New Year in Bản Giáng

The road leading to Ban Giang village, Trung Son commune, Tuyen Quang province, is bustling with people. Once a particularly disadvantaged and remote village, Ban Giang now boasts a new look, with a smooth concrete road, electricity reaching sturdy houses, and the lives of its people improving day by day.

Children in Ban Giang village are able to go to school.

The new spring brings joy, faith, and the aspiration for progress to the Nung ethnic people in this region.

Ban Giang village currently has 44 households, of which nearly 90% are Nung ethnic minority people. It used to be one of the most remote and difficult villages in Trung Son commune. Previously, the only road leading into the village became muddy and slippery whenever it rained. Travel, trade, and daily life were extremely difficult for the residents.

In recent years, thanks to resources from ethnic policies, national target programs, and the attention of the local government, Bản Giáng has gradually transformed. The national power grid has reached the village, and mobile phone coverage extends throughout, creating conditions for people to access information, develop production, and improve their living standards.

At the end of 2024, the road from the center of Trung Son commune to Ban Giang village was renovated, its slope reduced, widened, and paved with concrete, allowing cars to reach the school and every house in the village. This has made transporting agricultural products and connecting trade with neighboring areas much easier.

Excited by the changes in his hometown, the Party Secretary of Ban Giang village, Then Van Hien, said: “Now the road to Ban Giang is much closer. With roads and electricity, people can travel easily, trade agricultural products more conveniently, and are no longer subjected to price manipulation as before. More importantly, the way people think and do things has changed significantly.”

The socio-cultural life of Bản Giáng has also seen many positive changes. The people proactively maintain environmental hygiene, regularly clean village roads, and build livestock pens away from their homes to prevent disease outbreaks and protect water sources. Outdated customs such as child marriage and consanguineous marriage are gradually being eradicated. To date, all children in the village attend school; the rate of people participating in health insurance has reached 100%.

The changes in Bản Giáng also stem from the self-reliance and self-improvement spirit of the people. Gradually abandoning the mindset of waiting and depending on others, the people have proactively engaged in labor and production to rise out of poverty.

The family of Mr. Then Van Luong is one of the exemplary households embodying this spirit. Mr. Luong said that previously, their lives mainly depended on slash-and-burn agriculture, resulting in unstable income. With improved transportation and access to information and production techniques, his family boldly invested in planting forests and bamboo shoots. Currently, his family owns more than 8 hectares of acacia and bamboo, and their lives are becoming increasingly stable. In 2024, the family officially escaped poverty, built a spacious new house, and bought a car for convenient transportation and production.

For Ms. Luc Thi Toi's family, the joy of the Lunar New Year is even more complete as they have just completed their new, spacious house. "Before, we lived in a wooden house, and every rainy season was very scary. With the support from the program to eliminate temporary and dilapidated houses, along with our savings, my family was able to build a sturdy house," Ms. Toi said emotionally.

Ms. Lu Thi Nhon, from Ban Giang village, shared that for the Nung people, wearing new clothes is both a way to celebrate the spring festival and a way to leave behind the hardships of the old year, hoping for a prosperous new year and good health for the family. Traditional dresses and blouses, embroidered and sewn by hand, are even more meaningful, showing respect to ancestors during Tet. Even before Tet, women in the village have been busy embroidering and preparing new dresses and blouses.

According to Comrade Nguyen Manh Ha, Chairman of the People's Committee of Trung Son commune, the locality has always identified infrastructure development coupled with raising awareness and changing the production mindset of the people as a key task. The results in Ban Giang village clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of ethnic policies and national target programs, while also showing the efforts and proactive spirit of the people. In the coming time, the commune will continue to work alongside the people of Ban Giang village and other villages to complete infrastructure, support production, and gradually improve the material and spiritual lives of ethnic minorities, so that each spring, the highland villages will become more prosperous.

FINAL VICTORY

Source: https://nhandan.vn/xuan-moi-o-ban-giang-post943965.html