人生不设限·永远改变我生命的南非之旅
When we arrived in South Africa after a long flight, our host was waiting for us at the airport as promised, but for some reason I'd pictured John Pingo to be an older man, maybe not as old as my parents but at least in his thirties.
但是那年他才19岁，比当时的我还年轻一岁!
He was nineteen years old! That was a year younger than I was at the time.
“哦，这次来南非或许真的不是什么好主意……”在机场见到约翰时，我心里这么想。
Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, I thought when we met at the airport.
幸好，后来证明约翰是个非常成熟且能干的小伙子，他让我看见更多贫困和有需要的人，那是我以前未曾见过的。约翰告诉我，看到我的影片时，他深受感动，但我发现他的故事更教人动容，他的奉献和信心让我折服。
Fortunately, John proved to be a very mature and capable bloke, who opened my eyes to more poverty and need than I'd ever witnessed. He told me how he had been inspired by my life story when he saw my video, but I came to realize that his story was every bit as compelling, and his dedication to his faith humbled me.
约翰成长于南非南部奥兰治自由邦的某个农场，以前混过一阵子，不过后来成为一个充满热忱的基督徒，现在经营了一家小型货运公司。他感谢上帝改变了他的生命，并为他的人生带来祝福。
He grew up on a livestock farm in the Republic of the Orange Free State in southern South Africa. He'd run with a bad crowd earlier in life, but he'd become an avid Christian and was now the owner of a small trucking company. He was grateful to God for helping him change his life and for blessing him.
约翰决心邀请我到他的国家演讲，主题是信心与激励。为此，他把车卖掉，以筹钱举办这次巡回教会、学校、孤儿院和监狱的演讲之旅。然后，他借来他阿姨的蓝色休旅车，载着我往返开普敦、普雷多利亚、约翰内斯堡等各个演讲地点。
John was so determined to have me speak words of faith and inspiration around his country that he'd sold his own car to raise enough money for our tour of churches, schools, orphanages, and prisons. Then he'd borrowed his aunt's blue van to haul me to speaking engagements in Cape Town, Pretoria, Johannesburg, and all points in between.
这次演讲之旅的行程真是疯狂，我们每天只能睡四到五个小时。然而，这次旅行所认识的人、去过的地方、经历的事情，永远改变了我的人生。到南非演讲让我明白，我这辈子想要做的，就是到世界各地去分享充满鼓励与信心的信息。
It was a crazy schedule, and we often went with just four or five hours of sleep each day. But this trip introduced me to people, places, and things that changed my life forever. It helped me realize what I wanted to do with the rest of my life: to share my message of encouragement and faith around the globe.
亚伦和我认为，我们在澳大利亚长大，又在加州住过一小段时间，也算见识过坏人，不过这次的南非行才真的让我们大开眼界，觉得以前的见闻真是小儿科。抵达南非后，我们开车离开机场，在经过约翰内斯堡时，亚伦和我就有了深切的体会。在某个十字路口，亚伦望向窗外，看见一个吓死人的告示牌：打劫区。
Aaron and I thought we'd seen a bit growing up in Australia and living for a short time in California. But on this trip we realized we were babes in these woods. That realization really sank in when we left the airport and were driving through Johannesburg. Aaron looked out his window at an intersection and saw a sign that terrified him: "Smash and Grab Area."
亚伦看着我们的司机，问道：“约翰，那个牌子是什么意思?”
Aaron looked at our driver. "John, what does that sign mean?"
“哦，它的意思是，在这一区，有人会打破你的车窗，抢走你的东西，然后逃跑。”约翰回答。
"Oh, that means this is an area where they will smash your car windows, grab your things out of the car, and run off," said John.
我们锁上车门，开始密切注意四周状况。看见那附近的住家都被高耸的水泥墙围住，墙上还有锐利的尖刺时，我们就更担心了。头几天认识的人之中，就有好几个提到被袭击、被抢劫的经验。不过，后来我们发现南非并没有比其他某些贫穷、犯罪率高的地方更危险。
We locked the doors and began scanning all around us. We noted that many people lived in homes surrounded by high concrete walls with barbed-wire fencing at the top. Several people we met in the first couple days told of being mugged or robbed, but eventually we found that South Africa was no more dangerous than many other regions where poverty and crime are concerns.
事实上，亚伦和我都爱上南非，爱上那里的人。尽管这个国家问题很多，我们却发现南非人总是充满希望与喜乐。我们从未见过那么深切的贫困和绝望，却也没看过那么莫名的喜乐和坚定的信心。
In fact, Aaron and I both fell in love with South Africa and its people. Despite all this nation's problems, we found South Africans to be wonderful, filled with hope and joy despite their circum-stances. We'd never seen such depths of poverty and despair, nor such inexplicable joy and unyielding faith, as we found there.
