If I told you that there was a little boy in China who had no family to love him, you probably wouldn’t be surprised. In fact, almost everyone would say, “I know a kid like that”. Everyone acknowledges that this is a fact, and furthermore that it is a problem. The boy I want to tell you about today is just like that boy that everyone has “heard of”. He is 12 years old, and for all of those 12 years he has never had a family to love him. He has, however, had a diligent intern from an agency called Bring Me Hope travel to China just to learn about him. Just to know him, separately from the thousands of other children who are “just like that”.

When I looked at his file, I was met with a jumble of phrases like, “very shy” and, “sings songs”. But I didn’t find any major information on what he was like as a person. After digging a little farther, however, I found a wealth of information on who he was, what his personality was like, and what he loves to do. His name is Alan*. He is twelve years old. He loves physical activity, like running, jumping and dancing. He is an amazing photographer, and LOVES to take pictures of everyone, and everything in his path. Since he has never had the benefit of a family to teach him, he sometimes has trouble knowing how to behave. But what makes him so special to me, is that he wants to learn how to behave correctly. When he learned that hitting is an unkind thing to do, he learned to hold hands instead. He is so smart, and so wonderfully, amazingly alive.

*name changed for privacy reasons.