The Hard Work of Khe Long 3

In mid-October, the weather in the Mo Vang highlands begins to get chilly. We left the commune center and followed a dirt road of more than 10 km to Khe Long 3 - one of the commune's five particularly disadvantaged villages. The village has 103 households of Mong ethnic group, isolated in the middle of the forest.

The trip started with a suspension bridge damaged by storm No. 10. The bridge surface was bent and broken, forcing us to hold on to the rope and walk step by step to the other side of the stream to continue our journey by motorbike.

“That is just the beginning of the journey, there are still many “challenges” ahead for those who want to come to Khe Long 3, journalists!”, Mr. Do Cao Quyen - Chairman of the People's Committee of Mo Vang commune, just revved up the “big” motorbike with a chain wrapped around the wheel, and told me about the journey to conquer the difficult road.

Indeed, the road to Khe Long 3 village is quite a challenge, especially for first-time visitors like me. The narrow dirt road is zigzag and winding along the steep mountainside. On one side is a cliff, on the other side is a deep abyss. Only those who are familiar with the road and have a steady hand dare to ride a motorbike into Khe Long 3. Struggling to walk and push, we finally reached Heaven's Gate with difficulty.

According to the introduction of the Chairman of Mo Vang Commune, this is the highest peak of the route. From here to the commune or to Khe Long 3 village, the only way is downhill. On the contrary, from those two places to reach Cong Troi, the vehicle only has to go in first gear and accelerate to the maximum.

Stopping at Heaven's Gate, we met Ms. Vang Thi Mang - a Mong woman from Khe Long 3 village - carrying two bundles of cinnamon bark from the forest back home. Each bundle can weigh up to several dozen kilograms.

Putting down her load to rest, she wiped her sweat and honestly shared: “If there were convenient roads, the people’s economy would have more favorable conditions to develop. Without roads, it would be difficult to do anything, officials! If you want to bring goods to the commune center to sell, it would be difficult, the road is bad and you can’t transport them, and renting would cost a lot of money. People hope to have concrete roads to travel and trade more conveniently. But now it’s too hard!”

Ms. Mang does not talk about big dreams. She just hopes for a road so that agricultural products do not have to be carried over mountains, so that each step is less arduous.

After a short break, we hurried on our way again, because if we didn’t go quickly, we wouldn’t be able to return to the commune before dark, and it might rain, making travel very dangerous. After a while of struggling with the winding, bumpy roads, we finally arrived at Khe Long 3 Kindergarten (Gold Mine Kindergarten) at the beginning of the village. In the combined classrooms, the chirping of children dispelled all the fatigue of the journey.

Teacher Truong Thi Thu - one of the two teachers assigned to teach at the school - is from Tan Hop commune, 20 kilometers away from the school. Although they are weak and fragile, every day, they still travel dozens of kilometers to the village, to the children in the highlands so that the classroom is always filled with the laughter of children.

The light bulb in the classroom suddenly went out, Ms. Thu smiled and said: "There has been no sunshine these days, so the "sky electricity" is weak, guys!". It turns out, one of the other difficulties of Khe Long 3 is that there is no national grid electricity. To have electricity for lighting, the school uses solar power. It is late autumn, there is little sunshine, so the energy is not enough to supply electricity for the whole day. Without electricity, the school's teaching and childcare activities are quite limited. Activities such as music and physical education are always in a "take advantage" state. Because these activities can only be done when there is electricity.

Teacher Truong Thi Thu shared: “Although the people in Khe Long 3 village are not well off economically, they are very concerned about their children's education, so we do not have to work too hard to get students to go to class. Now we just hope that the village has concrete roads and a national grid, which is the basic guarantee to help Khe Long 3 have favorable conditions for socio-economic development, including education.”

Sitting next to him, Mr. Vang A Chu - Secretary of Khe Long 3 village Party Cell also nodded: "People here live off cinnamon trees. If there is a convenient transportation route, they will sell for a higher price. When there is electricity and roads, we will encourage people to produce goods and develop the forestry economy."

Mr. Do Cao Quyen - Chairman of Mo Vang Commune People's Committee (far left of photo) visited and assessed the situation in Khe Long 3 village.

Mr. Do Cao Quyen - Chairman of Mo Vang Commune People's Committee said that in the 2025 - 2030 term, the commune identified infrastructure development, especially transportation, as one of three breakthroughs to eliminate the gap between villages. "Based on decentralization and budget decentralization, the commune will allocate investment resources to disadvantaged villages. The goal is that 100% of villages will have main roads to the center" - Mr. Quyen added.

Hope is further reinforced as the national grid pole system is under construction. It is expected that before the Lunar New Year of Binh Ngo 2026, the first lights will be on in Khe Long 3.

Saying goodbye to Khe Long 3 to return to the commune center before the rain fell. The story of Khe Long 3's hardships followed us all the way downhill. In a place without concrete roads or national grid electricity, every kilogram of cinnamon bark, every word, every step marked the will to overcome difficulties. Hopefully, one day when we return, Khe Long 3 will have less hardships.

Source: https://baolaocai.vn/nhoc-nhan-khe-long-3-post885436.html