They are agricultural, forestry, and fishery engineers, law graduates, pharmacists, and preschool teachers with youthful dreams and the ideal of “going to devote yourself.”
We visited On Village in Tam Chung Commune, one of the most remote and impoverished villages in the Muong Lat border area, early in the morning.
Our pickup truck climbed steep hills and then descended into valleys several times. As we reached a mountaintop, Lo Viet Gioi, head of the young volunteer intellectual team, pointed toward a hillside dotted with green-roofed houses and said, “That’s On Village, home to the H'mong people in Tam Chung. The first days of taking on the tasks of supporting local residents were a challenge for us. But now we know every bend, every slope to the village.”
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The unit’s staff, young volunteer intellectuals assist local residents in harvesting rice. |
The truck stopped at the house of Gia A Su, born in 1998, whose family is raising native black pigs. Su shared, “Thanks to the help of personnel from Defense-Economic Unit 5 and young volunteer intellectuals, especially Ms. Trang, we have learned proper and effective native pig-raising techniques. We recently sold a litter of piglets and paid off a 30-million-VND bank loan. The next batch will help us save for our children’s education.”
Nguyen Thi Huyen Trang, born in 1995 in Tho Xuan District, Thanh Hoa Province, is a graduate in veterinary animal husbandry from Hong Duc University. In just over a year, she has visited nearly every village here. “Whenever the unit conducts mass mobilization activities or presents livestock, I accompany them to guide villagers on how to care for domestic animals, build pens, and prevent diseases. We visit to educate, check whether they are observing the techniques every week, and only move on once the animals are stable,” Trang explained.
Since 2010, the unit has welcomed 179 young volunteer intellectuals under the Ministry of Defense’s Project 174 on “Enhancing the presence of young volunteer intellectuals in defense-economic areas.” These intellectuals are assigned to production teams or specific projects to work closely with soldiers to raise locals’ awareness of the Party’s policies and the State’s laws. They also help with economic development, road building, house construction, literacy, and community healthcare.
Bui Thanh Tuan, a graduate in primary education from Hong Duc University, has spent over a year teaching literacy classes at Production Team 2 in Quang Chieu Commune, about 20 km from the district center, which is accessible only by crossing forests and streams during the rainy season. He acts as a teacher, an orator, and a close companion to local residents. “Many nights, rains and landslides prevent us from returning to base. We have to sleep in the village’s cultural house and wait until morning,” Tuan recalled.
Thanks to these classes, many villagers now know how to read and write instead of using fingerprints on official documents.
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Young intellectual guides villagers during a literacy class. |
What closely attaches the young intellectuals to such an area is the local residents. Gioi said, “The H'mong, Thai, and Kho Mu people may be poor, but they are sincere and affectionate. We love them like our family members, and they treat us as their own.”
For Tuan, simple things such as students waiting for him at night classes, their joy and smiles when they can write their full names, give him the feeling of being needed and loved. That drives him to keep going.
Young volunteer intellectuals of Defense-Economic Unit 5 are writing a beautiful story of youth in border areas, where the young spirit is reflected not only in textbooks but also on dirt-covered hands, forest-trekking feet, and in restless nights in wooden huts.
Senior Colonel Le Vinh, the unit’s commander, affirmed that the intellectuals are regarded as the core force in sustainable border development. They bring knowledge, youthfulness, and a spirit of tireless dedication to join the unit’s personnel in developing the Muong Lat border area.
Translated by Mai Huong