我是四十二個孩子的媽媽

When Maggie Doyne was a high school 1）senior， she was on track. You know the one： Graduate on time and with good grades， spend four years at college， get a job—probably in an office and perhaps a short train ride away from her hometown. And then she woke up.

“I just woke up one morning feeling empty， not knowing what my 2）purpose was，” the New Jersey native explains.“The thought of going to college was scary to me because I didn’t know what I wanted to do， or who I wanted to be， or what I wanted to put my energy towards. So at the very last moment， I put off college. It was a big surprise to everybody.” She signed herself up for a gap year注 program that 3）combined outdoor 4）survival classes with service learning， and headed off to southern Asia.

Her second semester found her in India， at a time of 5）civil war across the 6）border in Nepal. The 7）conflict created nearly a million 8）orphans in the country， and many 9）refugee children were 10）fleeing to northeastern India， where Maggie was 11）stationed. After months of working with the refugee 12）community， she decided she wanted to see what was going on in Nepal for herself.

Traveling with a Nepali teenager she 13）befriended in India， she made her way into “the middle of nowhere” following a 14）ceasefire. “We spent two and a half days on a bus， and then three days walking， climbing mountains，” she says. “It was really 15）strenuous， and also just so beautiful. I felt so at home， but I was really shocked to see the way women and children were living. I had never seen anything like that.”

She continued to travel throughout the 16）region， meeting kids and listening to their stories， trying to understand the extreme 17）poverty and dangerous 18）conditions that were a 19）reality of post-civil war life. She started to pick up the language， and made a decision—a really huge， life-changing decision—to 20）put down roots in the Kopila Valley， 21）convincing her parents to send her the $5，000 she saved up from years of babysitting. The money went toward buying land on which she built a children’s home； there are now 42 kids who call her “mom.”

“I wanted to give these kids a childhood similar to the one I had， with family and love，”she explains. A couple years later， she opened a school for students in the region： “Kids were laboring and being sold as 22）domestic servants. They were getting in really bad situations， begging on the streets， breaking rocks on the side of the road. I didn’t want to see it anymore. I wanted them to have a safe， happy place where they could 23）thrive and learn.” The school now has 340 students； a high school is 24）in the process of being built.

The next phase of Maggie’s work？ A women’s center. “A lot of the women in my community were really struggling， and I was 25）constantly having to call the police to report domestic violence. 26）Suicide has actually emerged as the leading killer of women in Nepal，”Maggie says. Just as the school is a safe space for Nepali children， the center has become a source of light for women in the community.

“The girls and women have improved so much through the school and the center，”she says. “It’s been inspiring to see all these generations join forces in a place where they’re safe and supported. They think their problems are really bad， but when they come together and realize everyone has the same worries and 27） concerns and needs， it just gets so much better.”

As Maggie’s work has 28）snowballed， so has the support around it. There’s now a fellow program that attracts volunteers from around the world， and the 29）impact in Kopila is truly just the beginning. “If you told me when I was 16 that I was going to be living in 30）remote Nepal and be a mom to 42 kids， I would have looked at you like you were the biggest liar in the world，” she says. “I didn’t have any idea where life could take me， or that it could be this good and 31）fulfilling. I wake up every day loving my work and thinking I have the greatest job in the universe. It’s like， how did this happen？”

當瑪吉·多因還在讀12年級的時候，一切都步入正軌。你知道的：以優異的成績準時畢業，讀四年大學，找一份工作——也許在離自己家一小段火車距離的辦公室上班。不過她醒過來了。

“一天早上我醒來，感覺空蕩蕩的，不知道自己是為了什么而活著，”這位（美國）新澤西人如是說。“想到要讀大學，我不禁害怕起來，因為我不知道自己想做什么，想成為怎樣的人，把自己的精力放到哪里。于是在最后一刻，我推遲了讀大學的時間。每個人都很吃驚。”她報名參加了一個結合戶外求生技能和服務培訓的間隔年計劃，隨后遠赴南亞。

到了第二學期，她來到印度，那時尼泊爾邊境正在打內戰。沖突導致該國上百萬孤兒流離失所，很多難民兒童逃到印度東北部，也就是瑪吉駐扎的地方。為難民群體工作了幾個月后，她決定親自到尼泊爾看看當地情況。

她在印度結識了一名尼泊爾少年，兩人在停火期間結伴來到了“無人地帶”。“我們坐了兩天半公交車，然后用了三天步行、爬山，”她說。“確實很艱辛，但也很美好。我很有歸屬感，但當我看到女性和兒童的生活狀況，實在很震驚。我從沒見過這種事情。”

她繼續在該區域探訪。途中，她遇見了很多孩子，聆聽他們的故事，嘗試理解內戰以后那種極度貧窮、危險的生活環境。她開始學習當地語言，并做了一個決定——一個改變人生的重大決定——定居柯比拉山谷，還說服父母把自己做臨時保姆賺到的5000美元匯給她。這筆錢被用作購置土地，她在那里建起了一個兒童之家；……