More than a year ago, Bob Hentzen, 74, set out on a remarkable journey - to walk with the poor in order to raise awareness of their plight. Since leaving his home in Guatemala, he's walked through El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Hentzen and his supporters have covered more than 9,000 of the planned 13,000-kilometer-long route to Valparaíso, Chile.
一年多以前，74岁的鲍勃·亨森开始跟穷人一起长途行走，以唤起社会对穷人困境的关注，帮助找到解决贫困的办法。亨森2009年12月从危地马拉的家中出发，向南走。到目前为止，他和他的追随者走完了将近13,000千公里计划路程的9000多公里。他的目的地是智利的瓦尔帕莱索。他已经走过厄瓜多尔、洪都拉斯、尼加拉瓜、哥斯达黎加、委内瑞拉、哥伦比亚、厄瓜多尔和秘鲁。现在亨森在玻利维亚。
"We get up very early on a daily basis. We begin at a point where we had stopped yesterday. We’re careful to really, really walk the entire distance that we have promised," says Hentzen. "We are able to do the equivalent of a marathon, of 25 miles (40 kilometers) per day. And almost always we’re able to finish before the nightfall."
他说：“我们每天都起得非常早，从头一天停下的地方起步。我们很注意，一定要走够说好的里程。我们每天走40公里，相当于马拉松赛的距离。我们几乎总是能在天黑以前走完一天该走的路。”
Twenty years ago, Hentzen, his brother, sister and a family friend established the Christian Foundation for Children and Aging, to help poor families in Central and South America, Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. CFCA is now serving people of all faiths in 23 developing countries.
20年前，亨森和他的弟弟、妹妹以及一位朋友成立了基督教儿童和老人基金会，帮助中南美洲、非洲、亚洲和加勒比海地区的穷人。这个基金会现在为23个发展中国家各种信仰的人服务。
Walking is the most common means of transportation for the poor in those countries. They walk to school and work, to gather firewood and fill buckets with water. That’s why Hentzen decided to walk and meet with some of the people sponsored by his organization.
亨森说，对这些国家的穷人来说，走路是最常见的交通方式。他们走路去上学，去工作，去打柴，用小桶去打水。这就是为什么他决定通过走路跟他的组织所资助的一些人见面。
"The idea is to walk with them, tell them you are not alone. We honor your struggle. We’re here to listen and learn and be with you. Along that route we have all these struggling families who are sponsored by the Christian Foundation," says Hentzen. "What we’re finding, however, is that there is so many others out there. This is why we decided that we really want to find sponsors for 8,000 kids as a result of these 8,000 miles. That is our campaign."
他说：“我的想法就是跟他们一起走，告诉他们，你们不是孤立无援的。我们尊敬你们的奋斗。我们要倾听，要学习，要跟你们在一起。”
On an average day, he says, he’s accompanied by a crowd of about 50. Some are CFCA staff, dozens of others are enthusiastic international volunteers and people from the local communities.
他表示，通常每天都会有50个人跟他一起走。有些人是基督教儿童和老人基金会的员工，几十个人则是热心的国际义工，以及当地社区的人。
"At one point we had nine different nationalities. We had Peter from Nairobi, Kenya. We had Uganda represented. We had Honduras, Guatemala, the (United) States and the Dominican Republic. It’s very exciting because in the different countries, when they hear about us and see this is an international trek and it’s coming through our country, they really respond beautifully. They say, ‘Oh, we’ll get you police protection. We’ll take care of you on the road.’ They are very kind and concerned that they really want to do a good job and they really have done (that) along the way."
Walking side by side with the locals, he says, offers a unique opportunity to listen to the stories of their struggle against poverty.
亨森说，跟当地人一起走路让他有一种独一无二的机会，可以倾听这些人讲述他们跟贫困斗争的故事。
"They are hopeful stories, they are not sad stories. I’ve seen areas in Guatemala, for example, where we used to have to truck in food, they are now producing food and selling it. We have doctors, we have accountants, social workers walking with us who have grown up as sponsored children, got their education. Some of them then come to work with us as social workers."
“他们讲的都是充满希望的故事，而不是悲惨的故事。例如，危地马拉一些地区，以前是我们用卡车往那里运送粮食。现在他们自己生产粮食而且销售。有医生、会计师、社会工作者跟我们一起走。他们小时候得到慈善组织救助，得到了教育。一些人后来再到我们这里当社会工作者。”
Paul Pearce, CFCA’s international program director, joined several different stretches of the Walk2gether campaign. "I was just recently in Bolivia where I observed one of our former sponsored youths who went into agricultural sciences. He has now led a program of food production within one of the mountain communities...So this is a case of an individual student who now is creating change and creating more food security for an entire community."
基督教儿童和老人基金会的国际项目主任保罗·皮尔斯说：“最近我在玻利维亚看到我们先前救济的一个青年人进入农业科技业界。他现在在山区一个村庄领导一个粮食生产项目。”
That, Pearce says, sums up CFCA’s approach to fighting poverty.
皮尔斯介绍，基督教儿童和老人基金会的扶贫方式就是这样。
"We really help the individual person or family to go from frankly marginalized to an agent of change in their own situation and in their own family and then of course within the larger community. And we hope through that we are able to build stronger community fabric by people who feel now that they are part of the decision making processes that are affecting their lives."
他说：“我们帮助个人或家庭由明显的社会边缘人变成改变自己状况的人，并且为自己家里，然后为自己的社区带来改变。我们希望通过这种做法能够建立更强的社区纽带，让人们感到他们是涉及自己生活的决策过程的一部分。”
Successes like that have convinced Hentzen that ending poverty is possible, if people are committed to the cause.
"I see it basically as a very human situation. If we personally can get to a point where we can say, 'I can commit myself to this not from a distance, but in a very personal way. I’m going to live a life style that will be simpler, use less water maybe, be very concerned about others and take care of the environment.'"
亨森同意这种观点。他表示，“一起走”行动使他坚信，只要人们努力去做，结束贫困是可能的。他说:“我认为这基本是一个人的问题。假如我们亲身参与，能够说我投身其中了，而不是在远距离之外，我们就能做到。我要过一种简单的生活，用更少的水，关心别人，关心环境。”
Now in Bolivia, Hentzen heads east to Brazil, before returning to the Pacific coast, and the Walk2gether campaign’s final stretch this summer in Chile.
鲍勃·亨森现在要向东走，走到巴西，然后再返回太平洋岸。一起走的行动最后一段今年夏天要在智利展开。 |