A Sầu undergoes a complete transformation.

The war is over, leaving behind a large amount of dioxin residue in the A Sầu valley, but the people still rise up with indomitable spirit.

Spring has arrived again. In the forests leading up to the mountainous district of A Lưới, Hue City, countless flowers are in bloom. The people of the highland villages have celebrated Tet with new joys - the joy of their homeland escaping poverty, and the joy of Hue becoming the 6th centrally-governed city of Vietnam.

Sad and painful memories

National Highway 49, connecting the center of Hue City to A Luoi, has now been widened. Many heavy trucks line up, carrying goods from the La Lay border gate ( Quang Tri province ) southward. Mountain passes like Suoi Mau, Mo Qua, and Kim Quy, once glorious during the war against the US, are no longer a haunting sight for drivers.

After traveling along National Highway 49, following the legendary Ho Chi Minh Trail south for about 20 km, we arrived at A Sau Valley, in Dong Son commune. A Sau, or A Shau, are the haunting names given by the Americans during the war. However, the local villagers here usually call it A So or A Sao, a source of pride for them regarding this valley.

Many houses in A Sầu have been built in a spacious and modern style.

A So Airfield is a crucial testament to the ferocity of war. It was a fiercely contested battleground during the war, nestled in the A Sau Valley. Between 1961 and 1966, the US chose this location to build a powerful artillery base, aiming to block supply routes for troops from Laos to Vietnam. After the war, it became a dioxin-contaminated hotspot, with over 1.6 million liters of the toxic substance (equivalent to over 432,812 gallons) sprayed by the US during the war, earning it the nicknames "Agent Orange epicenter" and "dead zone."

Mr. Le Van Tuong, Secretary of the Party Committee of Dong Son commune, is a member of an ethnic minority group and an energetic official who rose through the ranks of the Youth Union. Mr. Tuong recounts that a few years ago, he visited a friend's hometown in Thanh Hoa and met his friend's father. He was a veteran of the wartime transportation service, having served in the A Sau valley, and held many memories of the harshness of that land. A land of heroism, yet filled with sorrow for the soldier, bearing the lingering effects of Agent Orange and the painful memories of fallen comrades.

People come to the Dong Son commune office to carry out administrative procedures.

Meeting Tuong, the veteran recounted many stories about the A Sau region, about the battles and the sacrifices of his comrades. His stories seemed to reflect the sorrow, suffering, and hardship of the A Sau area. He asked Tuong what A Sau was like now that the war was over? Had the people's difficulties lessened? Had the land been completely cleansed of its toxins?

On another occasion, young Le Van Tuong was traveling from the North back to his hometown. While waiting for a ride on National Highway 1, he met a shop owner selling food and drinks. The owner, upon learning that Tuong was from A Luoi, immediately invited him in for a drink and to hear him recount his glorious days on the A Sau battlefield. Tuong also told the owner about life in the A Luoi and A Sau areas today.

Creating livelihoods for the poor.

During the Lunar New Year of 2025, Mr. Ho Van Lich's family (Tru Chaih village, Dong Son commune) moved into their newly inaugurated house, built with the collective efforts of journalists from Central Vietnam. He is classified as a poor household with eight children (six daughters and two sons), all of whom are facing hardship.

On the Tet holiday feast table, there's always a dish of rice cooked in bamboo tubes, still hot, which tastes delicious when eaten with grilled meat. For honored guests, Mr. Lich's family also prepares a special chili fish sauce to serve. It's called a specialty because the chilies must be roasted before being mixed with the fish sauce to release their fragrant flavor.

Children in Dong Son play in the A So airport area - which was once the Orange Valley.

While people in the lowlands often have "phu the" cakes for weddings, the people here make "a quat" cakes for the joyous occasion of the bride and groom. "A quat" cakes are V-shaped, wrapped in banana or dong leaves, and after cooking, they are tied together in pairs, symbolizing the boy and girl.

A Sầu also experiences harsh weather conditions due to frequent thunderstorms, heavy rain, and strong winds. It can rain as early as 9-10 a.m.; in the summer, the sun might be shining one moment, and rain will come the next. Many times, village leaders have been attending meetings in the district, only to receive news of hailstorms or tornadoes back home during a sweltering day, prompting them to rush back, much to everyone's surprise. Therefore, it's rare to find a banana tree in A Sầu with undamaged leaves. Having banana leaves to wrap the traditional A Quát cakes is considered a "miracle" by the local people.

