Race against the sun on the construction site
For the vital Avenue Banton - Agok (Abyei) to gradually take shape before the rainy season, sweat drops still silently fall in the 50-degree Celsius heat of Africa.
Behind the wheel of the noisy machines, the Vietnamese green helmet soldier is not only fighting against the harshness of nature but also writing a compassionate story about the mission of maintaining peace and the promise to protect the Fatherland from afar.
Every day of Engineer Team No. 4 starts from 6 am. When the first rays of sunlight dawn on the African prairie, the machinery formation has rushed to stick to the line.
Racing against the rainy season is one thing, but the soldiers and workers here are also truly "racing against the sun". To keep up with the progress of route clearance, officers and staff in the unit are ready to put aside the rare weekend holidays and stick to the construction site continuously.
They cherish every hour of the morning, devoting their efforts to constructing every meter of road before the heat reaches its peak and only retreat to barracks when the sunset has dyed the horizon red.
The temperature resonated with the heat from the giant engine block, making the space no different from a furnace. However, through the glass covered with red dust, the eyes of Major Dang Viet Hung - Bridge and Road Engineering Company - still exuded steadfastness. His calloused hand rhythmically shifted the gear lever.
For the soldiers and workers here, the hot sun or deprivation is not a barrier but a challenge for them to promote the bravery and creativity of Vietnamese engineering soldiers.
Dialect, prescribe" for steel machines
Behind the tense hours of sticking to the line, the work of the mechanical repair team still silently continued.
On the Banton - Agok route, black clay and thick fine dust not only cause difficulties for humans but are also "killers" for machinery. Thin clay tightly wraps around the track system, while fine dust gets in and suffocates the air filters.
To make the rollers, excavators, and dump trucks return to the construction formation soon, the unit's technical team often has to take advantage of every hour, huddled under the truck regardless of day or night. Oil and grease mixed with sweat on the field uniform.
As one of the soldiers and workers diligently sticking to the machine with his brothers, Major Pham Van Hoan - Logistics - Security - shared: "The machinery here is like our comrades. The brothers are working hard on the construction site, so whenever any machine "sicks", we have to roll up our sleeves to "rescue" it immediately.
There are complex "diseases" that require struggling overnight or dragging until the next day to finish, but the mechanic team always encourages each other to work with the most urgency. If vehicles recover soon, roads will be cleared quickly, and Abyei people will soon be less miserable.
5 time zones and the promise of peace
After a long day of work, when the clothes were soaked in sweat and red dust, the barracks gradually became quiet. That was also when the soldiers came to a corner with flickering WiFi to call home.
In Abyei, it is 5 hours later than in Vietnam. Through a small, flickering phone screen, Lieutenant Nguyen Tri Hieu - Bridge and Road Engineering Company - smiled when he saw his young child rolling around and sleeping soundly.
Hasty greetings, instructions for his wife to shoulder housework in a warm, deep voice. Looking at the smile and peaceful breathing of his child through the screen, all the fatigue of a sunny day racing with the sun seems to gradually disappear.
Looking up at the starry sky of Abyei, the Vietnamese blue beret soldiers understand that today's hardship and the roads being connected on this land are a practical way to spread the message of peace.
