cultural lifestyle to the funerals of the people here is considered a "miracle" in the middle of the jungle.

Save lives

Dien Bien in 1995 of the last century, opium cultivation was very popular in the highland and border districts. Growing opium to get rich, smoking opium "instead of rice" and everyone could smoke opium, from the elderly to the young and even women. At that time, in the border commune of Sin Thau (Muong Nhe district) - a "remote mountain" place, hundreds of healthy young men were also bewitched by the smoke of the "brown fairy", causing their lives to fall into poverty and despair.

Sin Thau at that time had only more than 100 houses in 3 villages: A Pa Chai, Ta Ko Khu, Sen Thuong but had nearly 110 drug addicts. With determination to bring people's lives back to light; NCUT Sung Sung Khai (Ha Nhi ethnic group), A Pa Chai village at that time was Vice Chairman of the People's Committee and Head of the Commune Police, took the "pioneer seal", together with the Party Committee, government, and border guards to resolutely eliminate the drug problem.

Mr. Sung Sung Khai recounted: Taking drug addicts to rehab at that time was considered an impossible task. Because they did not cooperate, they strongly resisted, when we went to their houses, some ran into the forest, some agitated and threw stones at the working group... However, with an iron will, not giving in to the "brown fairy", the working group divided into groups, spread out to each alley, knocked on each door to propagate, persuade, and even used strong measures to make people voluntarily destroy opium poppies, helping those who had made mistakes to break away from the "brown fairy".

“Slow and steady wins the race”, from the stories on the fields, by the fire, Mr. Khai and his working group were trusted by the people, and were sent to the fields to personally destroy 1 hectare of opium poppy. Addicts registered to participate in drug rehabilitation one after another. “For healthy people, we sent them to the district for rehabilitation; for the elderly and sick, we rehabilitated them at the commune or at home. We also received enthusiastic help from the border guards, supporting the management of addicts and providing medicine. After the rehabilitation sessions, dozens of people were saved, completely breaking away from the “brown fairy” - Mr. Khai shared.

In the middle of the story, there was the sound of a motorbike entering the house. Mr. Khai burst out laughing and said: “That’s him, Sung PT, a fellow villager, who used to be a heavy addict, as skinny as a dry stick, lying around all day. Since he quit opium, he has worked hard, and now has food and savings, and his family is very well off now! His children and grandchildren are well-educated, and some of them are even commune officials.

The story is old in the village, but not old to Sung PT. Holding Mr. Khai's hand tightly, Mr. T. slowly said: "If it weren't for Mr. Khai's persuasion and persuasion to take me to drug rehabilitation, I would probably be dead by now!" Not knowing how to repay the kindness of Mr. Khai and the Party Committee, government, and border guards who "saved my life", I tried to find a way to repay him by making efforts to develop the economy, successfully building a model of raising cows, growing cardamom... with an income of over 70 million VND/year; actively encouraging children and villagers to stay away from drugs. Together, we will foster the friendship between the village and the people, and build our homeland Sin Thau to become more and more stable and developed in the westernmost border of the Fatherland.