Giving back to the community
He is a "house builder", with more than 1,500 charity houses built for the families of martyrs, veterans, and poor people at the border. He is also a "bridge builder", with more than 300 rural bridges crossing over the remote rural riverbanks and other works.
Despite all those achievements, he only considered himself “a connector", who yearns to convert human connection into limitless power.
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Mr. Nguyen Duc Quang burns incense for his comrades who died in Truong Son. (Photo: SGGP/Quoc Viet) |
He has embarked on the journey of surveying, connecting, and carrying out these community projects since 2009, when he and his colleagues at Sai Gon Giai Phong Newspaper (SGGP) returned to Truong Son.
On that trip, they went to both the east and west of Truong Son mountain range to meet historical witnesses, village chiefs and elderly villagers in both Vietnam and Laos, with a view to recording all historic details that remained. Returning to Ho Chi Minh City, he published a series of articles titled "Back to the legendary Truong Son" in the SGGP Newspaper, which managed to draw huge public attention. The articles carved out the unrevealed image of Truong Son, which was half-friendly, half-strange, featured with blood, sweat, and tears.
After the journey, Nguyen Duc Quang was concerned that Truong Son would soon lose its position in people’s hearts and minds, and fall into oblivion every after an anniversary. To prevent this, he put forward two proposals, including building houses for the poor who used to or were contributing to the maintenance of Truong Son, and constructing temples, which were not only to worship the martyrs who died in Truong Son, but also to remind future generations of Truong Son as a fierce battlefield. As a result, the Truong Son Community Program was launched.
However, the plan was far from practical, given the limited resources of a local newspaper. It would be more feasible to connect and mobilize other social resources. Armed with this understanding, Mr. Quang directly mobilized, surveyed and completed the procedures for building a temple at Long Dai ferry terminal (Quang Binh), at Ben Tat - upstream of Ben Hai river, next to the Truong Son Cemetery (Quang Tri), at the border junction (in Ngoc Hoi district, Kon Tum) and thousands of charity houses.
In 2013, Mr. Nguyen Duc Quang retired. In 2014, he was invited to be the Editor-in-Chief of Rural Vietnam Magazine. Only two years after the publication of the magazine, he continued his journey of giving back to the community, building hundreds of bridges in the countryside. In July 2022, he fulfilled his wish to build the fourth temple - the temple on the top of Truong Son and also at the end of the border - the Truong Son Martyrs Memorial Temple, Ca Roong - ATP.
Borderless realm of possibility
In early August 2022, he planned the establishment of a compatriot council.
The Sai Gon Giai Phong Newspaper (SGGP) yesterday organized a ceremony to celebrate the 98th Anniversary of Vietnam Revolutionary Press Day (on June 21) and award “Toa sang gia tri Viet” (Shining Vietnamese Values) in the phase from 2022 - 2023.
With a positive response from society and the journalistic community in Vietnam, the contest received more than 200 articles and over 50 video clips, in which the work "Nguoi khong mang nhiem vu" (The person who is not a duty-bearer) by Minh Nguyen won the first prize.
The SGGP newspaper also coordinated with the Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union to continue launching the contest in the phase of 2023-2025.People at home and abroad are eligible to participate in the contest by sending their entries including written entries and video clips to introduce and honor individual or collective examples with outstanding achievements in science - technology, education, healthcare, culture and art, sports, and economy. Meanwhile, Reporters can also introduce models, research and creative works in national and international competitions, effective solutions for the sake of society.
From his perspective, the exiles always have a strong sense of loneliness rooted deeply in their hearts. They always desire a sense of belonging, to have a "fulcrum", even if it is just the spiritual one.
Therefore, he dedicated his whole life to forming community connections. He conducted his own surveys, selected locations, directly discussed with local authorities and consulted experts.
Upon arriving at Pailin - a remote location in A Vao commune (Huong Hoa district, Quang Tri) to survey the site of the clinic, he and his team faced numerous obstacles due to the harsh terrains. However, he was willing to take whatever means to approach the area. It was his resolution that gave birth to the establishment of the Pailin Clinic. Despite many difficulties and challenges, he always sticks to the motto - "Nothing is impossible".
His realm of possibility seems to be endless, and personal gains or losses never take a place in his mind.
A soldier as gentle as lamb
Mr. Quang always has his heart and soul occupied with concerns about others. He yearns to provide opportunities and support for farmers. He also aims to protect the core values of the countryside, and eradicate the fixed mindset, which is the root cause of poverty.
Mr. Quang’s selflessness has extended well beyond as he intended to construct a temple in Khe Sanh, Quang Tri to comfort the spirit of the people losing their lives in the Khe Sanh campaign in 1968.
It is not the job of a journalist to pay his dues to Truong Son. Nor should a veteran bear endless concerns about the people in the border areas or the remote rural areas. What he has been and is doing can hardly be explained through the lens of any single role or perspective. He must have been driven by what he already knows and understands, emboldened with a belief that "Nothing is impossible". He, a 70-year-old veteran, therefore, keeps embarking on identifying, involving, and resolving the concerns of Vietnamese people.
