The untold story of the cemetery burying more than 30,000 fetuses in Nghe An
In Vinh City, there is a group of students who have been diligently collecting unfortunate fetuses from medical facilities and bringing them to cemeteries for burial for over 10 years. The group of young people also regularly advise and persuade mothers who are considering abortions to change their decision, then take care of them in shelters.
The common grave of unfortunate fetuses
On the last day of September, Nguyen Van Than (22 years old), along with a young friend, was busy going to the fetal cemetery in Nghi Thach commune (Nghi Loc) to clean up and prepare for the funeral of nearly 200 fetuses.ill-fated fetus“Because there are so many fetuses, the group cannot bury them one by one. Therefore, every time we collect the unfortunate fetuses, we put them in the refrigerator. When the refrigerator is full, we will bury them,” Than said.
Than is currently the leader of the Faustina Vinh Life Protection Group, under the management of the Vinh Diocese Caritas Social Charity Board. Than is from Hung Nguyen district and is a final year student at a university in Vinh City. He said that the group currently has more than 100 members, most of whom are Catholic students studying at universities and colleges in the city. One of the group's main activities over the years has been to collect unfortunate fetuses and then take them to the cemetery for burial.
“Every 3 weeks to 1 month, the refrigerator will be full with about 200 to 300 unfortunate fetuses. When the refrigerator is full, we will go get wood and make our own coffins,” Than added.
The burial site for the fetuses is located in a people's cemetery on the border of Nghi Phong and Nghi Thach communes. The area is about 2,000 square meters, the resting place of more than 30,000 fetuses that the group has received over the past 10 years. The burial ceremony takes place with full rituals, like an adult funeral. "In addition to the burial days, every year on the occasion of International Children's Day, Mid-Autumn Festival and Soul Month, the group gathers at the two fetal cemeteries to clean, pray and burn incense for the children," Than said.
The second cemetery that Than mentioned is located on a hill in Xuan Hong commune, Nghi Xuan district (Ha Tinh). This is the burial place of nearly 50,000 unfortunate fetuses in the period from 2007 to 2014. The predecessor of the current Faustina Vinh Life Protection Group is the "John Paul II Life Protection Group". This group was also founded by a number of Catholic students in 2007 but only operated spontaneously, not under the management of Vinh Diocese. The idea was founded after a male student witnessed a fully formed fetus being abandoned on the side of the road. They then convinced a household in Xuan Hong commune to give them a plot of land on the hill, and together they built the cemetery with contributions of cement, bricks, and stones from kind-hearted volunteers.
By 2014, after burying nearly 50,000 fetuses, the group disbanded for various reasons. However, just a few days later, the Faustina Life Protection Group was established, continuing the similar work of its predecessors. This time, the group requested a plot of land in Cao Thach Cemetery to be the resting place for the fetuses. “If we count both groups, over the past 17 years, we have buried about 80,000 unfortunate fetuses. If we bury each baby in one grave, two cemeteries like this probably won’t have enough space,” said the head of the Faustina Life Protection Group, Vinh.
The arduous journey to protect life
In the early years of operation, the group members had to grope around looking for abandoned fetuses in trash bins at hospitals and clinics in Vinh City. Many times, they were mistaken for thieves or chased away by security guards. Recently, after many years of operation, many clinics and hospitals have known about the group, and every time a fetus is abandoned, they will proactively call the group to come and receive it.
Almost every day, there were phone calls from clinics and hospitals. There were even calls in the middle of the night, and the group members were ready to go. Many times when we were busy with school and couldn’t get there in time, they would leave them under a tree and point out the location for the group to pick them up later. Many times when we went to collect fetuses, we encountered curious looks from people around us, some even said we were crazy, but we ignored them and didn’t care what they thought.
Nguyen Van Than - Head of Faustina Vinh Life Protection Group
In addition to waiting for phone calls from familiar locations, the group would go to medical facilities four times a week to actively search and collect. Each time, the group members would talk to each other, hoping that the trip would be fruitless and that no abandoned fetuses would be found.
Talking about the first days of joining the group, Dang Quang Hoang (23 years old) said that he also encountered many obstacles from his family and friends. “At first, I followed the brothers and sisters to collect the fetuses and felt very scared. But then I felt compassion for the babies, and that compassion helped me overcome my fear. Many times, the abandoned fetuses were very big, with all their parts. I touched them and still felt warm. At that time, I only felt pain, not fear,” Hoang said, adding that especially after each holiday such as March 8, October 20, Valentine's Day February 14 and Lunar New Year, the members of the group felt sad and helpless because the number of aborted fetuses was too large.
After receiving them, the group will clean the grown fetuses, carefully wrap them in towels, then wrap them in plastic wrap, and put them in the refrigerator to await burial. Like other members of the group, Hoang hopes that all children will be born with love, and that abortion will be limited, so that the work they are doing will no longer happen in the future.
Not only collecting and burying fetuses, over the years, the Faustina Life Protection Group has also been a place to take care of people who have made mistakes. “After many years of operation, the group has a large network of collaborators. Every time we know of someone who has made a mistake and intends to have an abortion, we will seek them out to advise and persuade them. If that person agrees, the group will take them to a shelter to take care of them from then until they give birth to a month old. After the baby is one month old, the mothers will have two options: either bring the baby back, or if they are not qualified to raise the baby, the group will find adoptive parents for the baby, so that the baby can have a better life,” Than added.
According to Than, the journey to regain life for children also encountered many difficulties. “Every time we learned that someone was planning to have an abortion, the group would ask for their phone number and make an appointment, usually at hospitals or clinics. However, it was very difficult to meet these people. Because the clinics did not want us to persuade their clients not to do it anymore. Therefore, we often had to sneak in to meet them or pretend to be relatives,” Than said, adding that on average, each year, the group persuaded about 30 mothers to give up their intention to have an abortion and take them to care for them at shelters.
In addition, the group also has many other volunteer activities, such as giving out hundreds of free meals three times a week to patients and their families who are renting rooms for dialysis in Vinh City.
