I will always remember that time.

Returning to Ham Thuan Bac in mid-August, the gentle breezes have gradually dispelled the intense midday heat.

Along National Highway 28 heading north, I began to see green spaces in dragon fruit orchards. Occasionally, bright red dragon fruits appeared, adding color to a land that was once relatively barren due to lack of water. Now, green almost completely covers the pathways leading to spacious, clean, and beautiful single-story houses... Someone said that Ham Thuan Bac is still in its infancy, only just beginning to entice travelers from afar to visit. As for me, I have lived on this steadfast land since the early days of national reunification because, in my opinion, Ham Thuan Bac district has changed astonishingly. Besides the unique charm of a peaceful and tranquil rural area, now mixed with the urbanized colors of a relatively modern new rural region with lush orchards of mangoes, longan, durian... which soften the midday sun, some specialized farming areas have developed garden and farm economies , cultivating short- and long-term industrial crops such as rubber, coffee, cassava, cotton...

Da Mi Lake, Ham Thuan Bac District. Photo: N. Lan

...I stopped in Binh Lam village, Ham Chinh commune. Here, the Ham Thuan Vocational Training School (*) has almost completely disappeared, but the old image still comes back to me with many memories (1977) of the three rows of classrooms with wooden walls and roofs thatched with coconut leaves, built by the students and teachers themselves... Here, I, along with colleagues from all over the country (Nghe An, Ha Tinh , Hue, Binh Thuan, Ho Chi Minh City...), shared hardships in the truly arid land of Ham Chinh, where the water source was almost completely gone (especially during the dry season). But amidst that hardship, the love and affection between colleagues and between the "simple rural" students was so warm and sweet. I still remember the content of the song I composed for the school's performing arts team to participate in the "Ham Thuan District Workers, Peasants, and Soldiers' Festival" at that time (1977), which was very optimistic and full of life:

- Anyone who returns to Ham Thuan, our hometown, will find a beautiful school, and students of the Vocational Training School, rejoicing in the victory of our homeland...

- Oh, Ham Thuan! How joyful it is to be here, with Mui Ne on one side and Ma Lam on the other.

- Oh, Ham Thuan! How joyful it is to be here, with Ta Cu on one side and Ta Zon on the other...

And then, at the end of 1978, the school was moved to the Lan San hill area (kilometer 12) near the district hospital in An Phu village, Ham Chinh commune... Here, the bonds of affection between colleagues, between teachers and students, grew even deeper and more affectionate on this sandy, rocky land. I still remember the poem: "Remembering An Phu" by Mr. Duong The Vinh - the school's literature teacher at that time:

An Phu is where my friends and I spent time together at school.

Sharing the hardships together from dawn till dusk.

The afternoon rain soaked the cramped room.

Lesson plan pages illuminated by starlight night after night…

...Hearing the church bells of Tam Hung echoing, I felt a pang of sadness and recalled images: Every afternoon, the students working in the Trung Tram forest or in the rice fields heavy with grain under the scorching sun... the image of the teachers from Hue sitting by the window, reminiscing about their families on rainy afternoons in rooms that were beginning to leak...

When Ham Thuan district was officially divided into two districts: Ham Thuan Bac and Ham Thuan Nam (1983), the school was officially named: Ham Thuan Bac High School. In early 1986, the school moved again to the area near the War Memorial (in Ma Lam town).

Today, Ham Thuan Bac High School is spacious and impressive, but it still retains a bit of the rustic charm of a school from its early days.

In Ham Thuan Bac today, farmers are no longer dependent on nature, unlike the past when there were only a few small dams irrigating a maximum of about 5,000 hectares, with infertile land and insufficient harvests, resulting in inconsistent yields. Today, Song Quao Lake (Ham Tri commune) is considered a masterpiece of nature. Human ingenuity has created a magnificent irrigation project of immense significance to the lives of the people of Ham Thuan Bac. Furthermore, Song Quao Lake receives additional water from the Dan Sach dam, a first-level tributary of the La Nga River, to irrigate over 23,000 hectares of rice paddies, specialized farming areas, and fruit orchards. Song Quao Lake also provides drinking water for Phan Thiet City. Moreover, Song Quao Lake has become an ideal ecotourism destination, alongside other tourist spots such as Da Mi Lake and Ham Thuan Lake, which were formed from the Ham Thuan - Da Mi hydroelectric project, creating a cluster of picturesque, beautiful, and romantic landscapes in Ham Thuan Bac.

Ham Thuan Bac district will always be with me, holding unforgettable memories from the early days of my teaching career. I hope that teachers and students from Ham Thuan Bac district will meet again on the occasion of the school's 50th anniversary (1976 - 2026) to reminisce about those unforgettable days...

(*) Ham Thuan Vocational High School (period 1976 - 1982: Ham Thuan District had not yet been separated).

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