Growing trees is difficult, but selling the fruit is even harder, because of the "reputation" of A Sầu, a battlefield heavily affected by Agent Orange.

The Agent Orange base at A So airfield has now been cleaned up and transformed into a pasture for cattle.

A few years ago, whenever villagers in Dong Son carried vegetables, bananas, etc., to the district to sell, if they accidentally mentioned A Sau as a local specialty, no one dared buy them for fear of consuming poison. But since 2023, when the Ministry of National Defense completed the "Dioxin-Contaminated Soil Treatment Project at A So Airport," the area has been cleansed of toxins, and the people are now confident in planting trees and living there. A So Airport is now like a public place, with many children playing there every day. The surrounding fields are the livelihoods that have helped the villagers escape poverty.

Mr. Truong Toan Thang, Chairman of the People's Committee of Dong Son commune, happily announced that the commune recently allocated 7 hectares of land at the airport area to households engaged in livestock farming for growing grass to feed cattle. To date, the A Luoi District Agricultural Service Center has provided grass seeds to 15 households covering an area of ​​13,500 square meters, with 8 households already having planted the grass.

A spectacular escape from poverty.

Mr. Le Van Tuong said that before the war, the people here all lived in villages in neighboring Laos. After the war, they lived a nomadic lifestyle along the border between the two countries, and were relocated by the government to the Hong Thuong and Hong Van areas of A Luoi district. Around 1991, A Luoi district resettled the people in the A Sau valley.

"Many former commune leaders recounted that back then, the district used cars to transport people here and let them choose where they wanted to build houses and live. Seeing that the A So airport land was flat, people built houses and lived there. But due to the toxic substances in the soil, the people were relocated further inland," Mr. Tuong recounted.

People celebrate the traditional Lunar New Year of the Year of the Snake 2025.

Dong Son commune has undergone three relocations to avoid exposure to Agent Orange/dioxin in 2001, 2003, and 2007. Each relocation affected the commune's socio-economic development, but with continuous efforts, the lives of the people here have improved significantly.

Dong Son commune has 425 households with 1,628 inhabitants, 97% of whom are ethnic minorities, mainly the Pa Co people. Mr. Thang said that thanks to the efforts of the government, the people, and support from state programs and policies, the commune now has only 89 poor households, accounting for 20.55%; and 37 near-poor households, mainly those belonging to families receiving preferential treatment or affected by Agent Orange/dioxin. The poverty rate has decreased in accordance with the spirit of the commune People's Council resolution and the commune People's Committee plan.

Now, the villages in Dong Son no longer bear the melancholic scenery of the former A Sau region; many sturdy, spacious houses have sprung up. "There are no more temporary houses in the entire commune. People are increasingly conscious of striving for improvement, no longer waiting or relying on others," Mr. Thang shared.

The family of Mr. Dang Quoc Thu and Mrs. Ho Thi Ngai in Ka Va village has five children who have all gotten married. The couple relied on farming for their livelihood, but the harsh terrain meant they remained poor for many years. Now, with government support in providing crops and livestock, they have gradually risen out of poverty. Similarly, the family of Ms. Ho Thi My (Ka Va village) is also steadily improving and escaping poverty.

The authorities and people of Dong Son commune have found their way out of poverty: labor export and seeking employment in other provinces. To date, many people from Dong Son commune have gone to work in Japan, and over 300 others have found work in other provinces. This is a positive sign and a new direction for the ethnic minority people in this region, which has faced countless difficulties for many years due to weather conditions and the consequences of war.

Going from street to street, knocking on every door.

Mr. Nguyen Van Phuong, Chairman of the People's Committee of Hue City, recounted that when he went to Hanoi to work with the Central Government to recognize A Luoi district as having escaped poverty from the list of 74 poorest districts nationwide for the 2021-2025 period, many leaders were quite surprised. They asked Mr. Phuong what the situation was like in A Sau, A Luoi area that it was eligible to be removed from the poverty list. He replied that the area had undergone a significant transformation, with people's lives improving noticeably. This result was the culmination of a long process of leadership "going door to door" to assess each individual's circumstances in order to develop appropriate policies and strategies to help people escape poverty.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/a-sau-thay-da-doi-thit-196250215195439175.htm