July 31, 2019
“Life is the trip” – I temporarily take the lyrics to open the journey to Phong Du Thuong.
True to its name: Phong Du Thuong, with each person has a journey and trips, from the Forest to the Sea. Each journey leaves us with feelings of happiness – sadness, joy – suffering …. For me, the journey to Phong Du Thuong was memorable.
As planned, we started from Hanoi at 5am when the whole city was in silence, somewhere some middle-aged people got up early to exercise. The life of the city now is calm and pleasant, it is different from the heat and bustle during the day.
Our car went straight ahead to the Noi Bai – Lao Cai Expressway, on the way we caught some rain, which made us a little worried: would our destination rain? I asked, no one answered, but I thought everyone prayed that it would not rain so that we could get where we needed to go – “Phong Du Thuong”.
We were in Van Yen town at 8:30 am, we took breakfast and got ready for 20km journey, but it was expected to take 2 hours to get to Phong Du Thuong. Perhaps the lyrics “My car run fast on the miles, back to my village across the hills and mountains …” is only true to the back of the lyrics, because we cannot travel fast if we took 2 hours to travel 20km. I guess the old men composed this song to encourage the front lines, so they always loved life and exaggerated like that.
At 9am, we started the journey to Phong Du Thuong where according to our traveling companions, this is a challenge for those who like traveling to experience. We don’t go for the purpose of experience but for the purpose “Bring school & letter to the high land”. Indeed, 20km is a challenge for all of us: bumpy road, big pothole & zigzag bends. If the car driver did not focus, no one know what would come. I tried to keep my balance to take picture, but it couldn’t work, my hand had to hold tightly to the side of the car, feeling like just letting go, I could fly to the top of the car or hit the door at any time.
At 11:15am, we arrived in Phong Du Thuong People’s Committee and were welcomed by a new Vice Chairman assigned to support people. After greeting, he said, “It rained last night, the people reported that the way to Khe Det hamlet was blocked by strong water flow. All of us were worried, we drove a few hundred kilometers to the commune, and gave up only 5km to the school site. Can not! – I decided to ask the committee comrades to take the motorbike to take us in, maybe the road is only 5km but it takes 1 hour to move, when I get there the water has drained. And the journey continues again. Indeed, 20km road from Van Yen to Phong Du Thuong which I mentioned the above is nothing when compared to 5km road up the mountain because it is difficult like go to the heaven.
Driving me is a young man who was born in 1983 assigned to be in charge of Khe Det Hamlet. We talked together to forget about the 5km distance to the mountain. The road was just enough space for a motorbike, jagged rocks, and we both rode on the iron horse WIN – which was the pride of the young people ten years ago and was great asset for people here. The motorbike went for a while, sometimes had to stop because of the slippery road, I had to jump down and push. 45 minutes have passed, and I felt it as long as a day, I wish I can quickly come to Khe Det hamlet to see how people here live & how our school is building “Stop !!!”, the sound of someone shouting made me startled, maybe there was “Pirates in the Sea” and “Pirates of the Forest”. The commune officer stopped and told me that “the water flow is very strong, we should be careful and go around the rocks”. It is true, we met a fast-flowing stream near the school site. According to commune officer, the floods swept away one whole village last year, but fortunately no people were killed.
Looking at the other side of the stream, about 800 meters away from where we stood, the school we sponsored to build appeared as a demonstration of “Nothing is impossible.” It urged us to pass the stream despite the danger. Knowing our determination, the commune officer, the teachers and the Vice President went ahead to lead the way and led our entire delegation. PHU PHU…. We had escaped, we breathed a sigh of relief as we passed ourselves.
We entered Khe Det hamlet at 12:30, we really felt the hardship of the people and the teachers here when determined teaching at the highland. We silently thank them, because of them, we have the opportunity to return to Phong Du Thuong – Khe Det. The gift that our company and our friends have made a meaningful contribution, we secretly told each other we will have to make more schools to not disappoint the teachers and people in the village.
Dao The Hoe, July 2019
