Six-year-old Dinh Nay Thuong is living happily with her 58-year-old adopted mother in the Chu Se District in the central highlands province of Gia Lai. 

Six-year-old Dinh Nay Thuong and her adopted mother

The adopted mother, Dinh Nay Huynh, who was chairman of Ayun Commune's Women Association, has been well-known in the area for her determination to go against the local traditional beliefs to keep and raise Thuong in her family.

Talking about Thuong's story at her old small house in Tung Ke Village, Huynh recalled the evening of April 21, 2012 when she rushed a dying pregnant woman to hospital at the opposition of her family.

"I returned home from work that evening and was told that a neighbour, a young woman in the seventh month of pregnancy, was in critical condition after catching a cold," Huynh remembered. "I rushed to her house and saw her family preparing a funeral for her. I came close and felt that she was still warm and her baby was moving strongly in her uterus. I called her family to rush her to hospital to save the baby but they said no. I was shocked but then as a member of the Banar ethnic minority group, I knew what they thought. I hesitated for a while but then I fight against them to carry the woman in my back to a nearby health centre where they helped transfer her to the provincial hospital for an urgent cesarean section."

The baby girl was then successfully delivered before the mother died, Huynh continued. At that time I had to ask for help from doctors to protect the baby from her family who I know would take it home to bury with her dead mother following the Banar custom.

Huynh said she had to stay at the hospital for four days and then took it home at night so that local people would not see her and the baby.

"I had to keep the child indoors during the first days," she said. "But then my neighbours still knew about this and tried to persuade me to abandon the baby using the old belief of the Banar People that God will take my life instead. They then stopped contacting me when I didn't listen to them. 

Huynh said she also had to seek help from the local authorities to prevent Thuong's family from coming to take her back. Luckily she got support from her daughter. 

Huynh daughter, Dinh Thi Hoan, said that they had to take turns to keep an eye on Thuong all the time.

Dinh Thi Hoan with her two children and Dinh Nay Thuong

"We faced many difficulties at first as most neighbours and other family members turned their back to us, including my husband," Hoan said. "But we love the baby and believe that we're doing the right thing. "The biggest challenge was that we are poor and sometimes we didn't have enough money to buy milk for the baby."

The adopted mother named the baby Thuong which means Love with the hope that she would receive more love from life when growing up. 

"And my wish has come true," she said with a happy smile. "With time, people have realised that my work brought no harm to me and my little daughter has grown up healthy. Thuong is now six and has been admitted to a local kindergarten. Her grandparents sometimes come to visit her and her father has asked if he can take her back but I refused. He does not have a stable job and is often drunk so I think now I can bring her up better."

More Banar babies rescued from old custom

Thuong is one of some lucky Banar babies in Tung Ke Village saved by people with new ways of thinking who are trying to fight against their depraved customs.

In 2005, baby boy Dinh Hoang Phuoc was saved by a new resident of the village, Pham Hoang Long, when his mother was trying to kill him at birth with the support of some other family members. 

"Phuoc's mother got pregnant with an unknown man and I and my wife heard that her baby must be killed according to the group's custom," Long said. "When hearing that she was delivering, I informed the commune's people's committee which sent two officers to come and help prevent the family from killing the baby. 

Besides Phuoc, Long and his wife have saved two other babies from being buried alive with their dead mothers.

"According to Banar custom, if a woman died, her breast-fed baby must be buried with her so that she could continue to raise it. If not, the mother's soul could not rest," Long said. "Our family are Kinh (majority ethnicity) people and we were shocked when first hearing about it. We believe that there were no grounds for that belief and we should try to end it. And luckily more Banar people have realised this."

A neighbour of Huynh, Ho Thi Ngoc said that she admires Huynh for her bravery and kind heart.

"She has saved the life of the girl and changed our thoughts," Ngoc said. "At first I was very worried and even frightened by the thought that God would punish Huynh and the whole village because we kept that baby. But now nothing bad happened. Local authorities have also come to explain that our old belief is ridiculous."

Dtinews