Rob Molloy has spent the past two summers volunteering with Bring Me Hope in China. This is the story of the boys he met this past summer in central China.

Xin Zheng, China – My name is Rob and I’m a twenty-year-old student from Dublin, Ireland. I was invited on my first Chinese adventure in summer 2011. I fell completely in love with China and the orphans I worked with, so was excited to come back for a second year, bringing an Irish team to the Xin Zheng camp!

This year at camp I was blessed with an amazing translator and now good friend Kevin, and two incredible orphan buddies. We had fourteen-year-old Qiu and seven-year-old Bei. Qiu was one of the most helpful young men I’ve met. He was a great big brother to all the kids! He would go around helping to push all the buggies and would make sure all the boys were behaving!

Bei on the other hand was a real spark! He had so much personality that just oozed out through his cute smile and contagious laugh! Bei was paralysed from the waist down and due to a shortage of pushchairs we ended up carrying him around the whole time! He was so worth it though!

Everyone fell in love with Bei and thought he was the cutest kid ever (which is true!). Everyone wanted a turn to carry him around and to get hugs. He LOVED all the attention! But after a while he would want to come back to Kevin or me! He was also one of the most crazy, silly and smart boys I’ve known!

Sometimes it’s the smallest things that mean the most to the kids. Not big presents you can bring, or buying them lots of ice cream, but just spending TIME with them! At the end of the week we asked Qiu what his favourite part of the week was, to which he said playing table tennis with me. That was just something we did for a few minutes one of the days, but it was that moment that he remembered most.

Both boys live at an amazing foster home called Eagles Wings (www.eagleswingschina.org). So, as hard as it was to say goodbye after our week together, I knew that they would be taken care of. At Eagles Wings they live in small homes with other kids of similar needs and abilities. They go to a special school, go on day trips, have enough clothes and food, are treated with the dignity and respect that they so deserve and above all else they are LOVED! It was obvious that these kids were a little different; these kids were capable of giving and receiving love in a way that changed ME forever.

Amy Duffy volunteered for one week at a Bring Me Hope camp in Southern China. This is the story of her experience at camp and the special little girl she met there.

Kunming, China – Xia, a small girl from a neighboring village, arrived at camp shy and reserved. At first her smile only flickered across her face occasionally, as if she were afraid of letting herself have too much fun. As I heard pieces of her story, I understood her reluctance better. Living in a volatile, broken family, she was rarely able to let her guard down long enough to enjoy herself. I determine that during this week at camp she wouldn’t have to worry about anything but having fun.

Along with Xia, I was paired with a Chinese university student, Stephanie, who served as a translator, friend and big sister for me. Her fun sense of humor and untouchable dance moves added a light-hearted feeling to our new little family group.

Over the five days of summer camp we went on some crazy adventures together. Besides the structured activities of camp, singing, crafts, swimming, dancing, we had time to spend doing things with just our family.

We discovered a beautiful park that Xia wanted to explore. She was insistent on finding some ducks, so we ran all over searching for them. When we finally spotted them, Xia’s face lit up brighter than I’d ever seen before. That same huge grin stuck around for the rest of the week.

Stephanie and Xia taught me how to say red, blue, green, and yellow in Chinese, during our many games of Uno. Xia giggled as she listening to me stumble through many interesting pronunciations. It turns out the word for donkey and the word for green are very similar!

Every day after lunch we visited a nearby shop to buy ice cream. One day Xia picked out an ice cream with a bright yellow wrapper I’d never seen before. When I asked what kind it was, Stephanie told me it was corn flavored. Although it was not the flavor I would have picked, Xia seemed delighted with her choice and she quickly devoured the vegetable-flavored treat!

Early in the morning on the last day of camp, Xia arrived at my room. She pulled me to breakfast, holding tightly onto my hand. I knew she wanted to spend as much time together as possible before she had to go back home. When the time did come to say good-bye, we both cried and gave each other huge hugs. Stephanie and I held onto each other as we watched the bus drive away. A confusing mix of feelings welted up inside of me, joy that I had gotten to be part of what was probably one of the happiest week of her life, and sadness that it had come to an end so quickly. I hoped with all my heart that the love we shared would comfort her during the hard times ahead.

I went to China not knowing what to expect. I certainly didn’t expect to meet two new sisters. I didn’t expect to have my heart filled with so much love or to have it broken. I didn’t expect to think about going back every day. But I did and it changed my life dramatically. Now I am planning a second trip to camp and I can’t wait to see Xia’s smile when we’re finally together again!