Silent in the forest

I am fortunate to be born, work and attached to the Central Central region, in the provinces of Quang Nam, Thua Thien-Hue, Quang Tri, so I have a little understanding of the life and culture of the highland people . Although the older generations have "plowed" this land many times, the customs of ethnic minorities in the Truong Son range or at the foot of Ngoc Linh mountain still contain many mysterious and interesting things. The attraction of this type of topic always urges me to look for characters and stories to tell readers.

Journalist Hoang Son (right) on a working trip to Tay Giang District (Quang Nam) in early 2022

To have unique and original articles, I choose to "go it alone". Although I am confident because I have some skills, sometimes I am worried about the unexpected.

The stories that even the locals only tacitly understand and dare not tell, let alone a Kinh stranger like me, they do not tell. However, being alone and silent in the villages, wandering in the forest paths has brought me a lot of luck to have "unique" reports.

I still remember in early 2022, to have a series of reports Dai ngan ly ky truyen , I made a trip from 2 mountainous districts Nam Tra My and Tay Giang (Quang Nam) to A Luoi (Thua Thien-Hue), lasting 10 days. In Nam Tra My, when writing the report Ky ky "hanging placenta, navel" forest , following the instructions of local residents, I alone drove the "iron horse" through Tra Nam, Tra Mai communes... However, when I arrived at the place I needed to find, the "navel forest" in Tra Linh commune, asking around, many people still did not know. After noon, wandering along the road munching on a loaf of bread, I was lucky to meet a woman who showed me the way to meet a village elder. From the story of the village elder , the secrets, sacredness, and taboos about the "navel forest" were gradually revealed. It was truly more joyful than finding gold!

Village elder A Lang Lo told the translator and writer stories about the "head return" incident before he passed away in May 2022.

When I went to Tay Giang district to write the reportage "The horror of the memory of "returning the head" , I was still traveling alone. But fortunately, there was a local person who helped me with directions and translated the Co Tu language into Kinh. The village elders had all gone to Yang (heaven), so no one knew the story of revenge due to the feud between the villages. Only old man A Lang Lo (living in Ta Lang village, Bha Le commune) was still lucid enough to tell it. Before the report was published, he passed away at the age of 83. My companion said that besides him, I was the one who could understand the story of "returning the head" from 100 years ago the most. Traveling alone sometimes allowed me to possess valuable information until the end.

Traveling alone on reporting trips in the mountains and forests helps writers have many "unique" reports.

In HA Luoi, when I went alone to meet Mr. LTT to hear the story about the strange "potion blowing" in Truong Son and the "drug letter" obsession , I also felt lucky because I not only met the right person but also got extremely valuable information about the lives of the Ta Oi and Pa Ko people. The stories that even the local people only tacitly understood with each other and did not dare to speak out, let alone a Kinh stranger like me, they would not tell. However, being alone and quietly in the villages, wandering through the forest paths brought me a lot of luck to have "unique" reports.

At this point, some people may think that I am selfish in sharing my journalism topic with my colleagues. But I would like to clarify that due to the nature of my assigned work, I cannot travel with my colleagues through the villages because of the fear of missing out or leaving the area empty for many days. As for other colleagues, perhaps not many people spend time, even half a month, to pursue a long-term topic without knowing what the result will be.

There is nothing happier in journalism than when readers finish reading your article and then slap their thighs in praise of its uniqueness. Suddenly thinking of the saying "if you want to go fast, go alone", I "modified" it to suit my situation: If you want to go unique, you have to go alone. Even though going alone is very sad, very worrying...

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/tham-lang-tren-nhung-neo-rung-185230617184929927.htm