Part 1
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Towards the end of 2002, an unique advert appeared in some Italian papers searching for a person: "1992 May 17th, in (untranslatable Italian city Wa-Yeh-Li???) business district 5th avenue parking lot, a white woman was raped by a black young man. Not long after, the woman gave birth to a black baby girl. Her husband and her took up the responsibility of raising the baby. Unfortunately, today this girl has leukemia and urgently needs a bone marrow transplant operation. Her biological father is the only hope of saving her life. We hope that if he see this notice, he will immediately get in touch with Dr Andre"
This newspaper notice made waves through the society, the talking point was: will this black man step forward? Obviously, he faces two difficult choices, if he steps forward, he will face disreputation and the danger of a family breakdown; if he keeps quiet, he will once again commit an unforgivable sin. What will be the ending of this story?
The leukemia girl drew out a humiliating secret in the resident area of the Italian city, 35 year old Miranda was a much gossiped about woman. Both her husband and her are white, but among of two children, one had black coloured skin. This abnormality attracted the neighbours' speculation, Miranda had always told them with a smile that it was because her grandmother was black and grandfather was white, so Monica was showing a recessive genetic characteristic. In the autumn of 2002, black skinned Monica experienced repeated high fevers. Finally, Dr Andre diagnosed that Monica was suffering from leukemia, the only cure was to do a bone marrow transplant operation. The doctor's analysis was: "Amongst Monica's blood relations, it would be the easiest to find a suitable marrow donor, your entire family and relatives should come to the hospital to do a marrow matching test." Anguish showed on Miranda's face, nevertheless she let her entire family go for the matching test but none were suitable. Dr Andre then told them that for cases like Monica's, the chances of finding a marrow match is very small. The only other probably solution was for Miranda and her husband to have another child, then transfuse the umbiliac blood to Monica. This suggestion stunned Monica and made her cried out,
"Oh God, why is this so?" she looked at her husband with fear and hopelessness.
Part 2
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"It was 10 years ago, in May 1992. At that time, our oldest daughter Elena was already two, Miranda was working at a fast food restaurant and knocked off from work only at 10pm every night. It was raining hard that night and there was almost nobody on the streets when Miranda got off from work. When she was passing by an abandoned car park, Miranda heard footsteps behind her and frantically turned around to check, a young black man was behind her. The black man had a wooden rod in his hand and knocked her unconscious before raping her. When Miranda regained consciousness and limped back home, it was already past 1am. I rushed out like a mad man to find that black man but he was nowhere to be see. That night we held each other and cried as if the entire world had collapsed." at this point, Peters' eyes were already filled with tears. But he continued, "Not long after, Miranda discovered that she was pregnant. We were very fearful, worrying that this child was the black man's. Miranda wanted to abort the child but I still held out hope in my heart that maybe the child would be ours. Thus we waited in trepidation for several months. In March 1993, Miranda gave birth to a baby girl, with black skin colour. We gave up and thought of giving her away to an orphanage. But whenever we heard her cries, we just couldn't bear to do it. After all, Miranda carried and gave birth to her, she is a life still. Both me and Miranda are devote Christians so in the end we decided to keep her and named her Monica."
Dr Andre's eyes were also teary by now, he finally understood why this couple were so reluctant to have another child. With this revelation, he nodded his head and said, "No wonder, even if you had 10 more children, it would also be very difficult to have one that is suitable for Monica's bone marrow transplant!" After a long while, he looked at Miranda and tentatively suggested, "It looks like you have to find Monica's biological father, maybe his marrow, or maybe his children's bone marrow would be suitable for Monica. But, will you be willing to let him enter your life again?" Miranda replied, "For my child, I am willing to forgive him. If he is willing to step forward and save the child, I will not take legal actions against him." Dr. Andre was deeply touched by her strong maternal love.
Part 3
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The unique notice caused an sudden wave of bone marrow donations, but after so many years, where in the world can the rapist be found? Miranda and Peters thought over it many times and finally decided to post the notice in the newspaper anonymously. In November 2002, all Vieri(?) city's papers carried an unique notice bearing the story stated above, sincerely appealing to the rapist to step forward and give the pitiful leukemia girl one last chance for life! After the notice was published, it caused a powerful reaction from the society. Dr Andre's mail box and telephone almost burst, many people kept asking who the woman was, expressing their desire to meet her and hoping to give her some form of help or another. But Miranda turned down the people's concern a she did not wish to reveal her full name and even more so she did not want people to know that Monica was the rapist's daughter. At this juncture, the media begun discussing about how this story might end.
