Wish in Ngoi Ngu

Standing on a high hill at the end of the village, Mr. Luc Van Dinh, Head of Ngoi Ngu village, Bao Ai commune, worried: "Ngoi Ngu is one of the most remote and difficult villages in Bao Ai commune. Difficulties in land for production, lack of jobs, and weak electricity are obstacles in the socio -economic development of the village." With the village head, we visited households to better understand the difficulties and wishes of Ngoi Ngu.

Although it was already autumn, the sun was still shining brightly from early morning to late afternoon. In the unfinished house, Mrs. Luc Thi Tam sat amidst the mess, looking exhausted from the heat that seemed to increase many times; each of her grandchildren had a task, one chopping tubers, another peeling and grating cassava.

“We have several pigs and chickens at home, and every day we have to cut vegetables and grate cassava for them to eat. A few years ago, when there was electricity, my children also bought some equipment, including a vegetable and root cutting machine, but because the electricity was weak, they left it there and couldn’t use it,” said Luc Thi Tam.

Weak electricity is not only the story of Mrs. Tam's family but also of more than 100 households in Ngoi Ngu. Currently, the whole village has 1 transformer station. From the transformer station, there are only 2 0.4 kV lines bringing electricity to 2 residential areas, the remaining 2 residential areas do not have low voltage lines. Therefore, only more than 50/162 households can use electricity from the 0.4 kV line. To have electricity for daily life, households must contribute money to buy wires to bring electricity from the village transformer station to their homes or from the transformer station of a neighboring village 3-4 km away for use.

Going along the village roads, we saw that on both sides of the road there were many electric poles made of bamboo and iron, the electric wires were spread out like a "spider web" and swayed after each rain, posing a potential safety risk. In addition, due to the long distance, the electricity that reached the households was weak, only enough for lighting and using small fans, other appliances such as televisions, refrigerators, and air conditioners could not be used.

A few years ago, Mr. Ban Van Yen’s family also pooled money with a few households to bring electricity from the transformer station in Ngoi Ngan village for use. Along with that, he bought many essential electrical appliances to serve the family’s daily needs, including a refrigerator… However, since buying it, the refrigerator has had to be “covered” due to low voltage and cannot be used. Mr. Yen is planning to sell the refrigerator, but the buyer offered too low a price so he has not decided yet.

Mr. Ban Van Yen confided: “Without electricity, people suffer many disadvantages, and they cannot invest in machinery to develop their family economy. Even the electric fan sometimes runs very fast, but during peak hours, it sometimes rotates and sometimes stops. People in the village just hope to have a stable electricity grid to improve their lives.”

In addition to the difficulty of electricity, Ngoi Ngu village also faces many difficulties in economic development. Currently, the rice cultivation area is only about 4.5 hectares, of which only 2 hectares are above the water level of the hydroelectric plant. The rice areas below the water level are very precarious, for many years people have lost everything due to prolonged heavy rains, the water level of the hydroelectric reservoir rises when the rice has not yet ripened or been harvested. In addition, in recent years, due to the impact of storms, many rice areas of the village have been buried by landslides, making it difficult to restore production.

Along with the difficulty of rice land, the village's forest land is also very little. "Looking at it, the whole village is just mountains and forests, but the owners are not local people" - Village Chief Luc Van Dinh said. Ngoi Ngu has 162 households, but only 60 hectares of production forest belong to the villagers, the remaining more than 160 hectares of forest belong to Yen Binh Forestry One Member Co., Ltd. To have land for production, people have to rent forest land from the Company.

Little arable land, difficult living conditions, and no local jobs are the reasons why many people of working age in the village have to choose to go far away to work. According to statistics, about 90/162 households have people working far away, some families have both husband and wife working. People mainly go to Bac Ninh province to work for companies and factories. When each couple goes to work, they cannot bring their children with them, so they often leave them to their grandparents to care for and raise. Therefore, raising children is also very difficult. Many villages only have the elderly and children left.

Two years ago, the main roads of Ngoi Ngu village were invested in concrete, however, the new road was only 3 meters wide. In practice, many problems arose, especially in transporting goods and purchasing agricultural and forestry products because the narrow road made it difficult to move. In addition, the main road to Khe Dau hamlet with 20 households was often flooded at the beginning of the village due to the hydroelectric power plant's water level. The village called for social investment to open a new road to Khe Dau, nearly 2 kilometers long. Although not deeply submerged, the newly opened road is still a dirt road with steep, winding sections, making it inconvenient for traffic.

While writing this article, we had the opportunity to talk with some people in Ngoi Ngu village. We learned that the village has repeatedly reported to leaders at all levels and expressed opinions in meetings with voters, hoping that the State would have solutions to solve the difficulties. However, the above difficulties and problems have not yet been overcome.

Village chief Luc Van Dinh said thoughtfully to us when saying goodbye: I just hope all the difficulties of Ngoi Ngu can be resolved so that people's lives will be less difficult.

Source: https://baolaocai.vn/mong-uoc-o-ngoi-ngu-post881868.html