Poverty Reduction - From Policy to Life: Petitions of Self-Respect and Sharing (Last Article)

Responding to the Prime Minister's movement "The whole country joins hands for the poor - No one is left behind", Tay Ninh not only promptly and adequately brings the Party and State's preferential policies to the poor, but also implements many good models and creative ways in poverty reduction. Accordingly, from 2021 to now, the province has reduced the number of poor households from 8,371 to 2,613 after the merger.

Last post: Letters of self-respect and sharing

Life is not without difficulties, but many poor and near-poor households still write applications to escape poverty. Then, surrounding those applications are touching stories about self-respect, perseverance to overcome difficulties and sharing, contributing to spreading countless kindness in life.

One day in mid-September, we had the opportunity to visit Binh Hiep commune to hear the story of hundreds of applications for voluntary poverty reduction. To prove the results of the local poverty reduction work, the commune People's Committee provided a list of nearly 100 poor and near-poor households who volunteered to write applications for poverty reduction so that we could choose any poor or near-poor household on the list to visit.

The first destination was Mrs. Tran Thi Van's family, who had just escaped poverty at the end of 2024. Seeing the commune officials come by, she and her husband warmly and happily invited them into their home and shared the reason for writing the application to escape near-poverty status.

Ms. Van said: “My family has enjoyed many preferential policies from the Party, the State and the support of philanthropists for the poor. Typically, the family was supported twice with breeding cows by former President Truong Tan Sang. Recently, we also received 80 million VND in support to build a Great Unity house. From the initial number of cows, my husband and I bred and then sold them, so our life has become more and more stable. Seeing that, at the end of the year, when the commune reviewed poor and near-poor households, my husband and I volunteered to write a petition to escape the near-poor status.”

Mr. Nguyen Van Hung and his wife, Mrs. Tran Thi Van (living in Binh Hiep commune), despite their old age, still volunteered to write a petition to escape from near-poverty status.

Looking at the house without valuable furniture, the only assets of the couple being a herd of cows, yet they still decided to write a petition to escape the near-poor household status, which is something no one would have thought of. Mr. Nguyen Van Hung (Mrs. Van's husband) affirmed: "My husband and I's life is not completely free of difficulties, but seeing that there are many households in more difficult circumstances than us, needing help, we applied to escape the near-poor household status so that the locality can give support to others."

Leaving Mr. Hung and Mrs. Van's family, we continued to visit Mr. Nguyen Van Chuong's family (who wrote an application to escape poverty in 2023). Mr. Chuong said: "In the commune, many people wrote applications to escape poverty, not just my family. The Party and the State have had too many preferential policies for the poor, especially policies to support capital and breeding stock to develop household economy . In my opinion, only those who are not diligent, have a mentality of waiting and relying on the Party and the State cannot escape poverty!"

Saying goodbye to Mr. Chuong's family, we returned to the Commune People's Committee to learn the "secret" to helping the poor escape poverty, not waiting for or relying on preferential policies. Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Binh Hiep Commune, Huynh Thanh Tam, said: "In implementing poverty reduction work, the commune has promoted information and propaganda to help the poor be aware of escaping poverty by their own will and determination. The commune has assigned specific tasks to each cadre to grasp the circumstances of the poor, thereby having appropriate poverty reduction measures in accordance with reality, absolutely not chasing after achievements or numbers, with the determination to reduce poverty as much as possible. Every year, the hamlets organize public and transparent assessments of poor and near-poor households, in which they highlight examples of households that voluntarily write applications to leave the category of poor and near-poor households. Up to now, the commune still has 28 poor households, accounting for 0.54%; it is expected that by 2030, the commune will have no more poor households."

When the economy gradually stabilized, Ms. Pham Thi Nhu Ngoc voluntarily wrote an application to escape near-poverty status.

In fact, in some localities, there are cases where people, although qualified to escape poverty, do not want to be removed from the list of poor households to enjoy preferential policies of the Party and the State. Particularly in Binh Hiep commune, writing applications to be removed from the list of poor and near-poor households has become a vibrant emulation movement among the poor. This is something to be respected and commended in a border commune like Binh Hiep.

In the charity house built by the hearts of philanthropists in 2023, Nguyen Thi Thuy Lieu and her husband (living in Nhon Ninh commune) have more motivation to strive to stabilize their lives and escape poverty sustainably.

Ms. Lieu confided: “When I moved out, my parents gave me 3,500 square meters of land to farm. Due to failure, my husband and I had to sell the land to pay off debt, work for hire, and do odd jobs to make a living. Difficulties piled up when I got a terminal illness, all living expenses in the family depended on my husband's salary, while our two children were still young and school-age. Luckily, the commune supported me with 40 million VND to build a charity house and borrowed 50 million VND from the Social Policy Bank to raise frog breeds. So, in the morning he went to work for hire, and in the afternoon we both took care of the frog breed tanks.”

With diligence, hard work and determination to overcome difficulties, Ms. Lieu's family's economy has become more stable and she and her husband have written an application to escape from near-poverty status in 2024. Ms. Lieu shared: "While we are young, healthy and willing to work hard, we will definitely escape poverty. Many people in more difficult circumstances than me have escaped poverty, so I have to consciously strive to improve myself. When my family was in difficulty, the local government enthusiastically helped, so writing an application to escape from near-poverty status is the right thing to do."

Once a near-poor household in the commune, Pham Thi Nhu Ngoc and her husband (living in Dong Thanh commune) also received attention from all levels, sectors and philanthropists. Then, when the economy gradually stabilized, Ngoc voluntarily wrote a request to escape the near-poor household status. Ngoc said: "During difficult times, the local government helped a lot, now that life is stable, we have to give that support to other circumstances."

Each application for poverty alleviation is a different story and situation, but they all have one thing in common: the will and determination to rise up and the same desire and aspiration to escape poverty and near-poverty. With the above "sweet fruits", hopefully in the coming time, Tay Ninh will continue to promote the achieved results and there will be more and more applications of determination, self-respect and sharing./.

Le Ngoc

Source: https://baolongan.vn/giam-ngheo-tu-chinh-sach-den-cuoc-song-nhung-la-don-cua-long-tu-trong-va-se-chia-bai-cuoi--a202696.html