Mai’s Travel Journal: Chapter 6 – Ha Giang

Written by Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai
Thursday, 05 October 2006

Saturday, 18 September, 2004
4:30 am
The yard in front of the day care centre stirred very early. Today, the guys and girls of volunteer Youth Union 13C were heading back to Hai Phong. I’d had another stroke of luck – I was getting a lift with some of the guys to the Doan Hung turnoff, to catch the bus to Ha Giang village (as there’s no direct route from Lao Cai to Ha Giang).

11:45am
As the vehicle pulled up at the Doan Hung turnoff, the bus was just pulling out. The guys with me called out and waved. A couple of motor-cycle taxi drivers there urged me to run after it, as it would be quite difficult to get to Ha Giang. I decided to race after it, without delay, and jumped on a motor-cycle taxi. Without further delay, I was on the bus to Ha Giang, at 12 noon.

3:pm
Suddenly, I realized that the bus I was in only had 3 other passengers, and that it was traveling the Nam Dinh -Tuyen Quang route. This was confirmed by the driver, who said, “Get off at the bus station and change to the Thai Nguyen – Ha Giang route, there’ll still be a bus there. I’ll get you there, you don’t have to pay anything extra at all. I’ve got so few passengers”. I changed buses yet again.

6:30pm
Buses coming into Ha Giang have to get washed before entering the village. It’s one way that Ha Giang keeps its environment clean. Outside of the village, the atmosphere is dusty and noisy due to the road; inside, it’s tranquil and clean.

It was really hard to make contact with the Provincial Party at this time, so I tracked down the People’s Committee “Yen Bien” hotel myself, for a safe sleep (how strange and new everything is!)

Sunday, 19 September, 2004
I didn’t know how long I’d slept; when I opened my eyes, the sun had already been shining for who knows how long. I felt exhausted – I just wanted to keep sleeping, I was so tired. After not having been able to make contact with anyone at the Party office, I turned my mind to what I would do to kill time here. I decided to look around the village.

Monday, 20 September 2004

6:30 am
I took my backpack and went to the Province’s Youth Union office, waiting for people to come. At 7:00, Ms Lien – chief of the secretariat of the Province’s Youth Union – arrived. She suggested me to visit Bac Quang and Vi Xuyen district but I asked her to contact and introduce me to Meo Vac district. I wanted to come to the place whose name cemented with poverty and was mentioned by everyone.

On waiting for Ms My – Secretary of the Province’s Youth Union, I thought of the area that each person of Ha Giang mentioned the name together with the saying “living on rock, dying buried in rock”. I told this initial thought of Ha Giang to the Youth Union Secretary of Meo Vac district. He just smiled: “we are trying to live with rocks and make them green”. He was talking about the plan of planting grass on rock, saying that Pa Vi was typical among implementing communes. After talking with people, I was sure about coming to Meo Vac. I quickly said goodbye to them and went to the coach station.

9:30 am
The first coach to Meo Vac had gone at 5 am. There were two coaches to leave at 12. So I had to wait.

The coach left the station about half an hour early but instead of going directly to Meo Vac, it ran around the town to pick up more passengers. Not until 1pm did it make the way to Meo Vac. I didn’t know if I was lucky or unlucky to have such a opportunity to look around the town from inside a coach but all people said it was pretty usual. Time was so long but also so short.

5:30 pm
Meo Vac district was before my bare eyes. The coach stopped right at the front of the district’s Youth Union office. I got off, being very disappointed to meet closed doors. Before I knew what to do next, a stranger appeared before me. I asked him hastily: “Do you know a person who works for the district’s Youth Union?” “Eh, I work for the Youth Union. Are you Mai?” Such luck! I waited for him while he went to call Ms Lan – chief of the secretariat of the district’s Youth Union. I talked about my purpose of being there, MDGs and my first impressions on Meo Vac. Both Ms Lan and Mr. Tuan (the guy I had first met) laughed when I told them: “Rock layers that make mountains like those over there, in my eyes, are like a graveyard. Only thanks to dry corn plant scattered among large rock, it is not so lonely and deserted. It is the picture of poverty but at the same time it is beautiful, really beautiful.”

