Photograph by Lynn Johnson Republished from the pages of
National Geographic magazine Little Ngoan was buried behind her
parents' hut three weeks ago. Her grave, a bulky concrete tomb
like others dotting the Vietnamese countryside, rests on high
ground between a fishpond and yellow-green rice fields. At one
end her family laid out her cherished possessions: a doll's
chair, a collection of shells, plastic sandals. They painted her
tomb powder blue. While Ngoan's parents are off helping with the
rice harvest, other relatives share their memories. "She was so
small, just ten years old," says her grandmother, sitting on a
hammock. "She was very gentle and a good student. If you look at
her older sister"—the 17-year-old hangs back shyly—"you can
imagine what she was like." Ngoan's grandfather, silent with
grief, lights a stick of incense at her grave. The loss of a
beloved child has hit this family hard. But ordinarily, the
wider world would pay little attention to a child's death from
infectious disease in this r