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的家里发生了一件翻天覆地的大事——家里多了两个妹妹。

“真的吗？爸爸收养了两个女儿？太好了，快把她们带回来！”接到父亲的电话，22岁的David表现得又惊又喜，满心期待着家庭新成员的到来。

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的父亲Steve是一位商人，在中国经商途中，他无意间拜访了一家孤儿院，并被两个尚在襁褓中的孤儿深深吸引。这是一对尚不满两岁、非常安静的小姐妹。她们小小的身躯被包裹在不合身的婴儿服里，因营养不良而略带黄色的头发稀稀拉拉地长在脑袋上；口水鼻涕弄得小脸蛋湿乎乎的，却没有人帮她们擦拭；身体蜷缩在婴儿床里，双臂对着空气挥舞着，仿佛在寻求拥抱。Steve深信，遇见这两个孩子是上天的安排。再三思索，他决定收养这两个孩子，并给她们分别取名为Mary和Abby。

经过无数繁杂的手续，Mary和Abby终于在两周后来到美国。在圣地亚哥机场，David翘首以待，两个熟悉的身影终于出现，那正是父亲Steve和母亲Cathy。而小小的Mary和Abby被他们各自抱在怀中，睡得酣甜。

见此情形，David的心都融化了。

回到家中，David和还在上初中的妹妹Becca表现得尤为欣喜。他们久久地坐在婴儿床边，十分兴奋。他想要抱抱这两个妹妹，又害怕自己笨手笨脚将她们吓哭；担心鞋子的摩擦声惊扰她们的美梦，细心的他便脱了鞋子在房间里光着脚丫走路；每天晚上，他都会在摇篮边一边轻轻推着摇床，一边唱着自己并不熟练的摇篮曲哄她们入睡；待她们醒来，又将提前准备好的玩具拿出来逗她们开心，还咿咿呀呀地像回到小时候一样学她们说话。“Mary,Abby!你们看，这个就是全家福哦!全家福就是一家人一起照的相片，我们重新来照一张，把你们也照进来，因为你们也是我们家的一员了！”

David似乎天生就有着做好哥哥的潜质，虽然以前鲜少与小婴儿打交道，但他为了两个婴儿妹妹付出的努力丝毫不输于任何一位新手爸爸。早晨，他总会早早起床，为妹妹配制富有营养的婴儿餐，并绞尽脑汁地哄她们吃光；她们大小便时，他会手忙脚乱地为她们换裤子换尿布，常常是把她们俩收拾干净了却把自己弄得一身脏；天气晴朗的时候他会推着婴儿车，带着她们出去散步，遇到熟人还会自豪地介绍说：“你看!这就是我们家的两个宝贝！”

待到Mary和Abby长大一些了，David和Becca便小心翼翼地护着两个妹妹学走路，每次看到她们摔倒痛哭流涕的样子，David便心如针扎，恨不得替妹妹们挨痛；当看到她们对别的孩子做出的沙堡羡慕不已时，David会手把手地教她们做自己的沙堡；每晚睡前David都会来两枚晚安吻，并告诉她们家人们有多么爱她们。

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.◆

沐浴在家庭的温暖里，两个孩子茁壮地成长着。如今的Mary体贴友善，她深知如何体谅别人，处处为他人着想；而Abby精力充沛，总能在不经意间逗乐他人，在她的世界里仿佛不存在陌生人，因为她能与任何人成为朋友。在这个充满关爱的大家庭中，David尤其疼爱这两个妹妹。他不仅全心全意地呵护她们，更是将妹妹们的成长看在眼里。“我的妹妹们变得越来开朗了，这点确实令人欣慰。但是中国还有成千上万的孤儿，他们该怎么办？我们又能做些什么呢？”

带着这样的想法，David第二年飞往中国，在一家孤儿院当起志愿教师。一年后，他带着全家人再次来到中国，在南昌一家孤儿院做志愿者。经过一次次的志愿者经历，David逐渐萌生出创立一个夏令营的想法。于是，正值其他从大学毕业不久的同龄人还在默默为事业打拼的时候，25岁的他却辞去自己的工作，潜心于创立关爱孤儿的夏令营工作中，他将该夏令营组织命名为“带给我希望”。

参与夏令营的孤儿有着不同却又相似的遭遇：有父母无力抚养而被抛弃的，也有因先天疾病而被父母抛弃的，更有惨遭拐卖而沦为孤儿的。一个个幼小的心灵被蒙上阴影，但David的夏令营却给成百上千的孤儿们的生活带去阳光。不仅如此，“带给我希望”夏令营也是一个发布孤儿收养信息的平台，恰如其名，它也给这些孤儿们带去被新家庭收养的希望。这也正是David的初衷。◆

带给我希望

文/冯雨虹