Posted on 03/29/2008 11:16:36 AM PDT by radar101
NHA TRANG, Vietnam (AP) - Sitting cross-legged on a straw mat in the middle of the living room, Tong Phuoc Phuc sings a soothing Vietnamese lullaby. For a moment, his deep voice works magic, and the tiny room crammed with 13 babies is still. Phuc giggles like a proud papa. He's not related to any of them, but without him, many of these children likely would have been aborted. And to Phuc, abortion is unimaginable.
The 41-year-old Catholic from the coastal town of Nha Trang has opened his door to unwed expectant mothers in a country that logs one of the world's highest abortion rates. In 2006, there were more than 114,000 abortions at state hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City—outnumbering births.
Most pregnant, unmarried Vietnamese women have few options. Abortion is a welcome choice for many who simply cannot afford to care for a baby or are unwilling to risk being disowned by their families.
The communist government calls premarital sex a "social evil." Abortion, however, is legal and performed at nearly every hospital. And unlike in some Western countries where the issue is hotly contested, the practice stirs little debate here.
But shelters for women who want to keep their babies are rare. Phuc promises them food and a roof until they give birth, and then cares for the children until the mothers can afford to take them. In the past four years, he's taken in 60 kids, with about half still living in his two houses.
"Sometimes we have 10 mothers living here ... sleeping on the floor," says Phuc, a thin man with dark, weathered skin and teeth stained brown from years of smoking. "The problem is that a lot of young people live together and have sex, but they have no knowledge about getting pregnant. So they get abortions."
Phuc says he made a deal with God seven years ago when his wife encountered complications while in labor with their son. He vowed that if they were spared, he would find a way to help others. As his wife lay recuperating after the difficult birth, he recalls seeing many pregnant women going into the delivery room but always leaving alone.
"I was wondering, 'where are the babies?'" he says, cradling an infant in each arm. "Then I realized they had abortions."
Phuc, a building contractor, started saving money to buy a craggy plot of land outside town. He then began collecting unwanted fetuses from hospitals and clinics to bury in graves on the property. At first, doctors and neighbors thought he had gone mad. Even his wife questioned spending their savings to build a cemetery for aborted babies.
But he kept on, and now some 7,000 tiny plots dot the shady hillside, many marked with bright red, pink and yellow artificial roses.
"I believe these fetuses have souls," says Phuc, who has two children of his own. "And I don't want them to be wandering souls."
Vietnam was ranked as having the world's highest abortion rate in a 1999 report by the U.S.-based Guttmacher Institute, which tracks the statistics. More recent reliable data for both public and private clinics are unavailable. Aid agency Pathfinder International says abortions remain high in Vietnam but appear to be declining slightly.
Dr. Vo Thi Kim Loan has run her own clinic just outside Ho Chi Minh City since 1991. She says the number of young, unmarried women seeking quick, discreet abortions has increased with more teen girls having sex before marriage. She also still sees a steady stream of married women coming in for repeat abortions because their husbands disapprove of contraceptives.
Preference for boys is another factor. Vietnamese women with access to ultrasound sometimes terminate pregnancies after discovering they're carrying girls in a country where couples are encouraged to have just two children.
Phuc isn't sure why so many Vietnamese choose abortion and says more women need to understand safer forms of birth control are available.
He says word of his unusual graveyard eventually spread, and women who had undergone abortions started visiting to pray and burn incense. Phuc urged them to tell others considering the same option to talk with him first.
Phan Thi Hong Vu looks lovingly at her chubby 7 1/2-month-old baby boy sucking on a pacifier surrounded by all the other babies on Phuc's floor. She shivers at the thought of how close she came to losing him.
"I actually went to the hospital intending to get an abortion, but I was so scared," says Vu, who was 3 1/2 months pregnant at the time. "I decided to go home and think about it. Two weeks later, I met with Phuc."
She moved into the 904-square-foot house soon after and remains there with seven other new or expectant mothers. They spend their days washing, feeding, burping, changing and playing with the babies—all but one are under a year old. The constant chorus of crying, coughing and cooing fills the living room, which is lined with pink and blue cribs and adorned with a crucifix, the Virgin Mary and a photo of the late Pope John Paul II.
It's a full-time operation that involves Phuc's entire family. His older sister manages the chaos, mixing vats of strained potatoes and carrots and preparing formula for bottles, while shushing crying babies and chasing crawlers. The entrance to the single-level cement house tells the story: rows of bibs, booties, jumpers and spit rags hang drying in the sun.
It costs about $1,800 a month to care for all 33 babies and the women. Phuc gets donations from Catholic and Buddhist organizations and from people who have heard about his work. On a recent day, a local family dropped by with an envelope sent from their daughter in California who had read about Phuc on a Vietnamese Web site. Two years ago, he even got a letter from Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet praising him for caring for women and children scorned by society.
Health authorities say they support what he's doing, but also keep a close eye on him to ensure everything is legitimate in a country where baby selling and child trafficking are a problem. Some people accuse Phuc of condoning premarital sex.
Phuc's operation is not a registered orphanage, which means he cannot put any of the children up for adoption. But even if he could, he shakes his head and says his goal is to reunite each child with its mother or to raise them as his own. So far, 27 babies have gone home.
"I will continue this job until the last breath of my life," he says. "I will encourage my children to take over to help other people who are underprivileged."
A sadly appropriate name.
May God bless that man.
God Bless this man and his family.
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Yes God bless this wonderful man and his family and all the babies and women he is helping! A good cause to support.
“without him, many of these children likely would have been aborted. “
This man is a modern day saint.
He will have a mighty place in God’s kingdom. He is poor, giving all he has to protect human life.
Contrast with Warren Buffet who sends large amounts of money to Planned Parenthood.
Good news......ping
“Phuc’s operation is not a registered orphanage, which means he cannot put any of the children up for adoption. But even if he could, he shakes his head and says his goal is to reunite each child with its mother or to raise them as his own. So far, 27 babies have gone home.
“I will continue this job until the last breath of my life,” he says. “I will encourage my children to take over to help other people who are underprivileged.”
I love this nitty-gritty, street level type Christianity.
Where there is life, there is hope.
Pray for this man.
That’s a very ugly statement.
May God bless this man.
mrs
God's richest Blessings on this wonderful man. I wonder how donations could safely reach him?
Yes, I was wondering how to get him donations, too. Anyone know?
When I read this, I thought of the character of Sarah Smith in CS Lewis’s book “The Great Divorce”
And only partly do I remember the unbearable beauty of her face.
‘Is it?... Is it?’ I whispered to my guide.
‘Not at all,’ said he. ‘It’s someone ye’ll never have heard of. Her name on earth was Sarah Smith and she lived at Golders green.’
‘She seems to be ... well, a person of particular importance?’
Aye. She is one of the great ones. Ye have heard that fame in this country and fame on earth are two quite different things.’
‘And who are these gigantic people... look! They’re like emeralds... who are dancing and throwing flowers before her?’
‘Haven’t you read Milton? A thousand liveried angels lackey her.’
‘And who are all these young men and women on each side?’
They are her sons and daughters.’
She must have had a very large family, Sir.’
‘Every young man or boy that met her became her son—even if it is was only the boy that brought meat to her back door. Every girl that met her was her daughter.”
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1. Hon Thom Cemetery (top) 2. On a tombstone: “Father, mother apologise!” 3. Nameless tombs, where only numbers (burying day) and abbreviations (the place where unborn children were aborted) exist |
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This man will become a high-level leader in Vietnam, possibly President.
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