Rome News(?) questioned, "Will that black man come forward? If this man bravely come forth, how should our society view him? How would our laws treat him? Should he pay for yester year's crime, or should he be praised for today's courage?" Vieri(?) Newspaper started a discussion forum "If you're that black man, what will you do?" and threw this dilemma to the public for discussion. The local prison also actively helped Miranda. They provided the hospital with a list of criminals from 1992 onwards, because there were very few blacks in the city so the number of black criminals in the past 10 years were also very little. They told Miranda, "Even though some of these people are not sentenced because of rape cases, but it is possible they did commit such a crime." Some of them had already been released but some of them were still serving their sentences. Miranda and Peters contacted these people one by one, many of these ex-convicts showed sincerity and concerned, giving much information and clues. Regretfully, none of them were the black man who raped her. Not long after, Miranda's story spread through the prison and many convicts were touched by her motherly love. Regardless of black or white, they volunteered to be tested for matching bone marrow, hoping to help Monica. Unfortunately, none of them were suitable. This incident touched many many people, not a few volunteered to be tested to see if their bone marrow were suitable. There became more and more donors and a bone marrow donation wave started in Vieri City. (garbled text, but a good guess goes) Due to this, many other leukemia patients were saved by these donors but Monica was not one of the lucky ones.
Part 4
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Miranda and Peters waited anxiously for that black man to appear, but after two months, that person still did not turn up. They began to worry that maybe that black man has already died? Perhaps he had already fled the country? Or maybe he did not want to disrupt his present life and thus did not want to step forward? No matter what, as long as Monica was still alive, they did not want to give up the hope of finding that black man. Whenever a soul is desperately struggling, hope always appears at the darkest moment. When this unique notice appeared in the Napoli papers, it caused ripples in a 30 year old hotel owner's heart. He is a black man called Aqili (?). On 17th May 1992, he went through a nightmarish rainy night in his life, he was the perpetrator in that story.
Nobody would believe that the well to do Aqili was once a dish washer ordered around by other people. Due to the early deaths of his parents, he started working when he was very young without a proper education. The clever and capable young man had hoped to gain wealth and respect through his hardwork. Unfortunately his boss was a racist and no matter how hard Aqili worked, he was hit or scolded. On 17th May 1992, Aqili's 20th birthday, he was planning to knock off early for some celebrations. Howvever, he broke a plate in his hurry and his boss grabbed his head and forced Aqili to swallow the broken shards. Aqili furiously gave the boss a punch and dashed out of the restaurant. Seething with anger, he decided to take revenge on white folks, without many pedestrians on that rainy night, he ran into Miranda at the car park and raped her mercilessly due to his fury at the racism.
Part 5
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After that, Aqili was unsettled and fearful. That night, he used the money meant for his birthday celebration to buy a train ticket to Napoli, fleeing the city. In Napoli, his luck took a good turn. Aqili easily found a job at a restaurant owned by an American. The American couple who owned the restaurant admire his capabilities and diligence, eventually marrying their daughter to him and even gave the restaurant over to him to manage. Years after, Aqili not only expanded the restaurant into a blooming hotel, he even had three children. In the eyes of his workers and family, Aqili was a good boss, good husband and good father. But in his heart, he had never forgotten the sin he committed, always praying to God to bless the woman he raped, that she will be safe. But he never told anybody else this deep secret. That morning, Aqili read the article over and over again, he instinctively knew he had to be the rapist they were looking for. He never expected that pitiful woman to get pregnant and brought up the child that did not even belong to her. Several times in that day, Aqili wanted to call Dr Andre, but everytime before he finished dialing the number, he would hang up. Inside his heart, Aqili struggled, if he step forward and admitted to it, everybody will know his hideous side, his children will stop loving him, he will lose his happy family and beautiful wife, he will also lose society's respect for him. He had fought so hard for so many years to obtained all these!
That night during dinner, the whole family began talking about the various news of the day as they normally did. His wife Lena said "I respect Miranda. If it was me, I wouldn't have the courage to raise a child from a rape. I respect her husband even more, he is a man truly worthy of respect, being able to accept such a child." Aqili silently listened to his wife before asking "What is your opinion about that rapist?"
"I will never forgive him, he already made a mistake that year and now at this crucial moment, he's still hiding. He is really despicable, too selfish and too gutless! He is real coward!" His wife spoke with righteous anger. Aqili listened in stunned silence, unable to bring himself to tell the truth to his wife. That night, because his 5yr old son refused to go to bed, Aqili slapped him for the very first time. His son cried, "You're a bad daddy, I shan't bother with you anymore. I don't want you to be my father." Aqili's heart was struck painfully, he hugged his son and told him, "Sorry, daddy won't ever hit you again. It's daddy's fault, will you forgive daddy?"
