When you think of Africa, what comes to mind?
poor? parched? grassland? Or the recent rampage of Ebola?
This mysterious continent always seems to appear in its own way, in people's sights.
A photo from 6 years ago has also deeply aroused the shock and attention of the world.
That's the picture of the "Water Boy" asking the volunteers for the source of life.
The little boy in the photo is thin and short, his whole body is dirty, he is already skinny, and it seems that the next second, this little life will die.
The only thing that makes people feel fortunate is that this little boy met a volunteer, so what is the situation of this little boy now?
Speaking of this "water boy", we have to mention the "witch boy" in Africa.
Everywhere, once the mind is poor and ignorant, it is difficult to develop, and this is the case in many parts of Africa.
To this day, tribal groups can still be found in various parts of the world, especially in the land of Africa, and there are many tribes.
However, these tribes are very backward, and the people of the tribe do not learn much scientific knowledge, but are very superstitious, have their own religious beliefs, and more believe in witchcraft, so the wizards naturally become the most respected people in the tribe.
There are many customs in these tribes, and it seems that people are doomed to their own fate from birth.
After each family has a newborn, the first thing the parents and relatives do is not to carefully take care of the new life, but to invite the wizards in the tribe to come and let the wizards tell the children's fortunes.
"Witch boy" is the result of this kind of fortune telling, as long as the wizard has calculated the child's fate and thinks that the child is an ominous thing, then the child's fate can only be described as tragic, the child will be abandoned by the biological parents, and no one will care about the child's life and death.
Children identified as "witch children" will not only be abandoned by their parents, others will also think that children are ominous things in the entire tribe, and no one will reach out to a child who is waiting to be fed, so the vast majority of "witch children" can only fend for themselves.
A wizard can arbitrarily define a small child as an ominous person just by means of fortune telling, and the average person will think that this is a feudal superstition and has no scientific basis. But in such a backward place as Africa, this kind of thing plays out every day.
It is conceivable that such ignorance is killing African children step by step, these children are only born, have no ability to survive at all, the tribesmen just believe in wizards, they have to abandon their own flesh and blood in the wilderness, and how many children's lives are lost in the vast wilderness.
The "water boy" is a microcosm of the many tragic children in Africa who have been stamped with the mark of "witch children", but fortunately, he seems to be a little luckier than those who have lost their lives.
This continent of Africa is full of poverty, viruses, hunger, war, but also a place of great love. Volunteers from all over the world are rescuing this backward place in every way.
Six years ago, a team of volunteers came to the hometown of the little boy who was begging for water to support the local people, and they found the thin and poor little boy on the side of the road.
There was a volunteer named Anja in the volunteer team, and she first noticed the naked, unshaven little boy on the side of the road.
The little boy's body was very thin, so thin that only the skin and bones were left, and he was trembling and walking forward, and the whole person looked particularly weak, as if a gust of wind could blow him away.
Anja looked at the little boy who was completely lifeless, her heart was tugged, the thin child in front of her brought her too much shock, before that, she could not imagine such a small child to starve into this song, so she could not bear it, she quickly took out the water and bread in her bag and handed it to the little boy.
When the little boy saw the water and food that Anja had handed over, a bright light appeared under his eyes, he had not eaten for a long time, and these things were a lifesaver for him.
Excitedly, he took the water and food and poured it into his mouth with a trembling. Anja watched the little boy take a small bite of bread and eat it, and felt a little comfort, so she continued to move forward with the volunteer team.
"Give it to me!"
"Bring it!"
Suddenly, a loud noise caught Anja's attention, and she looked back to find that the little boy was surrounded by a group of older African boys, who were competing for water and bread in the little boy's hands.
The weak little boy could not resist such an impact at all, and was pushed to the ground by other children, and even had no strength to get up.
Seeing this, Anja quickly ran to the little boy and immediately picked him up and took him in his arms. She looked at the little boy's skinny hands, which were only bones, and a pair of empty eyes, and compassion came out of her mind.
She really couldn't watch such a living life die on its own, so she got up and carried the little boy to her car, ready to take him to the hospital for a physical examination.
"Don't put him by your side, can't, can't do it."
