A member of the technical team maintains construction vehicles. — Photo vov.vn

HÀ NỘI — Amid scorching heat in Abyei, Vietnamese blue beret soldiers are staying on the Banton-Agok road construction line, racing against time before the rainy season, writing a story of determination and a mission of peacekeeping from afar.

Abyei has never been an easy place to live. Security instability is ever-present, but what drains human strength the most is the extreme weather.

At the vast 25km Banton-Agok construction site, temperatures in March consistently scorch at around 50 degrees Celsius.

Each day of Vietnamese peacekeepers’ Engineering Unit No 4 begins at 6am.

As the first rays of sunlight appear over the African savanna, convoys of construction vehicles roll out to the work line.

To meet deadlines, officers and personnel voluntarily forgo their rare weekends to remain on site continuously.

They make the most of the morning hours, pushing hard to complete every metre of road before the heat peaks and only withdraw to camp when the sunset reddens the horizon.

To return rollers, excavators and dump trucks to operation as quickly as possible, the technical team often works around the clock, crawling under vehicles day and night.

Grease mixes with sweat on their field uniforms. With severe shortages of spare parts in Abyei, they rely on skillful hands to improvise, weld and carefully clean every component.

Through the dust-covered glass, the eyes of Major Đặng Việt Hùng of the Bridge and Road Engineering Unit remain resolute.

His calloused hands move steadily on the controls. For these soldier-workers, heat and hardship are not obstacles, but a trial by fire that brings out their resilience and the ingenuity that defines Việt Nam.

Major Phạm Văn Hoan of the Logistics and Support Unit, said: “The machines here are like our comrades. While the team pushes their limits on the site, whenever a machine ‘falls ill,’ we must jump in to ‘treat’ it immediately.

“Some complex issues take all night or even into the next day, but we always encourage one another to work with urgency. The sooner vehicles are back in shape, the sooner the road is open, and the sooner the people of Abyei suffer less.”

Relaxing time

After shedding sweat- and dust-soaked uniforms, the camp falls into quiet. That is when the soldiers find a spot with weak Wi-Fi to call home.

Abyei is five hours behind Việt Nam. When dusk falls there, back home it is already a peaceful night.

Through a small, flickering phone screen, Lieutenant Nguyễn Trí Hiếu smiles warmly as he watches his young child sleeping soundly.

Quick words of care and reminders to his wife are spoken in a gentle, loving voice.

Seeing his child’s peaceful breathing, he said the exhaustion and burning heat of a day spent racing the sun seem to fade away.

Looking up at the star-filled sky of Abyei, Vietnamese blue beret soldiers understand that their hardship today, connecting roads in this “fire land”, is the most practical way to spread the message of peace. — VNS