Remembering dear Song Be

"… The rubber river of Be River is the mother's milk

Fruit trees in season fragrant durian

The bamboo forest used to be a war zone.

Now also strive to build the future..."

(Excerpt from "I will visit your hometown again" - Vo Dong Dien)

Before 1997, Song Be was the name of a province in the Southeast region (now Binh Duong and Binh Phuoc provinces), it was also the name of a river and a bridge.

Cầu Sông Bé nhìn từ cầu Phước Hòa (tác giả) — Song Be Bridge seen from Phuoc Hoa Bridge (author)

The River

Song Be is the largest and longest river flowing through Binh Phuoc and Binh Duong provinces, then flowing into Tri An area to Dong Nai river. Thac Mo hydroelectric lake was built from the upstream area of this river. The river is often associated with the childhood of many people. And I too, remember the Be river of my hometown:

Remember when I was little, I followed my brother to the river to fish;

Remember the dry days when I went with my sister to pick wild vegetables;

Remember the days when I went with my parents to visit relatives who made a living by fishing on the Thac Mo hydroelectric lake.

And remember… a lot!

Heroic Bridge

Song Be Bridge is a bridge built in 1925 - 1926 across the Be River in Phu Giao District, Binh Duong Province today. This is a vital bridge for traffic between the Southwest region, Ho Chi Minh City to the Central Highlands.

It is known that during the resistance war against the US: "With the attack of the army and people of Song Be province, the enemy in Phu Giao district retreated across the bridge to run towards Ben Cat district. On the way to escape, the enemy was intercepted and killed by our troops and guerrillas, killing dozens of them. On the afternoon of April 29, 1975, the enemy poured into Phuoc Hoa to find a way to escape. To avoid being pursued, the enemy commander ordered the mines to destroy Song Be bridge. By noon on April 30, 1975, Song Be province was completely liberated" (*). After the bridge broke, the province built a new bridge next to it and named it Phuoc Hoa bridge.

And love of land, love of people

In the past, my parents lived in Ben Cat, Tan Uyen, Song Be province, which was also the hometown of my ancestors. After liberation, the economy was difficult, so my parents had to leave their hometown to start a business in the new economic zone of Dong Phu (Binh Phuoc). At that time, they had to find a place with fields and gardens to hope to have enough to eat.

My parents also found a suitable place, built a house, and reclaimed land for cultivation. The house was made of wooden pillars, thatched roof, and the partitions were made of field clay mixed with straw, kneaded until soft, then built from bottom to top according to a bamboo frame (like a steel frame). After finishing the construction, while waiting for the wall to dry, they also watered it moderately and maintained it like cement concrete. When finished, the wall was windproof, blocking the sun and rain very well. My parents called it "dách đất" (earthen wall).

My mother told me that I was born at the height of the famine before the renovation period. There was a shortage of mother's milk, so I had to drink water to cook rice. While pregnant with me, my mother still went to work in the fields until the day I "fell out" and then dared to stop to "lay down". After I was over a month old, my mother "left" me with my second brother to look after and continued to go out to the fields, down to the fields. But... I was still hungry.

My father said he works from dawn to dusk, and can only take 3 days off each year for the traditional New Year and a few days off for his grandparents. But… he is still hungry.

I still remember, every time I went back to my ancestors' hometown in Ben Cat, about 60 km from Dong Phu where my family lived, it was a difficult time because the dirt road, when it rained, mud rose up to my ankles, there were potholes, and when it was sunny, the dust flew and painted the two rows of trees on the side of the road red like the color of shrimp bricks. But every time, my parents took turns letting me and my siblings go along so that we could be more familiar with our grandparents and aunts in our hometown.

The village where my parents lived was also the place where many uncles and aunts from the lowlands (today's Binh Duong area) chose to make a living. From the inner village to the outer village, there were about a dozen houses, nearly 2 kilometers long, some families lived in other families' houses because they did not have the conditions to build their own.

When I was in 4th grade, I wanted to buy a bicycle to go to school. My father let me buy it. Although my mother had enough money to buy it, it was money she had saved for when the weather changed, so she had to consider and decide not to buy it. I thought, "Maybe it's because my mother doesn't love me. She's so stingy. She's so annoying!" But not "My mother is someone who knows how to plan ahead; she's afraid that her husband and children won't have enough to eat; she's afraid that it's dangerous for me to ride a bike when I'm still young."

Uncle Nam, the neighbor, who also came from Binh Duong to work, knew about the matter so he brought some money over and told Mom: "Your aunt, take some money, add a little more to buy a car for him. When you have it, give it back to me." "Yes! Let me discuss it with the kids' father and then I'll let you know," Mom replied. Two days later, Mom bought a car for me with the money she had saved without receiving any help from Uncle Nam.

At that time, every house in the neighborhood would make banh xeo, banh beo or some other delicacy to give to each family to eat as a token of gratitude. Whether it was a simple death anniversary or a full New Year's Eve, neighbors would still invite each other to gather. If a family had a wedding, the whole neighborhood would come from the day before to help cook and clean. That was solidarity, showing the love of the village and the neighborhood. The same was true in labor, during the planting and harvesting seasons, neighbors would help each other do all the work from one house to another.

Now, life is more abundant, the once arduous land of Song Be has been rewarded with the success of development.

And the children here always remember and are grateful to the people and land of Song Be.

Thank you homeland for raising me to be a human!