Here I can live
Deep inside Minh Phu commune (Soc Son, Hanoi) is led to along a winding red dirt road, Da Bac leprosy farm was once a treatment place for hundreds of leprosy patients since the 1950s.
Previously, the camp had more than 100 patients in 2013 Hanoi City authorities decided to move the camp to another place to ensure better living conditions for patients.
But Depending on personal conditions, many people moved to new camps, some people returned to live with their families… Only 10 people asked to stay because they had been attached to this place for too long.
< p>As the years go by, half of the people who asked to stay at Da Bac leprosy camp have passed away. Some people continue to be welcomed by their descendants to take care of them in their old age.< /p>
Now in the leprosy camp only Mrs. Nguyen Thi Soi (from Vinh Tuong, Vinh Phuc) remains in the dilapidated and desolate rooms. Bnguyen Thi Soi is 77 years old this year but has lived here for 55 years.
Mrs. Nguyen Thi Soi confided: “When I was 17 years old, I was dumbfounded when I learned that I had this incurable disease. At that time, in my hometown, anyone with this disease was feared and shunned by people…”
At that time, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Yarn had to sleep under the kitchen and eat separate dishes and chopsticks. She endured the pain and went to work in the fields like normal people to hide the evil disease.
Then gradually the Her toes and fingers kept blistering and shrinking. The villagers also knew that people called her “Leper. Ms. Nguyen Thi Soi decided to go to Da Bac leprosy camp for refuge at the age of 22.
“Maybe I won’t be able to live Until now if it weren’t for this leprosy camp. Luckily, coming here, I can live in harmony with many people in the same situation” – Ms. Nguyen Thi Soi shared.
Since coming here, she has never returned to her hometown because she has no more relatives. She also doesn’t go out to meet anyone, only has people in the same situation as her friends.
“Sometimes I think I was very sad at first. I cried every night. Then my adoptive father also cried, but he didn’t know what to do with such a fate. Now that society has less discrimination, we have calmed down a lot” – Ms. Nguyen Thi Fiber confided.</span >
Last piece of life
Since coming here, Ms. Nguyen Thi Soi has been cared for and There are many people to keep you company. But at the end of her life, she accepted that loneliness again.
Mrs. Nguyen Thi Soi stayed alone and lived alone in an abandoned leprosy farm in the middle of the mountains. She decided not to move to another leprosy camp.
< p>Explaining her choice to stay and live here, she said: “I have lived here for more than 50 years, it is like my family’s hometown. In addition, there is also incense left behind for friends, patients who died in the leprosy camp and are buried on the hill. After I left, they stayed cold all year without anyone lighting incense sticks for me.”
Each person was welcomed back by their children and grandchildren for the sake of society. The association no longer shuns patients like before.
“In 2019, Mrs. Van Thi Thuc and Mrs. Le Thi Lien were still living with me here. But then they had their children and grandchildren. welcome her to live because the house here is very leaky” – Ms. Nguyen Thi Soi shared.
Since everyone moved away, she lives in isolation. with society. Ms. Nguyen Thi Soi took advantage of the wild garden in the farm to raise chickens and grow vegetables to make food to survive the day. Each month, Ms. Nguyen Thi Soi receives a subsidy of 700,000 VND from the state.
“To buy food, I have to walk 3km. But it was very difficult because my limbs ached and I fell down on the gravel road. So let’s just be self-sufficient” – Ms. Nguyen Thi Soi said.
Please stay here for the rest of the day They include Mr. Nguyen Van Don and Ms. Vuong Thi Tong. Both grandparents are from Minh Phu, Soc Son. Even though their children have picked them up, they still come here often to confide in each other’s company. For them, Da Bac leprosy camp was truly a home.
The development of modern medicine has cured the disease. This evil. There are only sequelae and pain that follow them throughout their lives. Ms. Nguyen Thi Soi said that everyone here lives over 80 years old, and no one has ever died of a serious illness.
Mr. Nguyen Van Don shared: “A few years ago I also built a level 4 house not far from here. Every day I cycle here to meet friends with whom we have been together for most of our lives.
Every day, unhappy people in their twilight years tell each other about the past and happy and sad stories. Besides Mrs. Nguyen Thi Soi, there are also 4 dogs as her friends, whom she has given special names such as dog and girl…
Song Alone in the middle of vast mountains and forests, apart from her close friends and confidants, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Soi rarely meets strangers. If you need any necessities, ask your daughter-in-law, Ms. Vuong Thi Tong, to buy them for you and bring them there.
“Each time you receive benefits or pay When I buy electricity, I send messages to Mrs. Tong to ask her daughter-in-law to buy them for me. Then Mrs. Tong brings me necessities here and sometimes I don’t see a stranger for a whole month” – Mrs. Nguyen Thi Soi confided. < /span>
For many years, Ms. Nguyen Thi Soi’s life has been as boring as ever. The leprosy wounds are gradually stabilizing, no longer ulcerating, but every time the weather turns bad, the whole body aches.
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