Uncle Ho’s house in Sen village.

Nhan Dan – These days have seen people from all parts of the country streaming to Sen village, Kim Lien commune, Nam Dan district, Nghe An province to mark the 118th birthday of President Ho Chi Minh right in his homeland.

This year, Nam Dan district has concentrated on an important campaign, initiated by the Communist Party of Vietnam, ‘Learning and following the moral example of Ho Chi Minh.’ Nguyen Lam Son, head of the propaganda and training service of Nam Dan district, said that Nam Dan was one of two districts selected by Nghe An province’s authorities to implement the campaign.

It is a great honour and responsibility of the people, cadre and Party members in Uncle Ho’s home village.

Nam Dan has recently been highly appreciated for having set a role model in the implementation of the campaign. Inputs and comments from local people have helped some local Party organisations know their weaknesses and shortcomings, thus helping them improve their activities.

As a result, many collective units and individuals have become role models in learning and following Ho Chi Minh’s morals. Party member Nguyen Thi Van from My Thien village, Nam Cat commune, saved her spending from pension and donated VND 11 million to funds for study encouragement, gratitude showing, and poor people support. The Party cell in Village 5, Nam Tan commune, with 23 members developed a programme of action to improve its activities, concentrating on settling problems in local people’s daily life.

Before the 118th birthday of Uncle Ho, three Party cells had organised exchange meetings to praise Uncle Ho’s life and career. This model has now been applied by almost 100% of communes in the district.

In 2008, the Party Committee of Nam Dan district continues to disseminate information about values of Uncle Ho’s thought and morality, focusing on thrifty practices and fight against corruption and bureaucracy, promoting administrative reform, and providing support for poor and difficult people.

To make the campaign more effective, the local Party Committee assigned its members to grassroots organisations, providing guidance on combining the campaign with programmes on socio-economic development and improvement of living standards of local people, in particular poor and social beneficiary people.

Nguyen Sinh Vinh, 92 years old, and Nguyen Thị Thoan (also named Mrs Van), 85 years old, in Sen village, are veteran cadres. They told a story when Uncle Ho visited his home village on June 14, 1957. He was simple and close to local cadres and people. He asked people whether cadre set good examples or took care of local people or not, or whether locals had enough food and clothes. He advised them to be united and be excellent at production.

Uncle Ho during a visit to his home in Sen village.

"Over 50 years have passed. Compared with that day, the living standard of people in Sen village has become much better. We have had enough food and clothes, our children have good chances to study and become successful,” they said.

Mrs Thoan said she always remembers Uncle Ho’s words and would follow the Party’s path until her last breath.

Living standards in Village Sen 3 (former Sen village) have improved. Local people are always united to become pioneers in all campaigns launched by the commune’s authorities.

The Party Committee and people in Kim Lien commune have made efforts in production activities, striving to turn Uncle Ho’s wish for an exemplary commune into reality. As a result, Kim Lien has recorded many achievements in economic development. In 2007, the commune harvested around 8,000 tonnes of food, or an average yield of 6.55 tonnes per hectare. Other economic sectors, including trade, services, tourism, and traditional crafts witnessed a strong development.

Apart from Kim Lien commune and Nam Dan district, these days, the Party Committee and people in Nghe An province organised many activities to mark the 118th birthday of Uncle Ho and 60th day of his call for patriotic emulation campaign.

Nguyen The Trung, secretary of the Party Committee of Nghe An province, said that remembering wishes of President Ho Chi Minh that Nghe An rapidly become one of prosperous provinces, the Party Committee and people in Nghe An province have mirrored themselves, reviewing what they have done, so as to develop concrete tasks to achieve a target of helping Nghe An escape poverty in 2010.

Having learnt and followed the example of Uncle Ho, each cadre and Party member in Nghe An has striven to complete the assigned tasks in capacity building and economic development.

Concretely, the province will promote the restructuring of its crops and animals; developing marine economy, boosting the socio-economic development in the western part of the province.

In addition, the province will accelerate the development of infrastructure facilities for its industrial parks. Local authorities will strive to expand local and foreign markets, and achieve its socio-economic norms in 2008.

The Party Committee’s leadership will be promoted in the fight against corruption. The quality and effectiveness of Party organisations will be improved.

By Minh Thu