Unity of will, steadfast determination

Pa Ve Su Border Guard Station performs the task of managing the area of ​​Bum Nua commune with more than 31.5km of border line adjacent to China, which is the most distant border commune of Lai Chau province. This place has complex terrain, mostly mountains and forests, harsh climate, natural disasters, flash floods, landslides occur continuously, traffic is isolated, the life of ethnic minorities is still difficult, the rate of poor and near-poor households accounts for up to 50%.

According to the decision of the Lai Chau Provincial People's Committee on continuing to implement the Program to eliminate temporary and dilapidated houses in phase 2, there are more than 1,600 poor and near-poor households in the province eligible for support to repair or build new houses; of which Bum Nua commune is supported to build 239 new houses. Implementing the decision of the Provincial People's Committee, the Lai Chau Provincial Border Guard Command assigned Pa Ve Su Border Guard Station to build 12 new houses in Tho Ma village. In phase 1 alone, Pa Ve Su Border Guard Station participated in building 36 new houses with a total of 625 working days and presented many essential household items to the people, worth tens of millions of VND...

Officers and staff of Pa Ve Su Border Guard Station help people in Tho Ma village, Bum Nua commune (Lai Chau) build new houses.

Lieutenant Colonel Le Ba Thao, Political Commissar of Pa Ve Su Border Post, boasted to us: "Coming to Bum Nua at this time, you will see the roofs of the houses of the people covered with green and red corrugated iron standing out among the mountains and forests. Many households no longer have to live temporarily in dilapidated houses. With the efforts of the unit's officers and soldiers to overcome difficulties, by early November 2025, all 12 newly built houses for the people in Tho Ma village were basically completed, many households have moved in with joy."

While chatting, Mr. Thao was rummaging through his desk for a document that he said was the "secret" for the unit to finish eliminating temporary and dilapidated houses ahead of schedule. That "secret" was the specialized resolution of the Party Committee of Pa Ve Su Border Guard Station issued at the beginning of 2025 - a "correct, accurate, timely" resolution, linking the elimination of temporary houses with the implementation of the unit's political tasks.

Officers and staff of Pa Ve Su Border Guard Station help people in Tho Ma village, Bum Nua commune (Lai Chau) build new houses.

Lieutenant Colonel Le Ba Thao confided: After receiving instructions from above, the Party Committee and the Station commander clearly identified that helping people eliminate temporary and dilapidated houses is an important political task of the Station in 2025 and launched an emulation movement for cadres, party members, employees and soldiers to respond and strive to complete. To concentrate resources and concentrate leadership efforts to carry out the task, the Party Committee issued a thematic resolution and clearly defined the goals, targets and implementation measures in each stage; assigned cadres to be in charge of each difficult area according to the motto "clear people, clear work, clear results".

The resolution's goal is not only to help people have housing, but also to help them build a new way of life; to strengthen their confidence, to motivate them to escape poverty, to stay on their land and villages, to actively participate with the Border Guard in maintaining security and order in the border area and firmly protecting national border sovereignty . With the same resolution, all activities are united in one will and one determination. The Party Committee closely follows the leadership; the commanders stick to the work to urge and deploy; the officers and soldiers stick to the people and villages to make efforts to implement. The unity from leadership to action is the "golden key" to bring the Pa Ve Su Border Guard Station to the finish line ahead of schedule.

In line with the goals and targets of the resolution, in both phase 1 and phase 2, Pa Ve Su Border Guard Station has established working groups, each group of 10 officers and soldiers, to go to each household to help people build houses. From demolishing old houses, leveling the ground, covering the foundation, building new house frames to mixing mortar, pouring concrete, building walls, welding iron, shooting corrugated iron roofing sheets... all are done directly by the brothers in the Station. There are working groups that stay in the village for a whole month, eating, living, and working with the people from early morning to late at night... Not only directly helping the people build new houses, the brothers also take the opportunity to propagate policies, disseminate laws, and mobilize people to eliminate bad customs... so that each new house is not only a place to live, but also the starting point of a new, more civilized, and more stable lifestyle.

