Doing business and learning new things require the same perseverance as climbing a mountain

Mo Phang is a border village inhabited by three ethnic groups, with the Mong people constituting the majority. Amidst the jagged limestone peaks and the white clouds that shroud the area year-round, the villagers’ lives are closely tied to maize farming and livestock rearing. It is here that, in 2018, Mua Thi Va - a Mong woman born in 1989, earned the trust of the community and was elected as a respected person in the village.

Ms. Va is not merely someone who communicates with the people and listens to them; she is also as the locals affectionately call her - a “flame guarding the border”. As a respected person in a border village, she regularly participates in classes to raise awareness about national defense and security, learns how to identify manifestations of “peaceful developments” and acts that cause border insecurity by hostile forces, both to improve her own understanding and to return to her village, persistently going to each house to propagate and mobilize people to increase their vigilance against the deceitful and distorted tricks of bad people.

Driven by Ms. Va’s sense of awareness and responsibility, the Mo Phang Village Self-Management Group has maintained orderly and effective operations. The group proposed that the commune steering committee and the Border Guard station organize activities to familiarize residents with the border lines and markers the village helps protect; involving residents in joint border patrols alongside Border Guard officers and soldiers; clear patrol paths and ensure clear lines of sight at the national border markers managed and protected by the village. In addition, the self-management group effectively carries out mediation work, resolving numerous internal disputes within the village and helping to maintain strong bonds of neighborly solidarity.

In particular, since the implementation of the “All-People Border Defense Day” initiatives and the Prime Minister's Directive No. 01/CT-TTg (dated January 9^th, 2015) on mobilizing the public to safeguard territorial sovereignty and national border security in the new context, Ms. Va together with the Border Guard station has successfully mobilized 87 households in the village to register for participation in the self-management of security, order and the protection of border lines and markers.

Ms. Va rallied the local community with a simple yet powerful analogy: “The border is just like our village fence. Guarding the border means protecting our homes and the land for our children and grandchildren”. Convinced by her words, the residents provided Border Guard forces with valuable information that aided in managing and protecting national sovereignty, combating crime and helping to maintain peace along the country’s northernmost frontier.

In addition to participating in border security efforts, Ms. Va persistently encourages the local community to change their mindset and practices. Mo Phang village was once rife with backward customs such as holding prolonged funerals, slaughtering large numbers of livestock, relying on shamans during illness and harboring a preference for sons over daughters. Such backward customs make life even more difficult for the local people and leave them vulnerable to exploitation by unscrupulous individuals.

Fully awaring of this, she persistently encouraged individual clans and families to change their customs. “Keep what is good, discard what is outdated”, that is what she often told the community. Thanks to her advocacy, local people now place the deceased in coffins, have shortened funeral rites to two days, reduced the slaughter of livestock and completely given up heavy drinking.

The cultural heritage, language, and writing system of the Mong people have been preserved, while traditional festivals and folk games are organized in a streamlined, civilized and cost-effective manner. She also encouraged fellow villagers to form cultural performance troupes and wear traditional attire during festivals efforts that not only safeguard the soul of their ethnic culture but also uplift spirits and strengthen community solidarity.

Mo Phang has divided terrain, harsh climate, high poverty rate... but for Ms. Va, “difficulties cannot stop me”. She reasoned: “If Mong people are good at mountain climbing, doing business and learning new things must be as persistent as climbing mountains”. She encourages local residents to work hard, abide by the Party’s guidelines and the State's policies and laws, actively implement the National Target Program on socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas. The village has currently established models for cattle fattening and commercial pig farming, each involving dozens of households; additionally, some households have converted low-yield mixed gardens into areas for commercial agricultural production. These initiatives have contributed to an average annual reduction of 5-6% in the commune’s poverty rate.

Her efforts have been recognized with numerous certificates of merit and commendations from various levels and sectors. In 2023, she attended the National Conference Honoring respected people among ethnic minority communities in Hanoi capital. It is a source of pride not only for her but for all of Mo Phang - a borderland swept by winds and shrouded in mist year-round, yet steadfast and unyielding in safeguarding national sovereignty along the border.