Being a reporter is never easy, and being a journalist in the mountains is even harder. The journey into the mountains, to the remote villages, and the border areas for work is particularly challenging.

Among the memories of my career, I will never forget the trip to Huổi Hạ village, Na Sang commune, Mường Chà district in September 2018. The idea for the trip came from a video showing teachers and students of Na Sang Secondary School having to crawl through plastic bags to cross the stream to get to school.

On the morning of September 3, 2018, I, along with some colleagues from central news agencies based in Điện Biên, set off. The vehicles began rolling just as the last rain of the season started to pour down.

After traveling about 50km from Điện Biên Phủ city to the center of Na Sang Commune, we turned onto a narrow road leading to Huổi Hạ village, the location featured in the clip. This is an isolated area, cut off from the center by nearly 20km of steep dirt road and two fierce rivers, Nậm Mức and Nậm Chim.

The rain made the road up the mountain slick as oil. The vehicles could hardly move the first kilometer. Even the most skilled drivers, assigned by the commune to help the team, gave up midway. The group urged each other to keep going. “If the vehicle can’t carry us, we’ll leave it behind. But we can’t keep pushing it this way,” one member said, and we decided to walk.

Because we had to change our plans for the journey time, we didn’t bring food or water. Along the way, wild guava and lemon became our lifesavers, helping us stay hydrated and energized. Every 15 minutes, we had to take a break.

After 9 hours of walking on the slippery mountain path, no one could count how many times they had fallen. All we knew was that when we finally saw the Nậm Chim river, on the other side was the Huổi Hạ community, and the sky was beginning to darken. Our bodies were exhausted, clothes stained yellow from the dirt, and our feet swollen, as if we had reached our limits. But no, the Nậm Chim river ahead was the greatest challenge still ahead!

Waiting for us was a bamboo raft and ropes, ready. The village head, Vừ A Giống (at that time), shouted: “Let’s cross now, everyone. The river’s deep because of the flood season; it’s about 5-7 meters deep. If we wait for the upstream water to come or for the night to fall, we won’t be able to cross!”

With my eyes shut, I stepped onto the unstable raft, with the water roaring all around us. The village head pulled the rope across the pulley, tied it to the raft, and tried his best to pull us across. Despite the two of us helping, human strength couldn’t compete with the water’s force. It took four attempts to fight through the river, and two members nearly fell into the raging water before we finally breathed a sigh of relief when we made it to the other shore.

Even now, when I think back to that trip full of “storms,” I still can’t forget the hardships. But the reward was that we were able to witness the struggles and hardships of the local people and the difficult journey of their education system.

However, what still weighs on my mind is the “road” to school for mountain children. Even though there have been many improvements, it is still filled with challenges and trials.