Kindness builds bridge over troubled water

by Le Vinh Hoa

People use a pulley system known as a flying fox to cross the Poko River in the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum. — VNS File Photo

Some say that people have too hardened in the 21st century, that everyone is out for themselves and that the public interest is other peoples' business. Not so!

Recently, Y Nuor and her neighbours walked 5km from home to Dak Ang Commune to witness the start of a new bridge to her village across the other side of the Poko River. It took them more than 30 minutes to get there, five times longer than it used to taken them before the previous bridge was swept away in storm floods almost two years ago.

Y Nour's village, which doesn't even have a name, lies in the upper region of the Poko River and beneath the towering summit of Ngok Linh Mountain - at 2,600 metres. The turbulent river is deep and fierce.

A devastating flood related to the Ketsana Storm in 2009 hit Ngoc Hoi District in the centre of Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) Kon Tum Province. All the bridges along 20km of river, including the bridge linking the nameless village, were swept away, forcing people into isolation.

On the other bank of the Poko lie all the essentials for Y Nour and her neighbours, including hospitals and schools. Villagers had to come up with ideas to cross the river, even those that risked their lives.

Some used boats to cross the raging river, but it generally flows too swiftly. Others built temporary bridges. In Dak Ang Commune, in Ngoc Hoi District, people use a pulley system known as a "flying fox" to cross the water.

One villager, Tran Khac Chin, helped set up large poles on either side of the river connected by ropes. Everyone, including the young, old and infirm who want to cross the 150 metres of river have to strap themselves onto a pulley and swing over.

Y Xoan, 13, said she doesn't know exactly how many times she has swung over the river each day. "I go every time I need to get something from the other side. Sometimes, I put myself and my little sister on the rope and swing over," she said.

Y Nour said at least five people have fallen from the pulley. "One man hit the rocks hard and had to be taken to hospital," she added. A Phin, another resident, said: "We knew it was risky." He straps himself and his motorbike on the rope.

Now, as the new bridge nears completion, Y Nour and her neighbours are starting to smile again. "I have four children and three of them are going to school. When this bridge is finished, they will get to and from home much faster. I will also be able to sell farm produce on the other side again," she said.

But if it wasn't for the public spirited nature of hundreds of people in Viet Nam and overseas, there would be no bridge. All of the construction money came from a fund-raising campaign held by the VnExpress, an online newspaper. "I couldn't hold my tears back when I saw photos of those people, swinging across the fierce river by pulley," said Ho Van Vinh. Another reader, Vicky Ho, said she felt really sad for the villagers and suggested the newspaper start a fund so that everyone could contribute.

"As a student, my contribution was very small, but I believed I could persuade people at school or in my neighbourhood to help people in Dak Ang," said Vinh. The comments from many readers prompted the VnExpress to set up a bridge fund.

Within a month, thousands of people had sent in their cash and raised a total of VND2.4 billion (US$120,000), an amount Y Nour's whole poverty stricken village couldn't make in 10 years. Sixty per cent of those living in the nameless location across the Poko are officially listed as "poor".

"Without the help of generous people, the people in Dak-Ang Commune would have had to commute by rope for much longer," said Tran Van Nhut, deputy chair of the committee's office. — VNS

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Treacherous pulley crossings end over Po Ko

Residents of a commune in Kon Tum province will not have to glide on cables to cross the Po Ko River any longer.

On Monday, a bridge linking the two banks of the river opened to traffic.

The VND1.1 billion (US$56,500) Dan Tri and Khuyen Hoc Bridge, funded by the Vietnam Association for Promoting Education and online newspaper Dan Tri, has a length of 120 meters and a width of 1.2 meters after five months of construction.

Work on the bridge began in June after local media reported that residents in Dak Ang Commune in the Central Highlands Kon Tum Province’s Ngoc Hoi District had to cross the chasm using a 150-meter long cable and a pulley to get to school, work and the market.

The river is almost uncrossable by boat due to the fast-flowing current and the steep slopes along the river banks.

The residents rigged up the cable soon after a storm, in September last year, swept away several hanging bridges over the river.

Dan Tri and Khuyen Hoc Bridge was the first of three bridges to begin operating whose construction was funded by people nationwide to link two banks of the Po Ko River.

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River sans bridge puts lives of children, adults at risk

Children from a village in Thanh Hoa Province cross a fierce river everyday on a raft because many promises to build a bridge have never been kept.

