50% of the population in 11 communes, precincts and towns in Tran De and Cu Lao Dung districts and Vinh Chau town in Soc Trang province belong to the Khmer ethnic group and many of them are experiencing a hard life. However, over the past years, thanks to the support of staff and troops of sub-units of Soc Trang provincial Border Guard, their living standards have been improved. Sub-units of the Soc Trang province Border Guard are seen as sponsors who helped local people build new rural areas, pro-actively cooperating with the Steering Board for new rural areas in the locality to conduct surveys and work out appropriate measures to develop new rural areas. Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Trung Chinh, Commissar of Border Post 646 in Vinh Chau Town, said that sub-units of the Soc Trang provincial Border Guard have organized training courses to teach production techniques to local people in the communes of Vinh Chau and Vinh Phuoc in Vinh Chau Town. Besides, the border guards also helped local people get loans for production and provide cultivating and breeding methods to local people. Agricultural engineers were invited to localities to teach sugar cane planting techniques to people in Cu Lao Dung district, and the formation of the Garden-Pond-Husbandry model to help local people increase their incomes. Over the past time, sub-units of Soc Trang provincial Border Guard have cooperated with relevant departments and agencies to provide seeds and materials for production in these localities. The Border Guard also helped build five health stations and 51 communal houses, organized vocational training for 1,905 ethnic youths and granted land for housing and production to 800 households with total investment of VND10 billion. Soc Trang provincial Border Guard worked pro-actively with relevant agencies to raise VND1.4 billion and build 73 houses of great unity to needy Khmer ethnic people, as well as to open literacy classes for children in the province. The Unit also cooperated with other agencies to provide health check-ups and medicines to 3,000 people. The campaign to build new rural areas is part of the “Determined to Win Emulation” Campaign of the Unit, meeting the guidelines of effectively strengthening the Unit, said Colonel Le Thanh Nhung, Political Commissar of the Command of Soc Trang provincial Border Guard. (www.qdnd.vn [1] Sept 4)
