Mong watch news in their native language

Remote hamlets that don’t receive the station’s signal still have an opportunity to catch the news via DVD. The district spent VND25 million to record the programmes o­n DVD and send them to 86 out of 149 Mong hamlets, allowing each hamlet to hold a monthly viewing.

"It’s the first television programme in the Mong language of the Son La Province devoted to Mong inhabitants and those who speak the Mong language," said Nguyen Dang Dung, chief of the Bac Yen Television-Radio Station.

"We first nurtured the idea of setting up this programme a long time ago. Every time we visited the Mong hamlets to get information for our programmes, I and other provincial and district authorities recognised that copied CDs and DVDs from Thailand, Laos, and the US have invaded those hamlets. It’s dangerous for them to know about foreign cultures and ignore their own."

Dung also noted that radio programmes in the region were still very limited. "Only three programmes, all in the national language, are broadcasted weekly and repeated. The radio programme in the Mong language is o­nly broadcasted o­nce a week.... not satisfying inhabitants’ demands."

Newsworthy

The new 30-minute news bulletin is a commentary o­n life, society, culture and politics. It informs the audience o­n the country’s legal documents, family planning, education, ban o­n opium plantations and illegal drugs and fights against epidemic diseases in animals. The programme aims to help the Mong understand the Party and State’s policies and local authorities’ roles.

Between the news segments, the show also features cultural elements with musical performances by Mong art troupes.

"We received many letters from Mong inhabitants asking for more musical programmes, mostly because they want to know how the girls and boys they meet in real life look like o­n television," Dung said.

Dung regrets that the programme is limited in news because of the lack of reporters.

"We have two presenters, o­ne man and a woman, who know how to speak the Mong language. They work also as translators and sometimes even as camera men."

Han Cho La is o­ne of those presenters. He o­nly finished the seventh grade and studied agriculture-forestry in Son La before he began to work in television. He taught himself how to film and translate documents from the national Vietnamese language into the Mong language.

"Translating into the Mong language is very difficult, because there are different dialects," said La. "Getting information from hamlets is also very hard."

"May times when I came to Hang Dong B, Ta Ua hamlet, 30km from the district’s centre to get information, I had to stay at the hamlet for several days because the hamlet’s chief was absent."

"Other times, when I went to Xim Vang hamlet to get information, I had to keep my motorbike at a local house because of the rain. We had to walk more than 20km to be o­n time to make the show."

Mua Thi Lau, the other presenter, also has little experience to work with. Before the programme, she was involved in population work.

"It’s difficult to find a male Mong presenter for television, it’s even harder to find a Mong woman," Dung said.

According to Dang Hung, chairman of the People’s Committee of Bac Yen District, the Mong make up more than 50 per cent of the district’s population. The region houses 149 Mong hamlets, of which many are 100 per cent Mong.