Bring Me Hope

By Feng Yuhong

Bring Me Hope

By Feng Yuhong

In 2003, a great change took place in David Bolt’s family—he suddenly had two new little sisters.

“Really? Dad adopted two girls? That’s awesome!Please bring them over as soon as possible!” Having received a call from his father, the 22-year-old David appeared to be both surprised and excited, expecting the coming of the new family members with all his heart.

2003年，David Bolt的家里發(fā)生了一件翻天覆地的大事——家里多了兩個妹妹。

“真的嗎？爸爸收養(yǎng)了兩個女兒？太好了，快把她們帶回來！”接到父親的電話，22歲的David表現(xiàn)得又驚又喜，滿心期待著家庭新成員的到來。

David’s father, Steve, was a businessman, who took an unintentional visit to an orphanage and was deeply attracted to two babies during his business trip in China. They were a pair of quiet sisters under two years old, whose tiny bodies were wrapped in unfitted baby clothes. They had malnourished yellow hair on their little heads. Their faces were wetted by their own spit and snot but with no one helping them to wipe it off. They curled up in the crib with arms swinging in the air, as if they were looking forward to a hug. Steve strongly believed that it was a heavenly plan that he met these two girls, so after little thought, he decided to adopt them and named them Mary and Abby respectively.

After what seemed like thousands of forms and procedures were done,Mary and Abby eventually arrived in America two weeks later. In San Diego Airport, David held his breath until two familiar figures finally appeared, they were his father Steve and mother Cathy. In his parents’arms, Mary and Abby slept soundly.

David’s heart softened on seeing this.

After getting back home, David and his junior high school sister Becca were overjoyed. They spent a long time sitting by the crib with excitement. David wanted to hold his sisters in his arms but was afraid of his clumsiness—he certainly didn’t want to scare them into crying. Being worried about disturbing their sweet dreams, he just took off his shoes and walked barefoot in the room.Every night, he would gently push the cradle and sing the lullaby that he was not really good at. When they woke up, he would entertain them with prepared toys and try to babble like them as if he were a baby again.“Look! Mary, Abby. This is a family photo, which is a picture of the whole family. Let’s take a new one—this time you two will also be included as you are our family members now!”

David seemed to be an excellent brother, though he had hardly ever dealt with babies before, he made great efforts no less than any new dad would. In the morning, he would get up early to make a nutritious baby meal and try everything to coax them to eat it up. When they were incontinent, he always got himself dirty and changed their pants and diapers in a flurry. If there was a sunny day, he’d take them out for a walk. Every time he bumped into someone he knew, he would make an introduction with pride. “Look!They are the darling loves in our family!”

David的父親Steve是一位商人，在中國經(jīng)商途中，他無意間拜訪了一家孤兒院，并被兩個尚在襁褓中的孤兒深深吸引。這是一對尚不滿兩歲、非常安靜的小姐妹。她們小小的身軀被包裹在不合身的嬰兒服里，因營養(yǎng)不良而略帶黃色的頭發(fā)稀稀拉拉地長在腦袋上；口水鼻涕弄得小臉蛋濕乎乎的，卻沒有人幫她們擦拭；身體蜷縮在嬰兒床里，雙臂對著空氣揮舞著，仿佛在尋求擁抱。Steve深信，遇見這兩個孩子是上天的安排。再三思索，他決定收養(yǎng)這兩個孩子，并給她們分別取名為Mary和Abby。

經(jīng)過無數(shù)繁雜的手續(xù)，Mary和Abby終于在兩周后來到美國。在圣地亞哥機場，David翹首以待，兩個熟悉的身影終于出現(xiàn)，那正是父親Steve和母親Cathy。而小小的Mary和Abby被他們各自抱在懷中，睡得酣甜。

見此情形，David的心都融化了。

回到家中，David和還在上初中的妹妹Becca表現(xiàn)得尤為欣喜。他們久久地坐在嬰兒床邊，十分興奮。他想要抱抱這兩個妹妹，又害怕自己笨手笨腳將她們嚇哭；擔心鞋子的摩擦聲驚擾她們的美夢，細心的他便脫了鞋子在房間里光著腳丫走路；每天晚上，他都會在搖籃邊一邊輕輕推著搖床，一邊唱著自己并不熟練的搖籃曲哄她們?nèi)胨淮齻冃褋恚謱⑻崆皽蕚浜玫耐婢吣贸鰜矶核齻冮_心，還咿咿呀呀地像回到小時候一樣學她們說話。“Mary,Abby!你們看，這個就是全家福哦!全家福就是一家人一起照的相片，我們重新來照一張，把你們也照進來，因為你們也是我們家的一員了！”

