Villages emerging from the darkness (part 1)

Lesson 1: The Nameless Village

Until the end of the last century, leper villages in the Central Highlands were all identified by two haunting words: “Leper village”. “Ia Boong leper village” (Chu Prong district, Gia Lai province) was not only nameless but the lives of the people here were all just a round zero…

I remember, it was a day at the beginning of the rainy season in 1999... After much hesitation, I finally decided to leave my old, dirt-covered motorbike on the top of the hill and walk into the village.

Stopping at the first house to ask, unexpectedly it was the house of Village Chief Ro Cham Biu. He was a small man; his hair was messy, his beard was scraggly. “I was “forced” to be the village chief because I was the only one in the village who knew how to read and write (I had studied “illiteracy eradication” for 9 months) and also because I couldn’t go anywhere” – he pointed to his paralyzed, cramped leg – “all day I just sat and watched the village”.

It can be said that the “history” of this miserable village began with Ro Cham Biu. He did not have leprosy, but his wife did, so she “captured” him. Chased away by the village, Ro Cham Biu and 5 other “like-minded” households came to this land to be “pilots” for other households to gather. “You said we were talking about the miserable? But if everyone is miserable, how can we compare?” – “Who has the least rice to eat, the fewest pigs and cows, for example?” – “But if everyone eats all the rice after a month, and no one has cows or pigs, how can we know who is better than anyone else?”...

The conversation between Ro Cham Biu and I had just begun like that when suddenly there was a noise outside the door. It turned out that, thinking that the cadres had come to the village to do something, a crowd of about 20 people, old and young, big and small, crowded to look in. "Ah, there are some people who are "examples" here" - Ro Cham Biu laughed - "The first one to suffer: Siu Piep...".

Mr. Ro Cham Biu

(in a wheelchair)

, one of the lucky people to witness the changes in Kho village.

Looking in the direction he was pointing, I shivered slightly. A woman of about 40, topless, wearing a faded dress; both hands had missing fingers, her eyes were glazed like someone after an epileptic seizure, leaning against the stairs. Ro Cham Biu said: “She suffered a lot, she had leprosy since she was young so she couldn’t catch a husband. With both arms amputated, what could she do? She ate whatever anyone gave her; when she ran out, she went to pick boiled cassava leaves. Her sister also had leprosy, her husband died, she suffered almost as much as she did... And over there, Mr. Siu Chor, the man with only two fingers left. It wasn’t leprosy, she blew up her hand while playing with firecrackers. His wife didn’t have leprosy either, but her child got sick so the village chased her away. She was old and couldn’t do anything, her children couldn’t rely on her, she had to dig for cassava to eat all year round... And over there, village elder Ro Lan A Roay. A Roay was slightly ill but his wife had leprosy and had both legs and arms amputated so she had to stay in one place. She had 3 children, one of them died; at 65 years old she had to support her wife and children, she was very hungry! That’s Mrs. Siu Le. Don’t ask her age, she doesn’t know. She had 5 children, 3 of them had caught their wives, 2 remained. I’ve never seen them eat.” rice, just cassava with salt. But there was not enough salt, I kept seeing him begging for it.

“Hunger is a suffering, but it is not as bad as being shunned by other villages” – Ro Cham Biu relit the cigarette that had gone out because of talking, took a puff and continued: “Out of 78 people in our village, only 18 are sick. However, in the surrounding villages, the whole village is sick. Children here go to T'nao village to ask to study, but the T'nao people chase them away. Young men who want to capture wives and husbands only target those in the village. The only other villager was Blo, who saw Siu Phun as so beautiful that he dared to “capture”. But after only two months, after hearing people’s threats, he left his wife and ran back to the village. They must have been worried that they wouldn’t be able to “capture” a wife or a husband, so they got married very early. Siu Phun was only 13 years old when she captured a husband, which is not the youngest. Many are even younger, like H’Pít, who was only 11 years old but “captured” 14-year-old Ro Ma Dan as her husband”…

“In 2006, “Ia Bong Leper Village” was newly named in the administrative directory: Kho Village. “Khơ” is the name of a stream near the village. This was also the time when the “village of darkness” began to emerge from the darkness” - Village Chief and Party Cell Secretary Ro Cham Phan briefly announced before taking me to the village.

Now, the village of Kho opens before my eyes with a wide concrete road dividing the village into two halves. The clusters of bougainvillea on the roadside flicker with red dots like they are on fire. The space is filled with the warm sunlight. The cicadas chirp in the cashew gardens, clusters of yellow berries peeking out. I try to find some remaining trace of my trip to the village more than 20 years ago, but there is none... "The road to the village back then was probably a path eroded by water. All the changes started from that road, uncle..." - Ro Cham Phan said.

And Phan said, that day, not only the entrance to the village, from the border with Chu Prong Rubber Company to here was a rugged country road, between two strips of wild forest. At the time, Road 663 was extended and paved, electricity was added, and then national target programs were prioritized for investment in Kho village. Then charity groups also came to support and help... Those concerns were like a cool breeze awakening Kho village. Cashew, rubber, coffee... trees that had never been in their minds took root in this land one by one. Thanks to "renewing thinking" according to the new way of doing business, Kho village patiently rose step by step. Up to this point, the village had 7/41 households doing well. For example, Mr. Ro Lan Phin's household has all kinds of valuable industrial trees: smallholder rubber, coffee, cashew; in addition, he also raises cows. Each year, his income is estimated at over 200 million VND...

The road to Kho village today.

Compared to the modest changes in living conditions,education is the most encouraging development area of ​​Kho village. From only one literate person, Kho village now has 30 primary school students, 6 secondary school students and 2 10th grade students: Siu Ka and Ro Cham Khay. These are also two typical examples of studiousness in the village. Ro Cham Khay is an orphan; his mother raised 2 children alone, although it was difficult, she still tried her best to raise her children to study. The school was in town, 15 km from home, Khay's mother rented a house for her children to stay in so that they could study as much as their friends. Siu Ka's mother used to have leprosy, the house had little land so her main source of income was working for hire. Although she had to cycle twice a day on a distance of nearly 30 km with steep slopes, scorching sun, dust... no obstacle could discourage Siu Ka's will to study.

What Ro Cham Phan told further confirmed my consistent thought that: the people of Kho village are trying to break free from the inherent constraints of the old life. In that fierce battle of consciousness, they have chosen the path of education as a breakthrough weapon. And this is probably also the greatest and most meaningful change for this village that once lived in the "darkness"...

Late in the afternoon, when I expressed my wish to meet the old patients, Phan said: “Only three are still alive. They are Ro Cham Biu, Ro Lan Phem, and Ro Cham Kluyn. Generally speaking, their children are now married; their lives are normal. The most miserable “old person” is only Mrs. Siu Piep, but she just passed away yesterday afternoon.”

Siu Piep – the name suddenly flashed in my mind the image of the most miserable, lonely and tragic woman in the village at that time! “Who performed the funeral for her?”, I asked curiously. “The whole village joined hands, uncle. Now people are not afraid anymore”, Phan said.

Listening to Phan, I suddenly felt that the "painful history" of the village back then was just a fairy tale from a long time ago...

(To be continued)

Lesson 2:

Ngoc Tan

Source: https://baodaklak.vn/phong-su-ky-su/202505/nhung-ngoi-lang-buoc-ra-tu-bong-toi-bai-1-bce106b/