From an article in the Hebei newspaper.
I was fortunate to have many conversations with teacher Do Van Lien (1938 - 2025). He was the principal of Ham Son Secondary School (now Cho Secondary School, Yen Phong commune) throughout the 1960s.
Teacher Liễn recounted many interesting details from his visit to Mr. Vũ Kỳ (1921-2005), Ho Chi Minh's secretary. According to Mr. Vũ Kỳ, Ho Chi Minh learned about the Phú Mẫn Village Young Bamboo Cooperative thanks to an article in the Hà Bắc newspaper (May 1969).
After reading the article, overwhelmed with emotion, on the afternoon of May 19, 1969, he went to his stilt house and immediately wrote "A Letter to the Young Pioneers of Phu Man Village Cooperative, Ham Son Commune, Yen Phong District, Ha Bac Province." He had planned to visit and encourage the young people of Phu Man, but due to his poor health, he was unable to carry out that plan.
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Mr. Le Dinh Hue, the first Chairman of the Phu Man Village Young Bamboo Cooperative, and a photograph of him receiving a Certificate of Commendation from the Chairman of the Administrative Committee of Ha Bac Province in 1963. |
Teacher Liễn said that, since 1960, in response to the "Advanced School Against America" movement launched by President Ho Chi Minh, Ham Son Secondary School, in coordination with the local government, established youth cooperatives with four tasks: competing to excel in academics; doing well in youth group activities; taking care of healthy buffaloes and cows to ensure the cooperatives have enough draft power; and serving social work.
At the end of 1962, at the General Assembly of the Phu Man Village Agricultural Cooperative, Le Dinh Hue (a 7th-grade student at Ham Son Secondary School and the leader of the Phu Man Village Young Pioneers Team) was nominated and elected as the first Chairman of the Phu Man Village Young Pioneers Cooperative.
The cooperative's responsibilities include gathering young people in the village, launching a movement for members to excel in their studies, focusing on caring for healthy, strong buffaloes and cows to ensure they are strong enough for plowing; preventing buffaloes and cows from becoming thin, weak, or diseased and dying; cleaning village roads and alleys; and caring for families of policy beneficiaries.
The Phu Man Village Youth Cooperative has established 9 teams to care for buffaloes and cows, each team caring for 12 to 15 animals. Every evening before sitting down to study, the team members feed the buffaloes and cows until they are full, adhering to the motto "If the buffaloes and cows are not clean and full, they will not be allowed back to the barn." This work is regularly checked and recorded in a logbook so that the team members can improve together.
To keep cattle healthy, the barns must be clean, well-ventilated in the summer, and warm in the winter. When the weather is cold, groups are assigned to sew warm coats from sacks for the cattle; only cattle with warm coats are allowed to roam in the fields… The cattle herd in Phu Man, which used to have many sickly animals, has now become healthy and strong again.
The Phu Man Village Young Pioneers Cooperative was presented as a model example in many places. In 1963, its chairman, Le Dinh Hue, received a Certificate of Commendation from the Chairman of the Administrative Committee of Ha Bac Province. Notably, in May 1969, after reading information about the Cooperative in the Ha Bac newspaper, President Ho Chi Minh wrote "A Letter to the Young Pioneers of Phu Man Village, Ham Son Commune, Yen Phong District, Ha Bac Province".
Radiant Homeland
According to teacher Liễn's account, the ceremony to receive President Ho Chi Minh's letter was held solemnly in the courtyard of Yen Phong High School on International Children's Day, June 1, 1969. The delegates attending the ceremony were deeply moved when they heard President Ho Chi Minh's letter. In the letter, President Ho Chi Minh praised the children of Phu Man for both their excellent studies and their active participation in production, noting that despite their young age they had done things that benefited the country and its people.
The letter concluded with the following words from Uncle Ho: “I hope that the young people in other localities will follow the example of the children at the Phu Man Young Saplings Cooperative in caring for buffaloes and cows and providing practical assistance to their local cooperatives. I kiss you all.”
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Students from Cho Junior High School (Yen Phong commune) cleaned the grounds of Phu Man communal house, where the banyan tree planted by Acting President Nguyen Huu Tho in 1981 is located. |
In 1971, Ham Son Secondary School and Phu Man Village Young Pioneers Cooperative had the honor of welcoming Minister of Education Nguyen Van Huyen; in 1981, they were honored to welcome Acting President Nguyen Huu Tho and many delegations of young people from both within and outside the country to visit and exchange experiences.
On the occasion of President Ho Chi Minh's birthday this year, I returned to Phu Man and met the first chairman of the Phu Man Village Young Saplings Cooperative, Mr. Le Dinh Hue. Mr. Hue is 79 years old but is still very healthy and sharp-minded.
He recalled that one summer night in June 1969, in the old forest of the South, on the banks of the Bé River, he unexpectedly heard the Voice of Vietnam radio station reading President Ho Chi Minh's letter praising the young members of the Măng Non Cooperative in Phú Mẫn village. An indescribable feeling of happiness welled up in his heart. Hearing President Ho's letter, he was moved and remembered his childhood with all its memories, and how he and his friends competed to study well and work hard, following President Ho's teachings.
He recounted that in 1967, after finishing high school, he volunteered to join the army and fought on the Southern battlefield. After his discharge, he was sent to study at Hanoi University of Technology and then worked at the Department of Agriculture in Ha Bac province until his retirement. Currently, in Phu Man, the family of village head Le Dinh Hue is a prime example of academic achievement, with all four of his children holding university or postgraduate degrees. In just two years, Mr. Hue will celebrate his 60th anniversary as a Party member.
For the people of Phu Man today, the warmth of President Ho Chi Minh's letters still lingers. Following his teachings, Phu Man is known as a locality rich in a tradition of studiousness, with the nationally renowned "Nighttime Drumbeat for Encouraging Learning" movement. The village has 5,700 inhabitants, of whom more than 600 have a university degree or higher.
Mr. Nguyen Tai Hoa, Principal of Cho Secondary School, shared: “Continuing the tradition of the former Ham Son Secondary School, Cho Secondary School today constantly strives for excellence in teaching and learning, becoming one of the most prestigious educational institutions in the former Yen Phong district.”
For the past 57 years, Uncle Ho's letter of praise has been remembered, cherished, and treasured by the people of Phu Man. It has been a powerful source of inspiration in their journey to build a prosperous, beautiful, and civilized homeland, worthy of the trust that the beloved leader placed in the land and people of Phu Man. Just as the smooth and profound verses in the "Song of May" by poet Nghiem Dinh Thuong say: "Uncle Ho's letter of praise is like rain falling on a parched land / Those raindrops penetrate deep into every clod of earth / Making the village land more fertile / The children grow up to bring glory to their homeland…".
Source: https://baobacninhtv.vn/con-day-hoi-am-thu-nguoi-postid445913.bbg
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