The Bon Village with a population of more than 600 people is isolated from other places in the province by the Muong Min River and every time heavy rains raise the water levels, the students would quit class for a week.

But most of the time, the villagers accept the risk, and take turns to row the raft.

Vi Van Son, 60, was rowing the raft on Thursday, when the river was in spate and the waters were rough.

“This water is dangerous indeed but the raft still has to run as many children and adults need to cross the river,” Son told local news website VietNamNet.

The waters being too rough for independent navigating, a cable tied to two trees on either sides of the river is held on to as the raft crosses there with the aid of another cable attached to a pulley.

The villagers made the raft themselves and bought the cables. They fix the rudimenatary system themselves when it breaks down and no one pays anything to cross the river.

Teacher Nguyen Xuan Hau said when it rained heavily, he couldn’t go to school to teach the children.

“There have been several deaths in this river. Falling into the river is a common occurence,” Hau said.

Vi Thi Hang, an eighth-grader, said, “I am scared every time I go on the raft, especially during heavy rains, but I couldn't go to school otherwise.”

Vi Van Nguyen, a nurse in the village, said there were times the water was too strong for him to carry sick people to medical stations across the river, so he had to tie bottles to his body and swim across the river to get the medicine.

“It almost got me killed last year,” Nguyen said.

“Our situation is miserable,” said Vi Van Hoa, another villager. “For many years, we have had to be reckless to cross the river when needed. The poorest ones are the teachers and children, having to cross the river two to three times every day.”

Hoa said many visitors, district and province leaders have promised to help then with a boat but this has not been materialised yet.

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River sans bridge puts lives of children, adults at risk

Children from a village in Thanh Hoa Province cross a fierce river everyday on a raft because many promises to build a bridge have never been kept.

The Bon Village with a population of more than 600 people is isolated from other places in the province by the Muong Min River and every time heavy rains raise the water levels, the students would quit class for a week.

But most of the time, the villagers accept the risk, and take turns to row the raft.

Vi Van Son, 60, was rowing the raft on Thursday, when the river was in spate and the waters were rough.

“This water is dangerous indeed but the raft still has to run as many children and adults need to cross the river,” Son told local news website VietNamNet.

The waters being too rough for independent navigating, a cable tied to two trees on either sides of the river is held on to as the raft crosses there with the aid of another cable attached to a pulley.

The villagers made the raft themselves and bought the cables. They fix the rudimenatary system themselves when it breaks down and no one pays anything to cross the river.

Teacher Nguyen Xuan Hau said when it rained heavily, he couldn’t go to school to teach the children.

“There have been several deaths in this river. Falling into the river is a common occurence,” Hau said.

Vi Thi Hang, an eighth-grader, said, “I am scared every time I go on the raft, especially during heavy rains, but I couldn't go to school otherwise.”

Vi Van Nguyen, a nurse in the village, said there were times the water was too strong for him to carry sick people to medical stations across the river, so he had to tie bottles to his body and swim across the river to get the medicine.

“It almost got me killed last year,” Nguyen said.

“Our situation is miserable,” said Vi Van Hoa, another villager. “For many years, we have had to be reckless to cross the river when needed. The poorest ones are the teachers and children, having to cross the river two to three times every day.”

Hoa said many visitors, district and province leaders have promised to help then with a boat but this has not been materialised yet.

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Dong Nai to relocate IZ, protect major river

Dong Nai Province have announced a US$90 million plan to transform an old industrial zone to save a major river in the southern region.

The plan, expected to begin implementation early next year and last until 2022, will move businesses from the Bien Hoa 1 Industrial Zone to a new place and change their functions, Dong Nai People’s Committee told businesses at meeting on  Wednesday, November 3.

Bien Hoa 1 occupies more than 323 hectares on the banks of the Dong Nai River, Vietnam’s largest endogenous river which supplies water to millions of people in Dong Nai, Ho Chi Minh City and neighboring provinces.

As the first industrial zone built in Vietnam in 1963, it only has individual waste treatment plants for 36 of the 96 businesses.

Others use a common system that discharges 15,000 cubic meters of untreated wastewater into the river every day.

The sewage contains ten to several hundred times the amount of pollutants permitted.

Local industrial zone development corporation Sonadezi will build another zone in Giang Dien District and move the firms there. The plan has been approved by the Prime Minister.

