Female village chief "lights fire" in the wilderness

One afternoon in early September 2025, when Ploang village suddenly became dark because of dark clouds coming from everywhere to cover the mountains around the village, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thi ran around the village, shouting: "Any family that has corn, rice, cassava or furniture left outside, please bring it inside and cover it carefully to avoid damage. When you're done, everyone remember to quickly gather with me to herd buffalo, cows, and goats up to the high mountains to avoid the floodwaters quickly sweeping away the livestock!" After Ms. Thi's announcement, each family in Ploang village quickly spread the information without the need for a loudspeaker system.

Portrait of Ploang village chief Nguyen Thi Thi - Photo: VM

“In this mountainous area, it only takes a heavy rain of about 20 minutes for floodwaters to rush here quickly and fiercely from everywhere. If there is no early preparation, there will be no time to react. Disaster prevention work for the people must be given top priority. In this Ploang village, in addition to the stilt house, the buffaloes, cows and goats are the valuable assets of the people. As the village chief, I have to be a true example so that the villagers will trust and follow me…”, Ms. Thi began the story.

Ploang village currently has 35 households, with 162 people, most of whom are Bru-Van Kieu people. Located more than 20km away from the commune center, Ploang village still has many "no"s, including: no national grid electricity, no phone signal, no medical station, and the road leading to the village is often isolated during heavy rains.

Village chief Nguyen Thi Thi confided: “For generations, the Bru-Van Kieu people in Ploang village have mainly lived off the forest by hunting and exploiting forest products. Therefore, many households have become reluctant “forest bandits”, always fearing violations of laws related to forest protection. Since being elected as village chief (in 2016), because I regularly attend commune People’s Committee meetings, I have had more opportunities to access the law and cultural life outside. With the responsibility of a person trusted by the villagers, I began to promote propaganda and mobilize relatives in my family, clan, and village to gradually give up deforestation and switch to developing livestock and farming. Those who are healthy enough are encouraged to work as hired workers peeling acacia bark, construction workers, and even go to other provinces to do all kinds of jobs. Up to now, all the people of Ploang village have given up deforestation and are confident in working and producing…”.

The school system in Ploang village has just been inaugurated and put into use in the 2025-2026 school year - Photo: VM

Since taking over as the head of Ploang village, Ms. Thi has been a pioneer in her own family: encouraging her husband and relatives not to drink too much alcohol, leading to deviations from the norm; actively developing production to improve life; promoting economic forest planting and participating in natural forest protection to preserve the environment, enhance the ability to prevent natural disasters, and improve livelihoods. Up to now, all 5 of Ms. Thi's children have gone to school, of which the third son, Ho Van Thuon (born 2001), has finished university. Currently, Ms. Thi's family owns 20 cows, 8 pigs, 4 goats and dozens of chickens and geese.

“The economy in Ploang village is increasingly prosperous, material and spiritual life has made great progress, border security and social order are guaranteed..., these achievements have had a great contribution from Ms. Nguyen Thi Thi. This female village chief is also an effective "bridge" between Ploang village and the Truong Son commune government to successfully implement many policies and guidelines of the Party, policies and laws of the State in the area. Thanks to always being a pioneer and exemplary in all activities and movements, Ms. Thi has "lit a fire" for many other households to learn and follow...", Chairman of the People's Committee of Truong Son commune Hoang Manh Ha said.

Along with setting an example from within her family, Ms. Thi also actively advised and coordinated with local authorities, police forces, border guards, philanthropists... to invest in building a solid concrete road connecting Ho Chi Minh road (West branch) to the village for Ploang village with a length of more than 6km; a school worth 1.3 billion VND with 2 classrooms and 1 separate, solid and spacious toilet, just put into use in May 2025; mobilizing all villagers to send their children to school at the right age and not drop out of school; gradually abandoning bad customs to build a civilized lifestyle.

Since the beginning of 2024, Ms. Thi has actively advised her superiors to remove 18 temporary, dilapidated houses in the village, contributing to raising the rate of temporary house removal for the whole village to more than 85%. More happily, currently, on average, each household in Ploang village owns 5 buffaloes, cows, 3 goats and dozens of poultry.

With enthusiasm, responsibility, the ability to effectively propagate and mobilize, inspire, and have a spirit of solidarity, Ms. Thi was highly trusted by the people of Ploang village and elected to hold the position of village chief for many consecutive terms...

Civilized

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/xa-hoi/202509/nu-truong-ban-thap-lua-noi-dai-ngan-0bf0288/