Dedicated Vietnamese mother raised her Down child in the cemetery
A Vietnamese mother in HCMC has spent 12 years taking care of her child having
Down syndrome with the support of the warming neighborhood in the cemetery.
Life in the cemetery
During her pregnancy, Nga had a few ultrasonic scans of the fetus but no signs of
abnormality were spotted. However, her son was born with severe deformities. In
other words, he will spend the rest of his life unable to talk, eat or clean himself
independently. Nga hugged her child and cried, seemingly accepting her destiny.
No one in his family, both on his mother’s and father’s sides, suffered from this
condition. Nevertheless, she was 40 at the time of her delivery. Despite her fate, she
shared: “My child is my flesh and blood. No matter how he is, I still love him and
will try to support him. I cannot just abandon him.”
After her parents passed away, Nga and her siblings went their separate ways. She
had to rent her own place and work at construction sites to make ends meet. Due to
their poor living conditions, his father has to work as far as Binh Thuan province,
200 km away and only gets back home once every few months. Their hot and humid
shelter worsens the child’s condition.
8 years ago, Nga raking other people’s advice and her child came to Bac Hop
cemetery asking for refuge in the charitable home, which is a nice and neat 10m2
setting. The kitchen and toilet were newly built and separated from the home.