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Real-life action heroes of the floods risk their lives

NGHE AN — Lam River was raging, but without a second thought Nguyen Van Binh and other divers flexed their legs and jumped into the intense current in search of a submerged coach.

Thousands of people turned their eyes towards the river. Ten minutes passed in silence until one diver suddenly rose from the water, signalling "It's here. The coach is down here!"

The coach carrying 37 passengers was swept away on October 18 from a section of National Highway 1A in central Ha Tinh Province; 17 of the passengers were saved.

Rescue teams used a crane to lift the coach from the river with the bodies of 10 passengers inside. Another five bodies were found later along sections of Lam River in Nghi Xuan District. The rest are still missing.

The flood waters of the Lam River were matched only by the speed of the rescuers who voluntarily leapt into action when the floods hit the central province earlier this month.

The coach was found submerged beneath 15 metres of water. It took eight hours of all-out effort for rescuers, six divers in particular, to lift the vehicle to shore.

The divers were all from the Nguyen family line of central Nghe An Province's Hung Nguyen District on the other side of Lam River.

"The water was flowing so strongly it nearly pulled the rope out of my hands," said Nguyen Van Hoan, the oldest and most experienced diver.

"I have been a diver for more than 30 years but I never felt such strength from the water. Whenever it floods, Lam River becomes very swift and devastating.

At times, it even scares professional divers," said Hoan, aged 60.

"At that moment, my only wish was to bring the corpses to shore as soon as possible. My heart and my soul urged me to do so."

Hoan's son, Nguyen Van Viet, the youngest rescuer, shared his feelings at seeing the tears of the victims' family members run down their faces at the moment the coach was lifted to the river's surface.

"I couldn't hold back my tears when I emerged from the water, when I saw the exhausted eyes that had wept and moaned for days."

Kept busy

Viet has worked with his father for seven years. He and the team have salvaged many submerged boats and vessels but he has never felt like this before.

"I have never been so happy."

"The water was so cold and fast. But I felt warm in my heart. I dived down to hook the cable into the wheels but a couple of times I wanted to stop to look inside the coach for survivors," said the 22-year-old.

Among the many people who came to congratulate the rescuers for having done an extraordinary job, some doubted they did it for money.

"This is not the first time we have salvaged corpses [from the river bed]. We have done this many times but we have always refused to set a price," said Nguyen Van Thanh.

"We are always willing to do charity work for life, no matter how hard and risky," he said as he took a breath. "Everyone was exhausted after more than one day deep in the cold water with an empty tummy."

Thanh said the provincial authorities rewarded each rescuer with VND1 million (US$ 50) for their bravery.

"Frankly speaking, if we had done [the rescue] for money, billions of dong would not have been enough because the task was extremely risky."

Thanh has lost count of the times he has voluntarily rescued drowned and salvaged corpses since he began following in his parents' footsteps as a fisherman along Lam River at the age of 16.

Team leader Binh chipped in: "Social prejudices and the attitudes of neighbours who keep their distance from us because we ‘work' with the dead sometimes wring our hearts with pain."

"Luckily enough, we receive great support from the families because they all understand that we're doing good deeds."

Loved ones waiting

When the work was done, the rescuers returned home to their loved ones who had not rested for days.

"He was ‘on duty' for several days, so our two children and I did not dare to leave the attic [a safe shelter during the flood]," said Tran Thi Mai, Binh's wife.

"When he heard about the coach and the 20 missing passengers, Binh called his ‘team' and left our family even though our house was flooded almost to the top of the wardrobe."

Defying Mai's advice, Binh insisted "I work and live on the river. I swim and dive well. I I could not live without doing something for those lying underneath Lam River."

Like the whole team, 33-year-old Nguyen Van Bang was absent from his home for four days. His wife, Tran Thi Hoa, could not sleep the entire time he was gone.

"If something happened [to him] amidst such a fierce current, we would be alone in the world and without any support to lean on," said Hoa, adding that she occasionally took a boat to the front of the village to look towards Lam River.

"Every time I thought about that I held my children tightly and cried. Now that he is back, I can set my mind at ease."

And it's true. Bang returned and shared his happiness.

"The most happy moment was when we successfully hooked the cable into the wheels. We knew the coach rescue would certainly be successful," said Bang. — VNS

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