Vietnamese soldiers celebrate Tết with international friends. Photo courtesy of Việt Nam's 4th Engineering Brigade

ABYEI — Amid swirling red dust in the disputed Abyei region, where dry season heat can sap even the strongest resolve, soldiers of Việt Nam’s 4th Engineering Brigade are marking a distinctive and deeply meaningful Tết, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year.

Here, peach blossoms bloom from colourful paper shaped by skilful hands, while green sticky rice cakes are carefully wrapped in African wild banana leaves in place of the traditional dong leaves from home.

Along newly cleared roads, the feeling of spring arrives with each bridge built for peace.

The brigade’s first task in this land was a large-scale rescue of infrastructure.

Beyond reinforcing and repairing Banton Bridge, a vital transport artery in the area, the unit has focused its full efforts on completing repairs to key local roads ahead of the new year.

Each kilometre of road constructed must meet strict United Nations technical standards, ensuring connectivity between divided areas while creating momentum for the return of peaceful daily life for local communities.

Colonel Alexander De Lima, chief of staff of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) Military Forces, said Vietnamese soldiers are not only engineers of roads and bridges but also ambassadors of compassion and professionalism.

Their extraordinary efforts have transformed the mission day by day, improving living conditions for the peacekeeping force, De Lima said.

Few people see the days behind such praise, when Vietnamese soldiers worked under a scorching 44°C sun, faces darkened by layers of red dust.

Quick meals taken under the shade of road rollers became routine moments, when stories of home were shared alongside inventive ideas for using wild banana leaves to preserve the flavours of Vietnamese Tết and ease fatigue.

In a land where clean water is more precious than gold, clearing roads serves not only security needs but also brings life to local people.

Watching once narrow, potholed roads transformed into corridors for springtime deliveries of clean water, Lieutenant Colonel Trịnh Văn Cường, commander of Engineering Team No. 4, said he was deeply moved.

For him, the most meaningful Tết gift was hearing shouts of “Việt Nam! Việt Nam!” from local children running along the new road, clutching plastic containers filled with clean water.

“Seeing spring revived in the smiles of local people when water trucks arrived, we understood that our mission had truly touched their hearts. That is the greatest happiness for blue beret soldiers on the eve of the new year,” Cường said.

The presence of the soldier-engineers has also left a lasting mark at Abyei Secondary School.

Making use of breaks between major operations, the unit deployed machinery to level and renovate the playground and classroom entrances.

The sight of massive road rollers, normally used for strategic infrastructure works, moving carefully beneath classroom eaves so children no longer have to walk through dust or stumble over uneven ground stands as a powerful symbol of humanity.

Minister of Infrastructure and Public Service Kon Maneit Matiok said: “The Vietnamese soldiers did not bring security but a future.”

“The school restoration was a priceless gift proving the noble soul of the Vietnamese soldiers.”

Soul in harmony

Lieutenant Nguyễn Trung Kiên make paper peach blossom. Photo courtesy of Việt Nam's 4th Engineering Brigade

For young soldiers such as Lieutenant Nguyễn Trung Kiên of the Logistics and Support Detachment, celebrating Tết away from home for the first time, this spring took on special meaning as he and his comrades were tasked with decorating Tết for the entire unit.

Under the searing sun in Abyei, Kiên said: “I missed my mother’s pickles and the biting cold of my northern homeland.”

Setting aside personal nostalgia, he devoted himself fully to the task of breathing life into spring at the base.

Kiên meticulously crafted each peach blossom branch from coloured paper, transforming simple materials into vivid red blooms reminiscent of his homeland.

With the shared experience of 45 veteran officers, the warmth of camaraderie filled the gap, and beside the gradually blooming paper peach blossoms, young soldiers like Kiên felt themselves growing stronger with every brushstroke and each flower set in challenging soil.

Amid the busy preparations for Tết, a plan dubbed the 'bánh chưng diplomatic' initiative was expected to bring a pleasant surprise to international friends who came to celebrate the Vietnamese traditional new year at the unit.

The bánh chưng, wrapped in wild banana leaves, had a lighter green hue than those made with traditional dong leaves but still retained their chewy texture and rich flavour.

This simple, unpretentious taste became a messenger, conveying the friendly image of Uncle Hồ’s soldiers to friends from other countries also serving on mission in the area.

Despite the festive spirit of spring, duty always comes first.

Road rollers and bulldozers are meticulously cleaned, as if joining the soldiers in celebrating Tết. Even as they gather around the New Year’s Eve table, their weapons remain close at hand.

The unit maintains 100 per cent combat readiness, ensuring the safety of the base and supporting local people in a complex security environment. This is how Vietnamese blue beret soldiers protect spring, with iron discipline and hearts that always yearn for peace. — VNS