For Luke Peterson, geography isn’t just points on a globe or lines on a map. It is places in the heart.
The seventh-grader from Highlands Ranch has seen a chunk of the world, but China changed his life.
Last August his family traveled there to adopt his sister Kate, or “Bing Bing” as her brothers call her, a bright toddler whose giggle begs a response, distracting attention from her deformed arm and hand.
“The world may be separated by oceans, languages and racial differences, but love bridges those gaps,” Luke wrote in a letter to National Geographic Kids magazine.
The essay earned him a spot on the 15-kid National Geographic Expedition Team, which will explore South Africa for 10 days in August.
Luke was chosen from more than 4,000 who submitted essays and photos about the world around them to the Hands-On Explorer Challenge.
“For a 13-year-old, he demonstrates an incredible understanding of cross-cultural exchange,” said Ethan Fried, spokesman for the magazine.
Luke has seen other cultures up close. He has tagged along on foreign church missions and pastor-exchanges with his father, the Rev. Rich Peterson, in Japan and Australia. Luke has helped build homes for the poor in Juarez, Mexico.
“People are all the same inside; they’re all people,” said Luke, an aspiring writer. “Just their culture is different, their language, stuff like that.”
Just seven months in the family, Bing Bing speaks flawless English – for a 3-year-old. Even with a wide English vocabulary, Chinese words still pop out unexpectedly, teaching her family in the process.
Her sister, Paige, who is 4 and also from China, gabs like a teenager.
Luke’s precocious and athletic brother, Jack, 11, has no problem sharing attention. It was his idea to adopt Bing Bing.
Cynthia, their mother, had taken Paige and the boys to visit a large adoptive family in Littleton. Why not enlarge theirs, Jack asked. Luke was all for it.
That night the family dined at a favorite restaurant to celebrate “Gotcha Day,” Dec. 1, 2005, the 2-year anniversary of Paige’s joining the family.
Jack raised the question again.
“They said, ‘We think we have enough love in this family for one more person,”‘ Rich said. “That’s pretty hard to say no to.”
When the Petersons left for China, Jack stayed behind. He offered to stay home from the trip if he got to wear gym shorts to school, which his mom had never allowed. She agreed when she considered the savings to the travel budget with one less ticket.
The Petersons were united with Bing Bing at an orphanage in Nanning. She wore a red dress and white sandals. Her cropped hair was cut just like Luke’s.
“I loved her right away,” Luke said. “She’s family. I love all my family.”
They walked hand in hand to People’s Park and a maze of bridges over White Dragon Lake, he recalled in his essay.
“I discovered that love can be found anywhere in the world, even while exploring a crooked bridge in south China.”
Staff writer Joey Bunch can be reached at 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com.
