Imagine having to murder your child because your wife just died in childbirth.

This is the harsh reality of life in a handful of ethnic minority villages in Phuoc Son District in the central province of Quang Nam.

In these villages, it’s even acceptable to bury a newborn considered a future financial burden on its family.

The good news is that more and more people are working to save the lives of newborn babies and stamp out the superstitions that lead to such burials.

Agonizing anecdotes

Ho Van Long and Ho Thi Thoc of Phuoc Nang Commune are still traumatized when they recall the pressure they were under five years ago to bury their newborn twins alive.

Thoc said after she delivered the second baby, her parents-in-law feared the infants would bring bad luck to the family and the entire village.

Long’s parents said the couple would have to leave the village and bring the babies up in the jungle if they refused to bury them.

Feeling they had no choice, the unhappy parents allowed arrangements for the burial to proceed.

But the lives of the ill-fated newborns were saved by a localcommune official.

Ho Van Dui, then the communist party unit chief of Phuoc Nang Commune, said he rushed to the scene after being tipped off about the burial.

He had to threaten the villages with jail sentences before they relented and halted the burial.

“The kids would certainly have died if I had arrived five or seven minutes later,” Dui said.

Though the babies were rescued, their parents had to live under the prejudice of defying local customs for about three months.

Then local authorities stepped in to defend their honor and provide financial assistance for the family.

Unfortunately, one of Long and Thoc’s twins died in 2004.

Another savior

Nguyen The Tho has brought up a child he saved from certain death in BhNoong Hamlet nine years ago.

Tho arrived in the hamlet and noticed a woman who had just died in childbirth.

Tho resuscitated the baby, only to be confronted by angry villagers demanding he hand over the infant for burial.

It was not until Tho referred to the law which prohibited the burial of living people – and promised to buy them a pig – that the villagers allowed him to keep the baby.

The baby, Phuoc, is now being raised alongside Tho’s two other children in Kham Duc Town in Phuoc Son District.

Tho said even though Phuoc’s father had visited his son last year, he and his wife will continue to look after the boy.

“I expect one day Phuoc will return to his village and tell the locals about his life,” Tho said.

“I am convinced that local villagers will understand him.”

Survivors speak

Ho Thi Mai, 13, said her parents decided to bury her because she was the fourth girl and would be a financial burden on the family.

Mai was saved by her uncle Ho Van Nhoong and a group of Kinh – Vietnam’s dominant ethnic group – teachers.

Nhoong and the Kinh teachers also saved Mai’s sister but they found out about the burial of another of Mai’s sisters, the family’s fifth daughter, too late.

Nhoong, the Dak Khon Hamlet chief of Phuoc Nang Commune, said he tries to save unwanted and unlucky babies from burial because he once escaped the same fate.

He has enlisted outside agencies to join his efforts to eradicate the practice of burying newborns alive.

“We very much appreciate the Kinh people who have saved many newborns,” Nhoong said.

“However, we realize the locals themselves have to work to end this custom.”

“The fight against this practice is difficult but I am convinced that my efforts will eventually pay off,” he said.

Source: Tuoi Tre