With no internet, no electricity, Vietnam's border village remains isolated

On a patch of bare earth one day last December, four men took turns pounding a heavy pestle into a stone mortar, not to grind rice or corn, but to crush pieces of chopped wood. Some children were playing around while the women peeked out behind the wooden walls of stilt houses, cradling their babies. One man, who spoke Vietnamese more fluently than the others, explained, "We're making bait for bird traps."

Half an hour later, the villagers gathered around a freshly lit fire, watching intently as the same man plucked the feathers from a trapped bird, preparing it for roasting over the glowing embers.

This scene offers a glimpse into daily life in Aky, a remote village deep in the mountains of Thuong Trach Commune, Bo Trach District, Quang Binh Province.

The journey from the central province's capital Dong Hoi to the village used to take several days, crossing steep mountain passes and deep streams. Today, a concrete road has cut the travel time to about four hours.

Yet, within Aky, life remains stagnant, as if time has forgotten to tick.

No electricity, no internet, no phone signal, and little arable land, hunger continues to cling to this place like the morning mist that never lifts.

A view of Aky Village, Thuong Trach Commune, Bo Trach District, Quang Binh Province, December 2024. Photo by Phan Duong

Nguyen Thi Bich Ngan, 52, has spent two years teaching in Aky, but the memory of her first day still lingers. Unlike the excited chatter of schoolchildren in the lowlands, the students here simply stared at their new teacher in silence. No greetings, no smiles, only cautious glances.

"Behind that shyness is a life of hardship," Ngan said. "The children have grown up in near-isolation, with little contact with Kinh people or the outside world."

That isolation is reflected in every aspect of life. While other villages have a handful of small shops, Aky, home to 44 families of the Ma Coong ethnic group, has none. Once a month, a truck arrives with supplies. Only during these times are the people’s meals enriched with a bit of dried fish.

For the children, the most joyous moments come when charity groups visit. Last Mid-Autumn Festival, they tasted mooncake for the first time brought by a voluntary group.

Limited communication and equipment have also made basic administrative work like registering for ID cards a big trouble.

At the start of this school year, Ngan witnessed families pooling together whatever money they had for fuel to take their children to the commune center, 20 km away, to register for ID cards. Those without motorbikes walked.

The teacher herself gave a mother walking with her two children in the scorching sun a lift. However, upon arrival, the kids were turned away for the system had not yet updated their records.

"The officers promised that next time they would come to the village to handle it, and only then would the villagers feel relieved to return," Ngan recounted.

A Ma Coong woman and children in Aky Village, December 2024. Photo by Minh An

Teachers in the village also need to work hard to support parents in taking care of the children, given their outdated health knowledge.

One time, Y Duyen, a fourth grader, did not show up for class and Ngan rode her bike to the girl's house at the edge of the village to find out why. Duyen was lying feverish on an old mat in the drafty stilt house. Beside her was a sole rice ball for breakfast.

Ngan rushed back to school for fever medicine, but before handing the pill to Duyen's mother, she insisted: "You must cook her some congee first. She can't take medicine on an empty stomach."

In Aky, where the nearest health station is nearly 10 kilometers away, teachers always have painkillers and fever medicine ready in their bags. But they can only do so much.

Recently, Dinh Binh Thuong, a second grader, had his face covered with lymph nodes. His family turned to a village healer, hoping for a cure through chanting. When Ngan learned about it, she convinced them to take the boy to a hospital. After a week of treatment, he was well enough to go home.

After a while, the swelling returned. The teachers once again urged his parents to take him back to the hospital. This time, they hesitated: "We have to wait until we harvest cassava to afford the trip." Three days later, word spread that the family had spent their money on a pig for a ritual offering instead.

"They barely have enough to eat, yet these old customs still weigh on them," Ngan sighed. "The boy has missed a month of school, and he's still not better."

Nguyen Thi Bich Ngan with a student at Aky School, December 2024. Photo by Phan Duong

According to Dinh Tieng, the village chief, Aky has 44 households with 150 residents, including 20 middle school students and 22 elementary school students. None have attended high school.

Tieng's youngest child is attending ninth grade at the commune center. In the past, when there were no motorcycles, they would have to rely on teachers to pick up their kids from school on the weekend.

The chief deems the introduction of clean water Aky's biggest improvement. Before, fetching water was dangerous, particularly for women and children due to border-area kidnappings. Now, every household contributes VND20,000 monthly for fuel to pump water from the source.

Dinh Cu, chairman of Thuong Trach Commune, shared that since 2022, government regulations have prohibited forest clearing for farming. Limited farmland and outdated techniques yield meager crops. Villagers largely rely on government aid. Just before the 2025 Lunar New Year, they received a sum ranging from VND5 to 8 million for forest protection efforts.

"We are calling for technical experts to come and research crops and livestock to help the people of Aky find sustainable livelihoods," Cu said.

Recently, low-yield rice and corn fields have been converted to plant acacia trees and develop goat farming. Tieng hopes to receive more support in breeding livestock so they can expand their farming and improve their living conditions.

"But perhaps to change life here, only the light of knowledge will do," said the teacher who has spent nearly 30 years in the village.