HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
From Xinran, MBL founder:
亲爱的MBL 朋友们,
Xinran 在此向您问候, 祝您感恩节快乐!
2020 肆虐全世界的Covid19 改写了众多生命的历程｡ 然而我们是幸运的, 感恩我们都还活着, 感恩我们的家人和亲友在与我们一起相伴抗疫, 感恩文化的交流和人类的互助没有被病魔摧毁｡
在此我特别要感恩母爱桥的志愿者和支持者们! 谢谢您在疫情面前的自立自强, 与母爱桥一起
—继续支助着世界各地领养中国孩子的家庭, 帮助养父母理解成长中养子女对中文化差异的解读和理解;
—继续关注着身边的中国留学生, 帮助他们走出成长的烦恼,解答初入社会独立生存的困惑;
—继续支持着母爱桥B4K在中国乡村创建图书馆的项目, 帮助疫情中的儿童在书中认知世界…
2020年的大流行疫情, 令我们每个人都经历着生死的音讯和感悟,MBL的亲友中既有从此安息的家人, 也有新生命的孕育诞生｡母爱桥也在疫情中历练和更新换代, 期待重生的网站能够为您亲情和事业的需求提供更加贴切的志愿服务, 为您在中西之间的未来中搭建更务实快捷的立交桥｡
2020年即将过去,全世界人民都在祈愿2021年是我们战胜病魔终止大流行之际｡
感恩您, 母爱桥的志愿者和朋友们,在2020年的生死间救助生灵, 安抚亡灵｡
期盼您感召更多的亲友帮助我们母爱桥, 汇滴水成溪, 让路径成茵｡
我坚信2020年的感恩节, 于您, 于我, 于母爱桥, 于每个人将是一个划时代的节日｡
Dear MBL friends,
Xinran here, greeting you and wishing you a happy Thanksgiving!
Covid19 ravaging the world in 2020 has rewritten the course of many lives, however, we are lucky, grateful that we are still alive, grateful that our family and relatives and friends are with us to fight the pandemic, grateful the global exchanges and human mutual assistance has not been destroyed by the coronavirus.
Here I especially want to thank MBL volunteers and supporters, heartfelt thanks to you all for being safe and well, and your hard work on MBL ongoing projects:
– Supporting MBL adoptive families (adopting Chinese children) around the world and help the Chinese adoptees to understand more and better of cultural differences between China and rest of the world;
– Helping overseas Chinese students out of their troubles in the culture shocks, to solve their initial social independent survival confusion;
– Continuing to support MBL Books for Kids (B4K), to build more libraries in Chinese villages, so that many children could have a chance to read books about the world during the pandemic.
Every one of us has experienced the sad news and feeling of life and death in the pandemic of 2020. Among MBL relatives and friends, some have lost their loved ones and some have given the birth to new life. MBL has also learnt and experienced a lot in the pandemic, we are looking forward to a brand new MBL website, so that MBL can provide you with more appropriate volunteering opportunities, with faster and easier access for your family and career needs between China and the West.
As 2020 passes, people all over the world are praying that 2021 is the time to end the pandemic.
Once again, thank you, MBL volunteers and friends for saving lives in 2020.
I look forward to gaining more families and friends to help MBL, as we all believe that the drops of kindness can become a stream that can water a green field along its the path.
I firmly believe that Thanksgiving in 2020, to you, to me, to The Mothers’ Bridge of Love (MBL), to everyone, will be an epoch-making festival.
Best wishes to you all, enjoy your Thanksgiving with safety, health, peace and love!
******
From Fan Wu (MBL team leader, writer, volunteer)
In the beginning of 2020, my family and I had made plans to visit my children’s grandparents in China and Sweden in the summer. We had been looking forward to the trip, but then the COVID-19 pandemic hit the US. In mid-March, our children’s school shuttered and they began to study remotely. Despite our knowledge about the lockdowns in China and our obsessive following of the global news, we were optimistic, thinking that things would go back to normal by summer, and we could still travel in a few months. Meanwhile, we prayed for my parents’ health and safety in China, where restrictions were strict and broad, and for my husband’s parents’ health and safety in Sweden, where controversial herd immunity was practiced.
It is November now. The pandemic has since raged through the globe, taking the precious lives of 1.4 million people, among them more than a quarter million Americans, a shocking statistics that reflects the grim and horrific reality. Along with it, racism and discrimination have surged in many regions of the world. On top of all this, my family and I, in California, have seen deadly wildfires, for weeks and months, taking more lives, destroying communities, polluting the air, and razing millions of acres of beautiful land.
In the past, we always celebrated Thanksgiving with close friends, often hosting with a banquet and hours of laughter and entertainment. But for this year, Thanksgiving is going to be quiet, with shelter-in-place and curfew issued just recently in where we live to curb the pandemic’s fast spread.
Life has certainly been challenging this year: stress at work, playing the role of a parent and a teacher to my young children, extra housework, not being able to see family overseas, and all kinds of worries, anxiety, fears and anger.
However, there’s a lot I’m thankful for: healthy family, my husband’s hugs and my children’s smiles, a house that offers space and safety, a beautiful park close by, our zealous Labrador that loves to cuddle, more time together as a family, my children’s dedicated teachers, my helpful neighbors, the convenience of online shopping, local restaurants where we order food to go and local groceries, friends we sometimes see with social distancing in mind, journalists we can trust with quality reporting when reading news has become essential in our daily routine, people who deliver our mails and goods, books and TV shows that have touched and inspired me…..the list is long. And I am thankful for my MBL friends and all the volunteers who have offered me love and support during these difficult times.
Happy Thanksgiving!
(Thank you very much to our artist, Maya Cedergren, a 7th grader in California, for her artwork. She wanted her Thanksgiving art, subtle, with contrasting colors and ample empty space, to inspire reflection and stimulate conversations among people during this special holiday season defined by the continued spread of COVID-19. )
Happy Thanksgiving from MBL, Maya Cedergren, 12, USA