"Go to every alley, knock on every door" to eliminate bad customs
We arrived at Ta Van village just as it suddenly started to rain heavily in the early days of July. We were greeted by an elderly man with silver hair, who was busy repairing a shed to look after the livestock with a few young men in the village. Sipping tea and looking out at the terraced fields during the planting season, Mr. Thay told us about his trips over the mountains to families to encourage their children to go to school. Mr. Rather confided: in the past, children's education was very limited, due to long distances, difficult economic conditions, lack of parental attention... so the rate of going to school was very low. More than 10 years ago, when Mr. Thay was the village Party Secretary, he was always worried and thinking that if he wanted to change his life, the most important "key" was to encourage families to send their children to school. Thinking is doing, he, together with teachers and local authorities, "went to every alley, knocked on every door" to propagate and mobilize children to go to school, eliminate bad customs, and mobilize people to donate land to build roads and schools.
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| Mr. Bong Van Thay was awarded a Certificate of Merit by the province for his outstanding achievements in eliminating backward customs and practices in the locality. |
This year he is 70 years old, but as a prestigious person, whenever something happens in the village, he is always enthusiastic with the Village Chief to go to the household' houses to mobilize and propagate. At the end of June, when the village received information that Mr. Ban Van Giang's family was organizing a wedding for his underage daughter, Mr. Thay, regardless of the long distance, rain, wind, and slippery mountain slope, went to the house to analyze and persuade the family to temporarily stop the wedding plan, to avoid violating the law. Along with that, he also went to Ms. Bong Thi Chung's house to discuss with the groom's family, to persuade them not to organize a wedding while the children are still in school, to encourage them to continue studying, and to raise awareness. Ms. Bong Thi Chung shared: "Mr. Thay is the most prestigious elder in the village and responsible to the community. From his coming to the house to advise and analyze the consequences of early marriage, our family understood and agreed not to organize an early wedding for our children."
Spreading new lifestyle in border areas
In addition to the above case, since the beginning of the year, Mr. Thay has worked with the village management board and the commune's advocacy team to successfully promote and mobilize 1 household not to organize early marriage and to marry their children at the right age. At the same time, he guided the organization of 1 wedding and 2 funerals in a civilized and economical manner. He shared: "Previously, the dowry was up to 70 - 80 million VND, now it is only 10 - 15 million to buy gifts. The funeral has also been shortened from 2 days to 1 day, both maintaining solemnity, reducing costs, and reducing hardship for the family and relatives. In recent years, there has been no early marriage or incestuous marriage in the village; when sick or giving birth, they all go to the health station for examination, the rate of household moving their barns away from their houses has reached nearly 90%".
People in Ta Van village are not only grateful to him for his contributions to the village, but also listen to his voice - a prestigious and legendary person for over 20 years. Thanks to that, the Dao people in the village understand more clearly the important role of education. Up to now, the rate of children going to school every year in the village has always reached 100%. Not stopping there, there are many students who have passed and studied at universities such as: Mr. Dang Van Dien's son (Thai Nguyen University), Mr. Hoang Van Tin's daughter ( Hanoi Law University) ...
In addition, Mr. Bong Van Thay is also a person who has contributed a lot to the mediation work at the grassroots level. Small conflicts in the village were mobilized by him and the mediation team to resolve promptly and effectively. In particular, the water source dispute that used to occur in the village has ended now, contributing to strengthening the village and neighborhood relationship.
Comrade Bong Van On, Vice Chairman of Lao Chai Commune People's Committee, said: Promoting the role of prestigious people like Mr. Bong Van Thay is contributing to clearly changing the awareness of ethnic minority people in the border areas. These specific and practical actions not only help people improve their cultural life, but also contribute to maintaining security and order, and building new rural areas in the border areas of the Fatherland.
Article and photos: Van Long
Source: https://baotuyenquang.com.vn/xa-hoi/202507/nguoi-lan-toa-nep-song-van-minh-tren-suon-nui-tay-con-linh-2646c40/
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