孤儿院的状况让人揪心，却也很激励人。我们去的其中一家孤儿院专门收容被遗弃在垃圾桶或公园长椅上的小孩，大部分的孩子都生着病或营养不良。因为那些孤儿让我们深受震动，第二天，我们又带着比萨、饮料、玩具、足球和其他礼物去了一次，结果那些东西让小朋友们高兴得要命。
The orphanages were both heart-wrenching and inspiring. We visited one orphanage dedicated to rescuing abandoned children who had been left in trash cans and on park benches. Most of them were sick and suffering from malnutrition. They affected us so much that we returned the next day with pizza, soft drinks, toys, soccer balls, and other simple gifts. The children were ecstatic about them.
此外，我们还看到感染了噬肉菌，身上有开放性伤口的孩子，看到罹患艾滋病而垂死的孩童和成人，也看到每天四处找食物和干净饮用水的家庭。近距离地看到这些状况，闻到疾病与死亡的气息在极度痛苦的人身旁萦绕着，体会到我能做的就是为他们祷告，以安慰他们，这些都是让我深受启发的经验。
But we also saw children with open wounds from fl esh-eating bacteria, children and adults dying of AIDS, and families living day to day in search of food and clean water to drink. To see that up close, to smell the sickness and death hovering over human beings in agony, and to know that all I could do was pray over them to comfort them, was such an eye-opening experience.
我之前从未见过那样的贫困与苦难，比起我所承受的，那些状况糟多了。相较之下，我的人生真是养尊处优。于是，我陷入了两种彼此冲突的感觉中，其一是深刻的同情，让我想要采取行动、尽我所能去救助每一个人;另一种感觉则是愤怒，对于世上居然有如此苦难觉得非常生气，而且这样的状况似乎改变不了。
I had never seen such poverty and suffering. It was so much worse than anything I've ever endured, and it made my life seem pampered by comparison. I was overwhelmed with conflicting feelings: compassion that made me want to leap into action and save everyone I could, and anger at the existence of such suffering and its seeming unchangeability.
爸爸经常提到他在塞尔维亚的童年，晚餐只有一块面包、一点点水和糖。他的父亲——我的祖父——是位理发师，在一家国有的理发店工作，但是当他拒绝加入政党时，就被赶了出来。政党经常对他施压，所以他也很难经营自己的店。祖父因为信仰的关系，不能携带武器，所以全家人一年必须搬一两次家，免得祖父被征召入伍。后来他罹患肺结核，没办法再当理发师，祖母为了抚养六个孩子，便去当裁缝师，在南非近距离观察到贫穷与饥饿之后，父亲家族的苦难奋斗对我来说有了全新的意义。
Our father often spoke of his childhood in Serbia, having only a piece of bread and a little water and sugar for dinner at night. His father, my grandfather, had been a barber by trade. He had worked in a government salon, but when he refused to join the Communist Party, he was forced out. It was difficult for him to operate his own shop because of constant pressure from the Communists. The family had to move once or twice a year so that my grandfather, whose faith prohibited him from bearing arms, could avoid being drafted into the military. When he contracted tuberculosis and could no longer work at his trade, my grandmother had to support their six children with work as a seamstress.
现在，我亲眼见过垂死母亲眼中的痛苦，听到她们的孩子因为饥饿所发出的哀鸣。我们去探访贫民窟，看到那里的许多家庭栖身于比储藏室大不了多少的狭小锡板屋里，用报纸隔间，没有自来水。
My father's stories of his family's struggles carried new meaning for me after I witnessed poverty and hunger up close in South Africa; now I'd seen anguish in the eyes of dying mothers and heard their children screaming because of their aching, empty stomachs. We visited slums where families lived in tiny tin sheds no bigger than storage rooms, with newspapers for insulation and no running water.
我还去一座监狱演讲，来听讲的囚犯挤满了小教堂和外头的庭院。我们得知许多囚犯正在等待审判，其中不少人欠了钱就被逮捕，因为他们欠钱的对象是有能力让他们吃牢饭的人。我们就碰到一个囚犯，他因为欠人200美元，而被判刑10年。那一天是由囚犯们献唱诗歌，他们的歌声带着让人惊叹的喜乐，飞扬在这孤绝之地。
I spoke at a prison where the inmates filled the chapel and a courtyard outside it. We learned that many of the prisoners were still awaiting trial and that the only crime of many was to owe money to someone with the power to have them arrested. We met one prisoner who'd been sentenced to serve ten years because he owed $200. That day the prisoners sang for us, and their voices soared with amazing joy in such a desolate place.