I was taken to the collective quarter behind the office of the district’s Youth Union. I met people and understood more about the efforts of the district’s staff. A green vegetable garden behind the quarter faded the image of the rocks of Meo Vac. Vegetables were grown for the quarter’s households and for the market in early mornings. The collective quarter had two big cisterns which were used by households living in and around the quarter. However, they are kept in good condition and hygiene.

Tuesday, 21 September 2004
7:30 am
Pa Vi commune was about 2 kilometers from the center of Meo Vac district. On the road to the commune office, the grass grew freely. The grass-green partly covered huge rocks. The area of the commune was quite extensive, comprising 7 hamlets scattered in mountains.
I went to Ma Phi Leng, which was among the most difficult to access and the poorest hamlets of Pa Vi.

Nho Que River, which threaded its way through mountain chains of Ma Phi Leng, was the main water source of the whole hamlet. As the terrain was so sloping, traveling for water was very difficult. I came to some households halfway up the mountain. The first thing came to my eyes was that the entrance and the edge were close together. Perhaps, the dream of striding when leaving the house would never be realized for people living here.

Most of Ma Phi Leng’s households were starving for at least 3 months every year. Rock mountains, sloping paths, shortage of water, shortage of land, and having many children to feed were the main reasons that made the starvation habitual and a vicious circle.

A household of 6 had only a small heap of flat corncobs. With so little, it was not hard to believe that they would run out of food after about 3 months.

However, the mutual help among local people and the assistance of commune authorities and officials had enabled them to overcome the period of starvation for years. There were always households, which also suffered from the shortage of food but less critically, ready to share their food with others. That was “less tattered leaves cover more tattered leaves”.

The food situation was difficult but there was also a lack ofclothes, medicine, bedding, etc. There were households that didn’t have enough beds for everyone to sleep in.
They were living in difficulty and deprivation but the optimism and belief of these people was strangely strong. I read that from smiles, hospitality and friendliness of everyone, from children to old people.

In Ma Phi Leng, there were many families who had their new house set up during the Youth Union’s campaign of “temporary house rubbing out” with the financial support of district authorities and roofing sheets provided by the government.

Looking at a new house replacing a temporary house I felt uneasy because it was just an unsettled house. Yet, to these people, the house was a big step toward a more stabile life.

In the branch of primary school in Ma Phi Leng, children still had to study in joint classes. A teacher was in charge of two classes at a time. Teachers said: “Our pupils sometimes have to carry their younger sister or brothers to class when their parents go to work in the fields. Out of class back home, they have to help their parents do house work. They don’t have time other than that in class to study, so their achievements are not always big.”

Soemtimes, these teachers had to work harder because they had to stay in the branch. They went to each house to persuade children to attend universal classes (for the ones who were iliterate) and pursuit higher classes (for the ones who had just stopped their study).

Life of these teachers was better than before but still one of many difficulties, especially because of the shortage of water. A small collective room served as bedroom, working room and kitchen at the same time. Many teachers from Ha Tinh, Nam Dinh, Hung Yen had dedicated themselves as teachers to Meo Vac for 10 years.

3:00 pm
As I came to Giang Su Phi commune, a rain was drizzling down. The terrain of Giang Su Phi was not as sloping as that of Ma Phi Leng. I was attracted by wooden gates and stone fences. They looked stable, enduring and masterstroke-like. They were a symbol of the harmony between Meo Vac’s people and stone mountains – that was what I thought.

The children in Giang Su Phi were spontaneous and playful. They were teasing me. Today, many households in Giang Su Phi harvested corns. According to custom, they invited neighbors to come and gather for drinking. I was a guest coming at the right time so I was invited to join one of the families.
Wednesday 22 September 2004

5am
I woke up fumbling around to get ready to catch the bus to Ha Giang commune; the last bus from Meo Vac will leave at 7am.

11:30am
I arrived at the commune’s bus station and asked for the bus from Ha Giang to Cao Bang. There is no direct bus to Cao Bang commune. I had to wake up early tomorrow, go to Thai Nguyen to catch the bus to Cao Bang. In any case, I still have to be ready.