Poverty and domestic violence – Nightmare of Mong ethnic women

Ha Giang (VNA) - Darkness prevails Mong ethnic woman Sung Thi Sy’s shabby house on a rocky slope. Her husband comes home late again with a pungent alcohol odour. At that moment, Sy knows very well that tomorrow, as every morning ever, her kids would question her abouther swollen and bruising eyes while asking for small change to buy some sweetsalong their way to school, which she could never give. She starts weeping. This is Sung Thi Sy’sstory of her life two years ago. Gone are the days when the ethnic woman had tostruggle financial problems and domestic violence. She is now director of SaPhin A Agro-forestry Services Cooperative (White Hemp Cooperative in short) inDong Van district in the mountainous province of Ha Giang. “Before working at thiscooperative, my family had been struggling with household farming. We hardlycould afford rice and meat is something that we could only buy once in twomonths,” Sy recalled. “My husband got so pissed about the family’s financialstatus that he had to drink the misery away. While being drunk, he beat me andthen we both cried in the following morning when our kids went to school withan empty pocket,” Sy added. Sy told the VietnamNews Agency she wanted to run away for a free future away from this sheermisery but this thought was quickly removed in her head when she saw her familypicture. “How could I leave my adorable kids?” she asked herself for a thousandtimes. Then her life continued to be a vicious circle. Her story is familiarwith many Mong ethnic women in Dong Van border district, which is home to 17ethnic groups with Mong people accounting for 88% and is among six poordistricts in Ha Giang province. Due to rugged terrain and unfavorable weathercondition, the district encounters numerous difficulties in economicdevelopment. Because of inferiorfinancial status, many families in Dong Van district had been dogged bytragedies as a lot of Mong ethnic men had illegally crossed the border for workwhile a number of Mong ethnic women had been trafficked to China or sufferedfrom domestic violence, according to Vang Thi Cau, Vice Chairwoman of Women’sUnion of Dong Van district.

Turning point

 🧸Not far from therenowned tourist attraction of Vuong family’s Palace in Sa Phin A hamlet, laysa small but cozy stone house where five to six Mong ethnic women are carryingout different stages of making brocade products. The house is a workshop andalso an exhibition room of the White Hemp cooperative.

In September 2017, SungThi Sy was approached by Vang Thi Cau, Vice Chairwoman of Women’s Union of DongVan district, who had nurtured a dream of preserving traditional values of Mongethnic people in the locality since a kid. After being convincedby the idea of making money from Mong ethnic people’s traditional brocadeweaving, Sung Thi Sy nodded to join Vang Thi Cau in running a brocade weavingcooperative with a hope for a brighter future for her family. “Since I worked here, Ihave no longer needed to borrow money for my kids to go to school. My husbandnow works here too. He works so hard and drinks no more,” Sung told the VietnamNews Agency.

‘Social progresses canonly be achieved as women are empowered’

Born into a family of10 in Dong Van district, Vang Thi Cau had not entered the first grade until shewas 17. Thus, she understands the limited intellectual capacity of local womenso well. Besides, seeing the darkness of poverty and domestic violenceprevailing Mong ethnic community in her hometown since a kid, she had alwaysdreamt of providing local women with a stable job so that they can affirm theirrole in the society. “Social progresses canonly be achieved as women are empowered”, Cau said, citing Secretary of DongVan district Party Committee Nguyen Ngoc Thanh as saying. When working at theWomen’s Union of Dong Van district, Cau told Thanh a lot about her dream ofopening a workshop for Mong ethnic women so that they can be financiallyindependent and take the wheel of the their life. “Social progresses canonly be achieved as women are empowered. If you are successful in providingjobs for local women, that would be the mass success of our district. We zeroin on supporting your idea”, Thanh reiterated every time he met Vang Thi Cau. The dialogues withThanh in early 2017 encouraged her to establish Sa Phin A Agro-forestryServices Cooperative in November that year. Since establishment,the White Hemp Cooperative has always targeted disadvantaged local women. The cooperative nowemploys 20 women, with three living in extremely poor households, somedisabled, some being victims of domestic violence, human trafficking andillegal working abroad. Rising from their ownmiseries, the women now can earn 4 million to 6 million VND (170 to 260 USD) permonth. Besides 20 officialmembers weaving brocade products, the cooperative also works with differentgroups of local women to expand production. “We have now providedjobs for 95 local women in Dong Van district. We have organized two vocationaltraining courses for local women while connecting with three other groups oflocal women. We used to buy materials from other localities but since uniting localwomen, we can provide ourselves with enough materials for production”, Causaid. During the initialoperation stage, the establishment was provided with a financial assistanceworth 300 million VND (nearly 13,000 USD) for buying materials and basic equipment.The cooperative was also facilitated to open a workshop for making anddisplaying their products near the local tourist attraction of Vuong family’sPalace in Sa Phin commune. Besides, localofficials are also the most active in advertising the products. They often wearbrocade products from White Hemp Cooperative when attending domestic andoverseas events and presents them as souvenirs to any delegations visiting thedistrict, Cau said. “In the coming time, thelocal government is planning to open two more workshops in the district to makethe products more popular among visitors while providing more jobs for localwomen”, Dinh Chi Thanh, Vice Chairman of Dong Van district People’s Committeesaid. Domestic violence andpoverty have now been a past that exists only in the memory of the Director ofWhite Hemp Cooperative Sung Thi Sy. Escaping from the harsh conditions, Sy andCau now continue helping other Mong ethnic women in improving local livelihoodand achieving gender equity. “We hope ourcooperative could reach more Mong ethnic women so that they can hold theirdestiny in their hands”, Sy said./.