title: Bridge across my sorrows: The Christina Noble story
author:  Christina Noble 
description: Christina Noble, is a child of the Liberties, the notorious slums of Dublin. Her story is one of extraordinary bravery and resilience in the face of deprivation and abuse such as most of people could not imagine. Christina recalls a childhood in Ireland that barely merits the name; after her mother's death the family is split apart, their alcoholic father unable to care for them. Christina is sexually abused by her uncle and later escapes from an orphanage to become destitute on the streets of Dublin. At sixteen she is pulled into a car by four men and raped repeatedly. Later, driven to near insanity by overwork and a violent husband, she finds in a dream the will to fight back. Yet far from being a vision of luxury and self-indulgence, Christina's hope lies in a determination to work among the bui doi, the street children of Vietnam. And here the most extraordinary part of her story begins, on the streets of Ho Chi Minh City, where destitute children swarm and the rich turn a blind eye. To these needy children "Mama Tina" becomes an irrepressible, unorthodox and staunch champion. Within two years of arriving she has opened a Medical and Social Centre and achieved worldwide fame. Yet she berates in colourful language all those who call her a "Mother Theresa". In her own words she is "one street child using her wiles to help other street children".
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  Eyes narrowed, with a proud lift to her head, she waded out of the water and
  moved toward him, seemingly not in the least embarrassed at confronting a
  complete stranger in her sodden petticoat.
  
  “I trust you’ve had an edifying look, sir—pretending to be a gentleman, riding
  about the countryside on a fine horse on the lookout for poor, defenseless
  girls.”
  
  Max smiled. “You? Defenseless? Now you do exaggerate. Something tells me you
  are afraid of no one.” Her clenched fists and rose-tinted cheeks, the
  brilliance of her green eyes, told him so.
  
  The accented voice was courteous enough, which only seemed to exacerbate
  Christina’s temper. “Have you nothing better to do with your time?”
  
  “I can’t think of anything more pleasurable just now than looking at you,” he
  replied easily. “I was merely out riding.”
  
  “Then you must be a stranger, otherwise you would know you are trespassing.
  This is private land.”
  
  A slow, appreciative smile worked its way across his face as his eyes