Tiếng ViệtNam Rac rice paper
TTCN – Phu Hoa Dong, Cu Chi is a giant rice paper oven with nearly 2,000 households specializing in making cakes to supply both Ho Chi Minh City, provinces and export markets. Ms. Nam Rac – Cu Chi’s leading “cake contractor” – is dominating most of the rice paper purchasing and supply network here.
TTCN – Phu Hoa Dong, Cu Chi is a giant rice paper oven with nearly 2,000 households specializing in making cakes to supply both Ho Chi Minh City, provinces and export markets. Ms. Nam Rac – Cu Chi’s leading “cake contractor” – is dominating most of the rice paper purchasing and supply network here.
Holding a money basket in one hand and a large computer in the other, Ms. Nam said: “Bake making is very simple, it only requires a little capital and hard work.”
Her family was poor, with many siblings. She tried her best to finish 12th grade and pass the Pedagogical College entrance exam, but because she had no money, she had to give up and stay at home making rice paper. In the past, on the days leading up to Tet, each family poured out a few hundred cakes to eat and give as gifts. Making rice paper is very easy, but how to ferment the dough to make it chewy, fragrant, and not salty is the secret of the people of Cu Chi craft village.
Through many ups and downs, Phu Hoa Dong cake still stands firm among famous cake villages: Hoc Mon, Long An, Binh Duong, Tay Ninh. During the season, cakes here are often 5-10 cents more expensive than other cakes (one cent is equivalent to 100 VND) but still attract customers.
Ms. Nam Rac (white shirt) and workers working in the rice paper factory
Initially, the Nam Rac sisters made a living through two bakeries, each day pouring 40kg of rice into four thousand cakes, making them themselves and delivering them to markets, Tan Binh, Binh Tay, and Saigon. There must be at least two people to make cakes (one person to coat, one person to remove the cake), so when the women have their own families, Nam Rac turns to purchasing cakes for the trading cooperative (Cooperative), Cu Chi Cooperative Union. At that time, she did not have strong capital, so in the morning she would leave termite cakes and come back in the afternoon to buy more. The profit is calculated in a few hundred dong per hundred cakes. If it rains, there is no time to cover, and the capital is destroyed.
After ten years of hard work, Nam Rac accumulated nearly ten sticks of gold, but many planned plans were suddenly lost because the customer went bankrupt. Many times I struggled, got discouraged, and considered giving up. Looking at the poor country people who depend on rice paper and trusting to deliver their cakes to her, she is determined to manage and run to find a way out. Taking the advantage of Phu Hoa Dong cake being pure rice flour, not mixed, she and the factory fought every day, everyone made more or less everything, and followed customers’ samples.
Ms. Pham Thi Le’s family (cluster 2, Phu My hamlet, Phu Hoa Dong, Cu Chi) went from being a poverty alleviation household to now living stably thanks to the bakery.
When the capital source is stable, she gradually invests in factories. If she doesn’t have capital, she lends capital. If she doesn’t have rice, she lends rice. Up to now, she has 120 ovens that regularly supply cakes, enough to compete with famous cake villages and compete with foreign cakes from Thailand.
She calculated mentally: on a slow day, she produces 2 tons of cakes, during peak times like during the holidays, she has to run 3-4 tons/day, the working capital rotates each month from 350-400 million VND, the capital stored in the furnaces is 200 million VND. -300 million VND. Her basket always has 30-40 million VND to pay for the furnace every day. Talking about assets, she smiled honestly and said: “I don’t have a family of my own, I don’t need much, I mainly take care of my children. But if you want to compete, you must have a few billion dong in hand.”
According to Mr. Tran Van Si (chairman of the People’s Committee of Phu Hoa Dong commune, Cu Chi), Phu Hoa Dong has 4,300 households with 1,700 households making rice paper. In September 2003, Phu Hoa Dong was officially recognized as eliminating all poor households. The rice paper making village changes every day, and many billionaires rise from the rice paper oven.
Talking about “Nam Rac contractor”, many Phu Hoa Dong rice paper oven owners commented: “She does big business but is gentle and loves people.” Ms. Nam’s way of helping is also different. She helps with capital but does not deduct it from the daily bread money. According to Ms. Nam: “The kiln works hard day and night, making deductions like that is no different from forcing people to work as hired labor. We can do business thanks to the furnace, so we rely on each other to survive.” Mr. Bay Hoa (85 years old) just said: “People here live thanks to the bakery. If you can still eat in the year of Rac, your family will be less miserable.”
Tuoi Tre Paper, 01/02/2004