At this point, Aqili began to weep. His son was frightened and barely old enough to know anything, he quickly console Aqili, "Ok I forgive you. My kindergarten teacher said, a repentant child is a good child" That night, a sleepless Aqili felt as if he was being tormented in hell, that sinful rainy night and that woman's silhouette kept appearing before his eyes. He could almost hear her breathing and cries. He kept asking himself, "Am I a good person, or an evil person?" But whenever he heard his wife's even breathing next to him, he lost the resolve to come out and admit it.
Final Round
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The next day, he was depressed and disraught, his wife quickly noticed his abnormal state and caring asked what happened, Aqili claimed to be feeling unwell to escape her questioning. When he went to work, his workers greeted him earnestly, "Good morning MD!" and he returned their greetings with a pale face, his heart full of embarrassment and shame. Aqili felt as if he was going to breakdown any moment. After several days of life changing torment and baptism by shame, Aqili could no longer keep silent and called Dr Andre from a public phone. He tried his best to keep his calm and asked, "I would like very much to know about that unlucky girl's condition." Dr Andre told him, that girl's condition is very critical. Lastly, Dr Andre told him with sorrow, "I don't know if she can last until the day her real father shows up." These words moved Aqili deeply and a sense of fatherly love rose from the depths of his soul, the girl was his own flesh and blood after all! He decided that he will step forward and save Monica, he had made a mistake once, he cannot let the mistake continue. That night, he drew up his courage and told everything to his wife. Finally he said, "I am most likely Monica's father! I must go and save her!" Lena was shocked, angry and hurt, after hearing all of it, she angrily cried out, "You're a cheat!" that night, she took all three kids and drove back to her parents house. When she told them what happened, the old couple was furious for a moment but quickly calmed down.
After all, they had went through life's ups and downs, they told their daughter, "Yes, we should be angry at what Aqili did in his past. But have you considered, to come forward and admit this will take so much courage, it proves that his conscience has not been silenced. Do you want a husband who made a mistake but can repent today? Or do you want a husband who buries his evil sin in his own heart forever?" Lena was silent. The next morning, she returned to Aqili's side, seeing his blood shot eyes, Lena firmly told him, "Aqili, go find Dr Andre! I will go with you!" On 3rd Feb 2003, Aqili and his wife contacted Dr Andre. On 8th Feb, the husband and wife rushed to Elizabeth Hospital and conducted a DNA test, proving that Aqili is Monica's biological father. When Miranda knew that the black man who raped her finally had the courage to come forward, she wept. She had hated Aqili for 10 years, but at this point she was deeply touched. Everything was conducted in deepest privacy. To protect Aqili and Miranda's privacy, the hospital did not reveal to the media their true names and personal details, only informing the reporters that Monica's father had been found.
Happy Ending
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The news excited all citizens concerned about the incident, they called and wrote to Dr Andre, begging him to let the black man know their forgiveness and respect. They said, "Maybe he was a criminal, but now he is a hero!"
On 10th February, Miranda and Peters requested to meet Aqili. Aqili did not had the courage to see them but after several requests by Miranda, he finally agreed. On 18th Feb, under the secret arrangements of the hospital, Miranda met Aqili in the hospital's conference room. His hair was obviously newly cut (don't ask me) and when he saw Miranda, his footsteps became immovably heavy, his face pale and ashen. Miranda and husband walked up and held his hands tightly, all three broke down and cried, their tears mixing together. After a long while, Aqili choked and spoke "Sorry, please forgive me! I've been wanting to say this from the bottom of my heart for 10 years, finally today I have the chance to say it to you face to face." Miranda replied "Thank you for coming forth. May God bless you, your marrow will save my daughter!"
On 19th February, doctors tested Aqili for marrow matching and fortunately his bone marrow matched Monica perfectly. Doctors excited exclaimed, "This is a real miracle!" On 22nd February 2003, the moment everybody was waiting for finally arrived. Aqili's bone marrow was transplanted into Monica and very quickly she was out of the critical period. After a week, Monica was discharged from the hospital in good heath.
Miranda and her husband had completely forgive Aqili, earnestly inviting him and Dr Andre to their house for a visit. But on that day, Aqili did not come, he entrusted Dr Andre with a letter. In the letter, he wrote with regret, "I cannot disrupt your peaceful life anymore. I only hope that Monica and you will live happily together, if you have any difficulties please let me know, I will help you! At the same time, I'm very thankful to Monica, from a certain point of view, she gave me a chance to redeem myself, she allowed me to have a joyful latter life! That is her gift to me!"