Firmly support the people's hearts

It is not easy to make the goals and targets of the resolution become reality, especially in the condition that the Station cannot mobilize all its forces to help people eliminate temporary and dilapidated houses, and it is even more impossible to loosen its leadership and direction in implementing central political tasks. Moreover, many places in Bum Nua commune, including Tho Ma village, are still very difficult, people live in temporary houses with roofs made of leaves and walls made of bamboo and rattan. Some villages are far from the commune center, vehicles cannot enter or exit, and they have to walk over mountains, through forests, and wade through streams continuously for many hours to get there; the terrain is fragmented, and transporting construction materials is extremely difficult.

Officers and staff of Pa Ve Su Border Guard Station help people in Tho Ma village, Bum Nua commune (Lai Chau) build new houses. Photo: DUC MINH

Senior Lieutenant Lo Van Kham, Head of the Administrative Control Team, Pa Ve Su Border Guard Station, said: “In some villages and hamlets far from the commune center, people have little contact with outsiders. In the first days, seeing many soldiers coming to the village made them feel bewildered. But after a period of “eating, living, working, and speaking the ethnic language together”, people gradually understood the soldiers better, knowing that the soldiers came to help build houses for the people, hoping that they would have a decent house to stabilize their lives. In the following days, without anyone telling anyone, one day someone brought the soldiers a bundle of bamboo shoots, another a chicken, another cardamom. Now, when the Border Guard comes to the village, it is like returning to a family member.”

During the journey to clear temporary houses in Bum Nua, the harsh weather and rugged terrain were huge challenges for the working groups of Pa Ve Su Border Guard Station. Days of prolonged heavy rain and landslides paralyzed inter-village roads, and the steep, slippery dirt roads required great effort to climb up. However, for many months, officers and soldiers in the Station, carrying countless loads of bricks, cement, steel... struggled to overcome the slopes to the assembly point. The construction materials were divided into small sacks, carried on their backs to crawl over the slippery slopes, or tied with ropes to pull over the jagged rocky slopes to the construction site...

Senior Lieutenant Lo Van Kham recalled: “One day, while transporting materials, there was heavy rain and the flood rose quickly. The working group had to set up temporary tents under tarpaulin, eat rice balls, and drink spring water. Although tired, everyone was happy because the results were that each house was solid and sturdy, gradually taking shape, then completed and inaugurated in the joy of the people.”

Since the beginning of 2025, the price of raw materials and labor costs have increased, so with a support budget of 60 million VND/new house, it will be very difficult to complete the construction and completion process. To completely build a house that meets the criteria of a hard roof, hard floor, hard walls, the working groups of Pa Ve Su Border Guard Station, in addition to contributing hundreds of working days directly to build the house, also proactively help people build additional ancillary works; give people household items; mobilize local businesses to support additional construction materials... Simple but meaningful work of the border guards.

By mid-November 2025, 100% of households eligible for support to remove temporary and dilapidated houses had been moved into solid houses directly built by the working group of Pa Ve Su Border Guard Station. In each new house of the people, a portrait of President Ho Chi Minh presented by the Border Guard was hung in the most prominent position. The unit also took from the production increase fund to buy essential household items for 12 households in the village when they moved into their new houses.

Talking to us in the new house that was inaugurated in early November 2025, Mr. Phan Ha Cho, a resident of Tho Ma village, was moved: “The soldiers not only came to build houses but also guided people in agricultural production and building a new way of life. During the days when the soldiers were in the village, every night they sat by the fire, taught children to sing, and had cultural exchanges with the people. The soldiers wore green uniforms, but their hearts were like those of the village. The soldiers were like relatives of Tho Ma village! Looking at the new house, I was filled with tears, seeing how life had changed so much, I never thought my life would be like this today...”.

From the resolution to the houses full of military-civilian affection in Bum Nua is a journey full of hardships and difficulties for the officers and soldiers of Pa Ve Su Border Guard Station. The new houses in Bum Nua today are not only real homes, but also symbols of the steadfast military-civilian affection, the crystallization of the correct leadership through resolutions, actions, and the hearts of the soldiers in green uniforms. It is also the journey for the Border Guard to continue building a people's border defense posture, keeping the "people's heart support" at the Fatherland's fence./.

    Source: https://www.qdnd.vn/cuoc-thi-viet-vung-buoc-duoi-co-dang/tu-nghi-quyet-den-nhung-ngoi-nha-am-tinh-quan-dan-1014367