Efforts to escape poverty from policy capital

Thanks to policy loans, the couple of war invalids and veterans Nguyen Xuan Lai (60 years old) and Nguyen Thi Huong (53 years old) in Duong Van Loc village, Trieu Thuan commune, Trieu Phong district have developed livestock farming, sent their children to work abroad under contracts and gradually escaped poverty.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong (wife of veteran Nguyen Xuan Lai) in Duong Van Loc village, Trieu Thuan commune, Trieu Phong district takes care of the chickens - Photo: D.V

In the small house in Duong Van Loc village, when we arrived, only Mrs. Huong was busy raising chickens and sows. Mr. Lai was working far away as a construction worker.

Ms. Huong said that her husband was a veteran who participated in the Cambodian war from 1983 to 1986. After being discharged from the army and returning to his hometown for a few years, in 1992 Mr. Lai and Ms. Huong became husband and wife. Due to the difficult circumstances of both families, the newlywed couple had nothing, so when they moved out, their life was extremely difficult. Ms. Huong said: "In 1994, we gave birth to our first daughter. At that time, we only had a small thatched roof house and worked a few fields to raise our children. We managed to do all kinds of work, but life was still very difficult."

Mrs. Huong also has kidney disease and epilepsy, her health is not good, she cannot do heavy work. The family's economy therefore depends on Mr. Lai's construction days and the harvest from 4 sao of rice fields, so life becomes more and more difficult, especially when 2 sons born in 1998 and 2005 continue to be born. Therefore, although they try very hard, Mr. Lai and his wife are still considered poor households.

Paying attention to the situation of Mr. Lai's couple, the local government, the Veterans Association, and the Women's Union have always given priority and created favorable conditions for loans from the Social Policy Bank for the family to develop the economy and create more income.

In 2020, through the rural clean water and environmental sanitation loan channel, Mr. Lai and his wife borrowed to invest in building a barn to raise 2 breeding cows; and raise dozens of chickens to create a livelihood. Thanks to good care, each cow gives birth to 1 calf every year and the family sells each calf for about 10 million VND.

“The income from selling cows and chickens initially helped my family improve their lives and support their children’s education. It was also the support and motivation for my family to overcome the poverty that had plagued us for many years,” Ms. Huong confided.

After many efforts and determination to do business, in 2022, Mr. Lai and Mrs. Huong's family officially escaped poverty and became a near-poor household. Motivated, Mrs. Huong continued to invest in raising another breeding sow, selling 2 litters of breeding pigs each year (average 10 pigs/litter), also bringing in an additional income of 7-8 million VND/year.

Currently, Mr. Lai still works as a construction worker every day, and Mrs. Huong is mainly in charge of raising livestock. In 2023, through the women's channel, he and his wife borrowed 100 million VND for their second son to go to Taiwan to work.

Now their son’s job is stable and he can send money back home to gradually pay off his debt. What is admirable is that although the family is poor, they are still determined to give their children a proper education.

Thanks to the determination of her parents and the diligence and study efforts of her children, her eldest daughter has graduated from Quang Tri Medical College (now married in Dong Ha City); her youngest son is currently a first-year student majoring in Data Science at Da Nang University of Technical Education.

Having escaped poverty, the current life of the family, although still difficult, has gradually become brighter and hopeful. “I just hope that God will give my family good health, and that my children will work hard and study hard, then life will change for the better. And my family will also be determined and try to do business more effectively to escape poverty soon and rise up,” Ms. Huong shared.

Chairman of the Association of War Veterans of Trieu Thuan Commune, Doan Quang Bao, said that the family of war veteran Nguyen Xuan Lai was in a very difficult situation in the past, and was a long-term poor household. However, thanks to the family's efforts, the support of the local government, organizations, and especially from preferential policy loans, they have risen to near-poor status.

“Currently, the family hopes that their son, who is a student, will continue to be given favorable conditions to borrow capital through the student channel to maintain his studies. As for the Commune Veterans Association, we will also continue to create the best conditions to help the family access preferential loans to do business, as well as regularly encourage the family to overcome difficulties and rise up,” said Mr. Bao.

Hieu Giang

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/no-luc-thoat-ngheo-tu-nguon-von-chinh-sach-189730.htm