From 'The Wild Field' to 'The Endless Field'

I have been here since the early years of the "Wild Field" of Binh Phong Thanh (Moc Hoa district) where pharmacist Nguyen Van Be (Mr. Ba Dat Phen) was granted a license to exploit and plant medicinal forests and establish the Dong Thap Muoi Center for Research, Conservation and Development of Medicinal Plants. At that time, this place was deserted and harsh with countless difficulties and hardships. The first generation of people who stayed, from a few dozen, gradually left until there was no one left, only pharmacist Be as director and agricultural engineer Lam Viet Loi as deputy director "struggled" with the dense alum soil, forcing it to "release" the treasure that nature was hiding somewhere, and then today...

The pioneer still lives somewhere...

So 40 years have passed since he first crossed the "Wild Field" with its vast expanse of wild grass and trees, without a single person or roof. He dug up the soil to build a foundation to cover his hut, starting a business with his friend Loi, an agricultural engineer. The two companions headed towards the future...

Today, I stood in a daze before the memorial stele erected next to the 6-storey tower, looked up and read the epitaph: “In 1983, he - a war invalid - a university pharmacist - a communist soldier put aside the promises of a bright future in a comfortable city, temporarily leaving his wife, comrades, colleagues and two beloved children. He returned here with only one thing in his heart: a passion for nature.

Memorial stele of Mr. Ba Dat Phen

He turned this desolate alum land into an ecological treasure of Dong Thap Muoi with a vast fragrant cajuput forest, with many strange and green herbs; rare birds, seeing the good land, also came here to take refuge.

He has provided the pharmaceutical industry with valuable products from his arduous research, from plants grown with his own sweat and tears.

On September 5, 2016, the 5th day of the 8th month of the Binh Than year, he passed away forever, but his passionate heart and blood continued to nurture the land he loved. Here, the people still call him by his familiar name: "Mr. Ba Dat Phen".

Vietnam honors you - Mr. Nguyen Van Be - Hero of Labor, we will forever be grateful and miss you. BROTHER BA!”.

The heartfelt words of the generation who continued the career of Mr. Ba Dat Phen have erected a stele to record such gratitude - they consider him as still present here. They "remember the source of the water they drink", thinking that they must live up to the merits of the pioneer who paved the way, turning the "Wild Field" into the "Endless Field"...

"Endless Field"

On the weekend, the General Director of Dong Thap Muoi Medicinal Herbs Research, Conservation and Development Joint Stock Company (also an eco- tourism resort and health care area) - Dr. Bui Dac Thang and Deputy General Director - Dr. Thai Thanh Thao were busy receiving many groups of guests coming to visit and work. We arrived late in the evening, and both of them received us as scheduled. Mr. Thang immediately said: "Let's hurry up and work, because early tomorrow morning, Dr. Thao and I have to go to Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy to study for a master's degree."

Then he joked: “I am 53 years old, I have to catch up with my son who is studying for his PhD in the US, trying to keep up with him!”. Mr. Thang and Dr. Thao are classmates. Dr. Thao is older and studied 3 years ahead of him. After graduating, Dr. Thao worked for a pharmaceutical company of the Ministry of Health in Ho Chi Minh City until retirement age, and was called by Dr. Be to work here, having to be away from her family in Ho Chi Minh City but still coming home on holidays. At the age of 64, she still looks as young as if she were 40.

Pharmacist Bui Dac Thang at the medicinal herb processing workshop

Mr. Thang said that when he was a student, he had a very serious hemorrhoid disease, which he had been treated for many years without being cured. When he came here to do an internship, he was cured by Dr. Be with only a medicinal herb refined from the fish mint plant. Both Mr. Thang and Ms. Thao considered Dr. Be as a teacher and respected his predecessor very much. It is understandable because everything that exists in the land known as "Endless Field" today bears the mark of Mr. Ba Dat Phen. His life story is like a legend: As a child, he worked as a servant, herded buffalo, and did not have a single word of wisdom. He went to the countryside to meet the revolution, asked to work as a liaison, a guerrilla, and was taught by his uncles and brothers to learn how to read and write. At the age of 18, he participated in a battle, was seriously injured and had to be sent to the North for treatment. 5 years in the hospital were 5 years of "studying hard".

The country was unified, and when he returned to the South, Mr. Be passed the entrance exam to the Faculty of Pharmacy - Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy. Graduating as valedictorian, Dr. Be was retained by the school as a lecturer. He then studied to become a snake doctor, before becoming the Director of Moc Hoa Cajeput Oil Enterprise. "The information that the Eastern European socialist bloc collapsed, causing Mr. Be's Moc Hoa Cajeput Oil Enterprise to lose its market and have to dissolve, is not true. The reason was that the manual cajeput essential oil distilleries secretly mixed kerosene in, and were discovered by customers, so they sent it back, causing Dr. Be to suffer a bad reputation..." - Mr. Thang explained. Mr. Ba Dat Phen is upright, always protecting his reputation. After that, he launched the popular Moc Hoa Tram product.

Product display cabinet of Dong Thap Muoi Medicinal Research, Conservation and Development Joint Stock Company

Moc Hoa Tram is a brand of hundreds of essential oil products extracted from medicinal plants on the "Endless Field", including many plants transplanted from many places in the country. In particular, the tea tree transplanted from Indonesia by Dr. Be, and the Peruvian chili tree from South America are precious medicinal resources for processing many types of medicine for the company. Mr. Thang opened the cabinet to show hundreds of types of medicine produced at the Moc Hoa Tram Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Plant Factory, some of which are used to spray in bedrooms, offices, etc. with a pleasant, refreshing scent, eliminating bad odors, repelling flies, mosquitoes, insects, etc. The raw material for processing is from lemon eucalyptus leaves grown in abundance here. Every time the cajeput essential oil distillation workshop is in operation, the smoke from the distillation furnaces spreads over a large area, making it impossible to find the annoying buzzing mosquitoes. In the 80s of the 20th century, when Provincial Road 49 (later National Highway 62) was just a dirt bank, there were dozens of artisanal furnaces distilling essential oils from cajuput trees, cooked in barrels, the smoke coming out was so thick that it made "mosquitoes chirp like flutes" disappear. I told Mr. Thang that I went to Hue and saw people selling cajuput oil piled up on stalls, all in 1 liter bottles, 3-5 liter bottles. He smiled and gave me a bottle of Moc Hoa Tram branded massage oil the size of a thumb. He said Moc Hoa Tram is Moc Hoa cajuput...

Quang Hao 's pen

(to be continued)

Next: Medicinal forest bathing tourism

Source link