"Oh, it's not good to do this, it's definitely not good!"
"This is an ominous thing, you can't get close to it!"
Just as Anja was about to leave, the locals around her who saw the whole process began to talk about it.
When Anja heard these arguments and obstructions, she was a little puzzled, she couldn't understand why adults would treat such a young child like this.
Was there really something hidden that she didn't know?
"This child is so young and hungry like this, is no one in charge?" Why can't you take him with you? ”
Anja began to seek answers from the crowd, hoping to find out why.
"Such a child is considered an ominous person by wizards, and if you get close to him, he will become unlucky, don't take him with you."
Onlookers explained to Anja. When Anja heard this explanation, she immediately felt strange, the people here are so stupid that it is ridiculous to decide the life and death of a child because of the words of the so-called wizard.
She did not believe this ridiculous statement, if she did not care about this child, I am afraid that in such an environment, the little boy would only have a dead end.
So even in the midst of everyone's obstruction and admonition, she still took her child to the hospital for examination.
The test results were as Anja expected, the little boy was stunted due to hunger, much thinner than the average child, and could only slowly return to normal by relying on long-term careful recuperation.
After checking his body, Anja took the little boy back to her home, began to take good care of him, and named him Hope, which means that this new beginning will bring new hope to the ill-fated little boy.
Hope has a deep sense of vigilance because of his long-term wandering, and his eyes are full of panic at a young age, and he does not even dare to speak, and he is often frightened to hide in the corner for the proximity of others.
Anja saw that Hope often had a look of fear, and felt more pity for the young and helpless child, so she took care of him more carefully.
Under the intimate care of Anja, Hope gradually improved, and slowly began to get close to Anja, no longer afraid of the closeness and care of others.
While volunteering in Africa, Anja met many cherished children and adopted some African children, and this time she decided to adopt Hope.
"Don't adopt him, this is a witch boy who will bring you bad luck, they are children possessed by evil spirits."
Even when Anja decided to adopt the child, there were still many people who came to stop her, which made Anja, who has always believed in science, feel completely unreasonable, and such a thought has killed too many African children, and for her, it is absolutely impossible to do so.
In the end, she ignored the so-called dissuasion and insisted on adopting Hope.
After Hope was adopted, he did not have the fear of hunger and cold in the past, and after having food, he instead committed binge eating in front of sufficient food.
Long-term hunger made him afraid of life without food, and now in the face of a large amount of food, he could not control it at all, and he only knew how to eat, and the result was that he quickly gained weight in a short period of time and became very fat.
At that time, Anja had no experience in caring for such a long-term hungry child, she thought that Hope was only hungry for a long time to like food so much, she was very upset about the child, so she did not limit the amount of food the child could eat.
It wasn't until Hope grew fatter that Anja realized the seriousness of the problem and immediately sought the doctor's help. The doctor told Anja that the child went from an extremely thin state to an extremely obese state in a short period of time, and the load on the body organs was too large, and it was necessary to control the amount of food, step by step.
Anja heeded the doctor's advice and began to make a detailed healthy eating plan for Hope, helping him control the portion size at each meal and gradually correcting his binge eating disorder.
Not only that, but Anja often took Him to the outdoors for Hope's health, so that his once atrophied muscles could be restored again. And to ensure Hope's mental health, Anja also did her best to chat with him, showing him her love all the time.
6 years later, Hope has grown into a small teenager, and now he is lively and cheerful, his body is also very healthy, and he often plays with his classmates on the playground, completely without the original heart-wrenching look.
Anja has also been working on her own public welfare work and aiding Africa over the years. Adopting many children and showing the bits and pieces of all their children's lives to the public has attracted the attention and resonance of many people, and more and more people have begun to lend a helping hand to these unfortunate African children.
Anja also set up a special child rescue agency because of this opportunity, and she hopes that through this agency, more children like Hope can be helped.
Hope, a little boy who was once loved, is now learning to help children who are still suffering like his mother Anja, in the institution with his brothers and sisters.
Love is to give, love will also be passed on and continued, hope story continues, hope that there is more love in the world, and fewer children like Hope who suffer.