O Baby "makes" woman

1. The road is winding, but when you get to Huong Van ward, ask about O Be, a woman, and many people will know her. After more than 30 years of working for the association, there is no corner in this ward where she is not present. When we first met, I was surprised, O Be was only in her 50s, looked very young but was already a grandmother. She smiled and said that thanks to working for the association, she became younger. O has been the leader of the women's group since 1990, when she first got married. Then she said, she was very smart when she was young, I saved up to buy a cassava cutting machine for about 3 million and formed a group of about 10 sisters. O was in charge of contacting and purchasing goods, the sisters in the group cut and dried them, and each day she paid each sister from 120 to 150 thousand VND. There were days when her group cut over 2 tons of cassava roots.

In 2014, O Be was supported by the local government and the Women's Union to build a farm to raise more than 200 pigs. O said: "At that time, every household raised pigs, but the food supply was scarce. I immediately thought of opening a livestock agency, supplying livestock and poultry feed." Then O founded the "People who love livestock farming" club, initially with 26 women, gradually increasing to 40 participants. O Be "carried her books" to school, then returned to instruct the women on how to vaccinate livestock and poultry; provide cheap food, find markets for products... Now the number of households raising pigs has decreased, mainly raising chickens and ducks, but the women still maintain this club.

Whatever model the women's association launches, O Be's association also participates. Women in Lai Bang mainly work in the fields and forests, and their lives are difficult. They want to participate in association activities but are shy, so someone has to initiate it. I like the "Piggy Bank" savings model, which has fed the "pig" nearly 30 million VND. The "Bamboo Savings Tube" has only been implemented for a year. It's a small amount but a big heart. Every month, the women put in a tube from 10,000 to 20,000 VND, which is almost 3 million VND to support poor women. Women's groups also built a "Charity Rice Jar" model to support single mothers; every month, the association supports 30 cans of rice for the elderly in difficult circumstances. The good thing about the Lai Bang association is that it mobilizes the creation of a local savings fund. Up to now, the association has built a savings fund of more than 160 million VND for 52 poor and disadvantaged women to borrow at low interest rates to develop their economy .

2. What I “enjoyed most” was when O Bé told me about being the head of a savings group and borrowing capital from the social policy bank. She managed more than 4 billion VND for women to borrow, but there was never any loss. Many people in the village had the idea of ​​not wanting to escape poverty. O Bé went to their homes to mobilize them, and when it was difficult, she would spend her own money to give them health insurance cards and show them how to do business. So many people really escaped poverty, and escaped poverty sustainably. O Bé’s association has about 120 women who have been able to borrow capital. Each woman can borrow from 80 to 150 million VND to invest in growing crops and raising livestock. From the 7th to the 9th of each month, borrowers bring money to pay in full. O smiled and said, “You can’t be lazy when paying your debts with me; if you are sick and can’t pay on time, you have to have a valid reason; you have to manage the capital source tightly so that other women have the opportunity to borrow capital.”

O Be also mobilized female members to make a 300m long flower road. Then, she carried out the project "Lighting up the countryside" launched by the Women's Union of the town. In 2022, the Women's Union of Lai Bang 2 residential group launched the model "Organic waste treatment using indigenous microorganisms (IMO)". O Be was elected by the women as the group leader. The union also launched the "Green House" model to collect scrap to raise funds to help poor and disadvantaged female members. O and the union mobilized women to save 10,000 VND/member each year to build the Nguyen Thi Dinh scholarship fund to help poor and studious students.

How come Lai Bang has nearly 300 women and more than 200 women participating in the association's activities? O smiled, thanks to the model "Live happily, live healthily", which encourages women to practice folk dancing. O usually chooses a time from 8pm every day, after the women come home from work and have finished eating, then they participate. At first, many women were hesitant. Rural women have long been "busy from head to toe" with the fields and gardens, but now in the evening they gather at the village cultural house to practice dancing, which many husbands are not used to. If any woman is too difficult, she calls O Bé. No one knows what O says to her husbands, but I heard many women say that in the evening, a man comes down to help his wife prepare dinner so that her mother can go to a performance with others.

The way O Be speaks always attracts the person opposite. I imagine that the movements that O Be undertakes to implement are all effective because of her integrity, frankness and scientific arrangement ability. When asked about the secret of how to mobilize, O Be smiles gently, learning a lot through training sessions to apply science and technology; being nurtured in the ideology and morality of Ho Chi Minh. I learned one thing from Uncle Ho, that is to be close to the people, accompanying the poor women, then all the work will be solved. O Be often follows the direction of the Lai Bang residential group Party cell, as well as coordinates with the organizations in the group to effectively implement movements.

3. Ms. Ho Thi N. has a husband with cancer and a child with mental illness. Ms. N. is mentally depressed and does not want to contact anyone. O Be encouraged her and discussed with her how to borrow 20 million VND in policy capital to buy an incense making machine. Then she helped find a market for the incense. Currently, Ms. N.'s family has a stable income. Every night, O Be and her husband take turns, the husband goes down to keep Ms. N.'s husband company, and O Be invites Ms. N. to practice folk dancing, which makes her spirit noticeably better. Not only Ms. Ho Thi N., in Lai Bang, many women in Lai Bang come to O Be for any problem.

O Bé has been able to do many things for the women's movement because she has a strong support system. Her husband, Ho Kha Luy, always supports his wife in everything. Therefore, many people jokingly said that they should admit Mr. Luy into the women's association. O Bé said that having a husband who knows how to share and share hardships makes everything easier. Sometimes, to help the poor and the sick, she also needs a man to support her, and he always accompanies her as the most active member. After more than 30 years of working in the association, mobilizing women to do many programs, O Bé has been awarded many certificates of merit from all levels. In 2022 alone, she received a certificate of merit from the Central Committee of the Vietnam Women's Union to honor exemplary women. Behind O Bé's efforts, there is always the figure of a man who is the pillar of the family.

When asked if she had any concerns about the movement's activities, Ms. Bé said that everything had gone into order. In the past, it was very difficult to mobilize members to join the Women's Union, because they did not have smartphones, and if they needed anything, they had to go to each place to mobilize. Now, the women are scattered in 6 groups, about 3km apart, but just send a message to Zalo and they can be summoned immediately. The only thing is, out of the entire association's 200 members, only 120 have received policy loans. Many people are concerned and want to access loans for investment. I know that Ms. Bé's "carrying the jail" job will continue for a long time. Although she has only received a subsidy of 300,000 VND/month since 2022, for Ms. Bé, being able to contribute and accompany the women is not only a responsibility but also a joy and happiness...

Source: https://baothuathienhue.vn/doi-song/o-be-lam-phu-nu-127977.html