WE DANCE WITH WHAT WE HAVE

Lam Dong belongs to the Central Highlands of Vietnam with the diversity of more than 40 ethnic minority groups. The provincial capital of Lam Dong is Da Lat, discovered by Dr. Yersin 128 years ago. Since then, many Kinh ethnic people began to migrate to Da Lat and have gradually pushed the indigenous peoples into remote areas. The development of today's society deepens the gap between rich and poor. Ethnic minorities gradually lose their natural resources and indigenous culture. Thus, they are not qualified to compete in today's technocratic culture. Young people increasingly lose their roots, have low self-esteem with their father's long-standing cultural identity and migrate to the city to find jobs. Confronted with that situation, Caritas Dalat has approached ethnic minority communities, together with the indigeous, to conduct research in their own communities. Since then, they have committed to take united action to solve the problems they are facing, to create a change in the community towards more autonomy, ecology, and conservation of biodiversity and improvement solidarity in the community.

Community leaders – promote support and solidarity in the process to change. The following is the story of Mr. Ha Huynh, the leader of the Cil Mupp community group.

Cil Mup is a hamlet of Da Tong parish, Da Lat diocese. Starting the People Led Development project in May 2014 in Cil Mup encountered many difficulties because indigenous people thought the project was for charity and the government was afraid of reactionaries/riots. When implementing the projects through visiting and working with relatives, Caritas officers see the need to improve their capacity. Since then, the project has had a program of exchange and training for people in the village.

The core group of farmers was formed with the leader being Mr. Ha Huynh, also known as Bap Duyen. And from here, Mr. Ha Huynh officially became a change actor for Cil Mup. He discussed with the village leader to present to the commune authorities. He must make a written commitment to the authorities and the commune police about taking responsibility before the law if political problems arose. Bap Duyen and the organizations in the village worked together to find a direction for the village, formed a group to support each other to practice SRI, composting, silage for cows, and green soil covered coffee farms, intercropping. From there, they found a suitable farming method for the family.

 The priority problem that Cil Mup encounters was the lack of water in production and daily life. Together they planned to apply for a sub-project to bring water from Tinh Tang waterfall to the production area and to the village for daily consumption with a length of more than 9km. Bap Duyen called for all resources in the village to form a project management board, asked the cadastral officers to draw a map for the water pipes. When carrying out the work, the head of the hamlet called on people to contribute their working time. Team leaders and housekeepers collect donations from households. The village government submitted the project proposal to the commune committee and asked for a capital support of 40 million VND. The project was completed with the contribution of 1000 workers from the villagers. Since then, people have water to use in daily life as well as in irrigation for crops, reducing production costs. The project management board also appointed two management teams to maintain and monitor water use. The project's success was thanks to the solidarity of the people and the commitment of Bap Duyen.

In the process of working, Bap Duyen encountered many difficulties. There were many people who thought that if he worked actively, Caritas Dalat would pay a lot of money. From those misunderstandings, his wife and children prevented him from continuing to work in the community. Bap Duyen just said to his wife and children, "Never mind, they say whatever they want to say, just do it and live well''. Just like that, he still quietly worked for the village and also called on other villagers and communes to stand up to fight against the company's plan to invest in a hydroelectric plant at Tinh Tang Waterfall, which a natural resource has associated with the life and culture of the people of Cilmup. From an ordinary farmer who was shy, only standing behind at meetings, now Bip Duyen has become the leader of the PLD and the head of the Cil Mud rural farmers' association. The PLD project has ended, but Bap Duyen is still working to help people develop together such as managing the village's common coffee field, borrowing manure and seedlings for people at a reasonable price, especially now Bap Duyen also participating in the Department of Social Charity - Caritas of Da Tong Parish.

Together, transforming farming methods into an ecological way is how many communities participating in the PLD project choose as the Laudato Si farm orientation.

Dinh Trang Hoa is one of the communities that have changed farming methods in agriculture. Proud to be the land of the K'Ho indigenous people associated with a long-standing traditional culture of farming. Since the time their ancestors established the land, it was rich fertile land, the climate was favorable all year round, just drop the rice seeds and vegetables, the crops could grow by themselves, bore fruit and fed many children of the family in the village. In the past, farmers worked from making enough to eat, then they had having "food to eat" to having a surplus to share with those around them. Thanks to that, the unity/solidarity in the community is very high.

Since 1989, many families have converted plant structure, from a polyculture of crops and food to a monoculture of coffee trees, which are cultivated on large areas. Farmers have invested in chemical fertilizers, pesticides and growth stimulants to bring about high income. After the first few years with the miraculous effects of chemicals, people suddenly realized that they had to increase the amount/type of fertilizers and pesticides every year, and the market price was precarious/fluctuated. Lasting for decades, farmers have been racing to follow the modern agricultural trend to eliminate poverty. As a result, the poverty has not been eradicated, but leading to many consequences such as investment debt, land degradation, water pollution, climate change, people suffering from many diseases, indigenous seeds disappearing, etc., local people are disoriented and gradually exhausted due to the non-stop production cycle (working alone, living alone). Confronting with that situation, farming methods that are in harmony with nature, ecological agriculture, and biodiversity are the direction that Caritas Da Lat invites farmers to "go back to the original source" to save the Mother Earth and save themselves.