David似乎天生就有著做好哥哥的潛質(zhì)，雖然以前鮮少與小嬰兒打交道，但他為了兩個嬰兒妹妹付出的努力絲毫不輸于任何一位新手爸爸。早晨，他總會早早起床，為妹妹配制富有營養(yǎng)的嬰兒餐，并絞盡腦汁地哄她們吃光；她們大小便時，他會手忙腳亂地為她們換褲子換尿布，常常是把她們倆收拾干凈了卻把自己弄得一身臟；天氣晴朗的時候他會推著嬰兒車，帶著她們出去散步，遇到熟人還會自豪地介紹說：“你看!這就是我們家的兩個寶貝！”

待到Mary和Abby長大一些了，David和Becca便小心翼翼地護著兩個妹妹學走路，每次看到她們摔倒痛哭流涕的樣子，David便心如針扎，恨不得替妹妹們挨痛；當看到她們對別的孩子做出的沙堡羨慕不已時，David會手把手地教她們做自己的沙堡；每晚睡前David都會來兩枚晚安吻，并告訴她們家人們有多么愛她們。

When Mary and Abby got a little older, David and Becca began to help them walk. David felt his heart broke every time he saw his little girls fall down or cry. How he wished he could suffer the pains for them! When he noticed their envious glances at other kids’ sand castles, he would teach them to make one of their own. Every night before they went to bed, he would leave two goodnight kisses on their faces and tell them how much their family loves them.

The two girls thrived within the warmth of the family. Now, Mary has grown into a considerate and amiable girl, who knows how to show understanding for others.Abby has grown into an energetic girl, who can always make you laugh and turn any stranger into her friend. David showed more love to these two girls than any other family member did. He not only loved his sisters dearly, but also noticed the process of their growth.“My sisters are getting more and more outgoing, which is terrific. But there are still thousands of Chinese orphans still waiting to be adopted…What should they do? What can we do for them?”

With that thought in mind, David departed for China in the next year and worked as a temporary voluntary teacher in an orphanage.He returned to the U.S. after the term was over, but one year after that, he again came to China with his whole family and volunteered in an orphanage in Nanchang. After several voluntary experiments, an idea came into David’s mind, that was, founding a summer camp.While other newly graduated peers were still struggling to start their careers, a 25-year-old David chose to quit his job and devote himself to the establishment of the summer camp that aimed at showing love to orphans. He named the camp Bring Me Hope.

The orphans at the camp suffered different but similar lives. They were abandoned out of parents’inability, congenital diseases, and even abduction. Thousands of immature souls have been seriously traumatized, but David’s camp is undoubtedly a good remedy in their lives. Besides, Bring Me Hope is also an information-sharing platform for orphan adoption. As its name entails, Bring Me Hope brings the hope of being adopted by a new family to these orphans, which is exactly the intention of its founder.◆

沐浴在家庭的溫暖里，兩個孩子茁壯地成長著。如今的Mary體貼友善，她深知如何體諒別人，處處為他人著想；而Abby精力充沛，總能在不經(jīng)意間逗樂他人，在她的世界里仿佛不存在陌生人，因為她能與任何人成為朋友。在這個充滿關(guān)愛的大家庭中，David尤其疼愛這兩個妹妹。他不僅全心全意地呵護她們，更是將妹妹們的成長看在眼里。“我的妹妹們變得越來開朗了，這點確實令人欣慰。但是中國還有成千上萬的孤兒，他們該怎么辦？我們又能做些什么呢？”

帶著這樣的想法，David第二年飛往中國，在一家孤兒院當起志愿教師。一年后，他帶著全家人再次來到中國，在南昌一家孤兒院做志愿者。經(jīng)過一次次的志愿者經(jīng)歷，David逐漸萌生出創(chuàng)立一個夏令營的想法。于是，正值其他從大學畢業(yè)不久的同齡人還在默默為事業(yè)打拼的時候，25歲的他卻辭去自己的工作，潛心于創(chuàng)立關(guān)愛孤兒的夏令營工作中，他將該夏令營組織命名為“帶給我希望”。

參與夏令營的孤兒有著不同卻又相似的遭遇：有父母無力撫養(yǎng)而被拋棄的，也有因先天疾病而被父母拋棄的，更有慘遭拐賣而淪為孤兒的。一個個幼小的心靈被蒙上陰影，但David的夏令營卻給成百上千的孤兒們的生活帶去陽光。不僅如此，“帶給我希望”夏令營也是一個發(fā)布孤兒收養(yǎng)信息的平臺，恰如其名，它也給這些孤兒們帶去被新家庭收養(yǎng)的希望。這也正是David的初衷。◆

帶給我希望

文/馮雨虹