VietNamNet Bridge – A teacher in the mountainous region bluntly stated “I am an HIV positive teacher” after many times of unsuccessfully trying to commit suicide.

Mrs Luong Thi Dung

Now all the people in Chiem Hoa district in Tuyen Quang province know that teacher Luong Thi Dung of the Nhan Ly Primary and Secondary School, “has HIV.” However, they don’t discriminate against her, because they admire her energy. The teacher still has been struggling to live and go teaching everyday.

It is not difficult to find Dung’s house, a small house lying near the grandiose mountains. This is the place where Dung and her two daughters have been experiencing the darkest days in their lives. This was the house where teacher Dung enjoyed the happy days with her husband.

Dung was born in Hoai Duc district of the former Ha Tay province. When she was six years old, she moved to the mountainous region together with parents and became a mountainous girl with brilliant beauty.

Then Dung met and married Tran Van Thanh, a man from Hai Phong. Thanh was the son of a family among the richest ones in the sea city of Hai Phong.

“There were not many flowers and friends at my wedding. But this was the happiest moments in my life,” the teacher recalled the wedding day.

The two daughters Tran Minh Anh and Tran Phuong Anh were the fruit of the love of the young couple. They are both very good and obedient students.

However, Dung could enjoy the happiness for two years only. Her husband fell seriously ill and passed away, when Dung was pregnant.

The husband’s family became the only moral support for the young teacher, who gave birth to another daughter just some months later. She was informed that her husband died of cancer.

Though Dung was a very beautiful girl, she never thought of marrying another man, though many men proposed to her. The tumulus of the husband was always covered with fruits, flowers and frankincense.

One day, Dung fell seriously ill and lost 20 kilos within a short time. She was informed that she was infected with HIV. “The notice from the hospital that I have HIV came to me like a life sentence. Meanwhile, I was so young and I needed to be strong to grow my children,” she said.

“I thought that I would die in shame,” she said.

And Dung got even more surprised when hearing from her husband’s family that Thanh himself died of AIDS.

Thanh was a playboy and a heroin addict in the sea city of Hai Phong. He later successfully detoxified, but he still had to pay a heavy price for his previous days.

Dung then began a succession of terrible days with the thought that she would die one day. However, she said that the discrimination against her was even a much bigger terror. In the thoughts of people in the mountainous region, HIV is something more terrible than leprosy.

She could not go to school, because the students ran away when they saw her. The parents also asked the school to keep the teacher away from school.

“Many times I tried to commit suicide. However, I loved my students, my children, and I changed my mind,” she said.

Dung decided to stand up, raise her head up and march forward, with the support of the good friends and colleagues. Now she can go working everyday, show the students how to write letters, and take care for the children every day, which she calls the biggest happiness in her life.

GDVN