In 2016, Dinh Trang Hoa Community was formed the first group of 18 farmers to participate in the learning process that organized by Caritas. In October 2016, the group had the first study trip at the grass coffee farm of some Caritas members in Tan Thanh parish. Here, farmers learned how to: improve soil, restore biodiversity, coffee planting and coffee nurture techniques ... In that connection, the group had contacted with agronomist engineers and a group of successful farmers who were succeed in farming production. People see the coffee farming model without weeding, without using herbicides and without raking the tub (cleaning the soil around the base of the tree) but the tree was still growing well, giving stable fruit. This farming style seems to be 'opposite' of what people were doing and they found it difficult to accept. People also knew that: grass did not compete with coffee for nutrients, dry leaves and dry branches did not interfere with the absorption of nutrients by the tree. But on the contrary, these two factors increased the biomass, moisture and microorganisms in the soil, provide nutrients, loosen the soil and protect the soil from leaching. Farmer Dinh Trang Hoa realizes that this was the way their ancestors did in the old days and it brought sustainable results.

From that learning trip, the group decided to work together to cultivate the grass coffee. At first, each household converted in a small area. Farmers also faced difficulties in the conversion process: plants had not yet adapted to weeding, yellowing leaves, bitten by rats. But they continued to learn together and found ways to solve the problems. After three years of trial and error, they applied the model to the entire farming area. They also intercropped many other fruit trees and forest trees in the garden. Especially in 2018, 7 households switched to organic coffee farming. Products with the brand name “Oh Mi Koho” which means “K’Ho Brothers” were born. Currently, the land is gradually being restored, the investment is less, and the productivity is steady every year. Therefore, farmers have time to take care of their children; their health is safe because they are not exposed to pesticides. Team members are happy with this success. They have received many delegations to visit and have wished to spread the model of sustainable development in accordance with nature to many other communities. To get that result, they went together and supported each other. Some families in which the husband did not agree with the wife on how to cultivate, but with encouragement from other households, the husband was persuaded to change. Sometimes in the face of derision and ridicule for being lazy to weed in the garden, but they still laughed peacefully, believing in themselves and the efforts of the whole group. All of this was based on the “Their relationships are steeped in the surrounding nature, which they feel and think of as a reality that integrates society and culture, and a prolongation of their bodies, personal, familial and communal” (quoted from Querida Amazonia, no. 20). That background is also the driving force in the story of restoring the traditional culture of the Loc Tan community that we will tell below.

The Story of "Restoring gong culture" Buon Tong Klong Dor Wang - Loc Tan

Buon Tong Klong Dor Wang is located in Loc Tan commune, Bao Lam district, Lam Dong province, 140 km south of Da Lat. The people here are mostly Ma ethnic people, accounting for 85%, living mainly in agriculture: growing tea and coffee, and working for companies in the area.

When living and working within the community, the local people have shared many stories about daily life and family, but the most impressive for employees is the story of village elder K'Breh, who is over 70 years old. His story shows that Gong and Stilt House are two indispensable cultural elements of Chau Ma ethnic people and in that culture they live a rich friendship. He said: “In the past, people who worked in the fields could eat whatever they wanted. Food was often shared such as rice, wild vegetables, stream fish, cups, bowls, etc., lived very happily, united and loved each other. Culturally indispensable in festivals such as: buffalo stabbing, new rice celebration, weddings, funerals... and after tiring working whole days, on the weekends, at night, they often gathered together in a house on stilts: to dance, sing, especially the sound of gongs mixed with the taste of wine, near by the red fire, the children were told by the village elder about the epics and epics of the past. The village at that time was always full of laughter. House on stilts was a place of living, cultural convergence of the community; houses were born from villages, cool in the rainy season and warm in the dry season. Made from materials of the mountains and forests such as: forest wood, bamboo, linden, thatched roofs, oak leaf roofs, creating a unique cultural cradle and showing the ingenuity of the Ma ethnic people. Coupled with that were the gong melodies - the voice of spirituality. In the past, if you wanted to have a gong set, you had to exchange it for an elephant or 20 buffaloes, so it was of great value. But now, the stilt houses no longer exist, the gongs are less and less, so the old culture is also forgotten".

The process of restoring the village's stilt houses has been cherished/aspired by a group of farmers here since hearing the stories of the past. Villagers have written a project to build a traditional stilt house and restore the gong group. After the general discussion, the people made a plan and started to implement it. The house on stilts was built on the ground donated by Mr. K' Dim's family. Everyone divided the work and the process went smoothly. The artists came up with the idea of ​​building houses, roofing, bending rattan and making important items of the construction. Women worked knitting, chopping bamboo. Men went to the forest to cut trees, bamboo, rattan and leaves for roofing. All coordination work was under the control of the project management board. Everyone had their own duties; everyone worked, talked and sang songs. After a month, villagers also finished the house on stilts with an area of ​​​​10m x 4m, with more than 400 efforts.

Since having stilt house, villages have had places to live and interact with each other to increase solidarity and love. Then artisans who were knowledgeable about gongs also found a place to buy and brought back a set of gongs. Since then, the village has formed dance groups and gong groups that teach young people every weekend. Thanks to this activity, people are more aware of the importance of cultural values, solidarity, brotherhood, and neighborhood, understand each other better and know how to work together.

Up until now, the activities of the PLD program have been initiatives motivated by the Holy Spirit. Because many times on the journey, we felt stuck, but new ideas were inspired by the ethnic minority brothers and sisters we are serving. Specifically from the beauty, richness, sacredness of their culture, their solidarity and their human being and because of a desire, they themselves will lead the process of changing their lives and their values ​​will be saved forever. 'Let's enjoy with what we have', growing from what we are so that this world becomes abundant with many colors characteristic of each person, each indigenous community.