Deo Sen is a cemetery in Halong that is the final resting place for more than 400 young people, most of whom died of AIDS or drug addiction.
The section of Deo Sen where drug addicts and HIV/AIDS victims are buried
The cemetery is divided into three hills, and the graves are segregated. One hill is for well-to-do and exhumed remains, one is for religious burials, and the third is reserved for young people, said Dang Van Quang, the cemetery’s guard.
“The number of young people dying has been going up since 2002, or thereabouts. I see funerals every day - some days as many as six. I’d say that three out of four are for young people who were addicted to drugs or got AIDS. Now this place has 6,000 graves,” he said.
The hill designated for these graves has about 400, most of them deserted. One of the tombstones has fallen down and is completely illegible.
Quang said, “All I know is that the tomb is for someone who died of AIDS three years ago. Nobody has visited since, and now it’s covered with weeds.”
He pointed at a tombstone of Luu Van Thanh, 30, saying that “Thanh was my nephew. He was the only child of a senior provincial official. He was very smart and studied at university. But one day they discovered he was addicted to drugs and expelled him.”
“His father sent him to a detox centre, but it didn’t work. His addiction ended up costing his family house,” he Quang said.
According to his father, his son’s last words were something to the effect of regretting not having found a competent rival in chess.
Mr. Thong, a guard at Deo Sen for 23 years, said, “I’ve seen a lot of deaths. But what I remember most is when 5 members of one family died of AIDS. That family had four sons and a daughter. After the fourth son died, the mother seemed like she couldn’t take anymore. Still, she ended up having to bury her husband early this year.”
In this city, young deaths are normal, which even become an “old” and “insipid” topic and do not draw the public attention as it should be.
Recently one HIV patient committed suicide by burning himself. His death seemed to go almost unnoticed.
Reportedly, young people attending friends’ funerals often do not take them very seriously.
Many deaths, few mourners
White wreath
Tombs of the young
A faded tombstone that displays only the given name of its owner
Or they are forgotten?
Young man regretted for not finding a competent chess rival
