All People Making a Difference
- Difference MakerWhy do some child soldiers heal and not others? What one scholar found.
Sierra Leone’s civil war spawned a generation of former child soldiers. Connection and community may explain why some have been able to recover.
- Difference MakerAs Canary Islands face migration crisis, former migrants step up to help
Spain’s Canary Islands saw a spike in new arrivals last year, causing a local crisis. Those who were migrants in 2006 are helping to manage it.
- Difference MakerHe grew up wanting for nothing. Now he gives other students a leg up.
Helping the Homeless Colorado and EEqual aimed to support people experiencing homelessness, especially students. Matine Khalighi helped found both.
- Difference MakerThis 12-year-old’s bold mission? To get laptops to students in need.
When remote school left some of her classmates behind, Daisy Hampton found a small way to reach out and make a big difference.
- Difference MakerIn a Brooklyn kitchen, a Statue of Liberty spirit offers a fresh start
Training for newcomers to the United States focuses on 10 weeks of culinary and job skills in the Brooklyn, N.Y., cafe of nonprofit Emma’s Torch.
- First LookRescued by kindness, Megan Cohen now shares hope in Philly
Megan Cohen started the Grace Project last year to help drug addicts on the streets of Philadelphia, where she once struggled too.
- Difference MakerFor Indian teen who launched village library, it’s about more than books
Sadiya Shaikh realized her family’s ancestral village in Bihar, India, had no library. So the 18-year-old set one up herself: Maulana Azad Library.
- Difference Maker‘Low and slow’: Latino lowriders cruise for community
California car culture includes Latino lowriders, who take pride in their cars as well as promote respect for family and community.
- Difference MakerCoat as shelter: Designer Bas Timmer creates for people who have no home
A designer was motivated by the death of his friends’ father to make a garment for homeless people using excess fabric and workers who are refugees.
- Lending an ear: ‘Free listening’ is this guy’s business
In this era of social distancing, Kip Clark offers human connection: From a perch on a street in Cambridge, he listens to anyone who wants to talk.
- Difference MakerFirst Thanksgiving: How a Native woman is setting the record straight
Linda Coombs’ lifework is to share a fuller picture of the Wampanoag Nation and its contact with some of the first English settlers.
- Afghan refugees create a taste of home in Malaysia
Meaningful Meals, run by the Greater Action nonprofit, helps Afghan refugees in Malaysia earn an income catering meals from their homeland.
- Difference MakerThe quiet powerhouse fighting racism in one of America’s whitest states
How to tackle a problem as monumental as systemic racism? In Vermont, it starts with something radically simple: listening.
- Difference MakerAn electrician’s good deed launches a movement of helpers
A retiree’s home repair problems were a big deal for her, but an easy good deed for a network of volunteers that has expanded to help others, too.
- Difference MakerRetired no more: A Texas octogenarian advocates for seniors
Doris Griffin, an advocate for older people – at nearly 90 years old – knows how to speak for, and about the needs of, Texas seniors in the pandemic.
- Difference MakerAt Stan the Man’s bookmobile, kids buy books with acts of kindness
Former kindergarten teacher Stan Tucker launched his Read ’n’ Roll bookmobile to promote literacy. But it’s become a vehicle for kindness too.
- Difference MakerFighting stigma with ice cream at Sikia Cafe
Sikia Cafe in Jinja, Uganda, which is staffed by deaf waiters, aims to change attitudes toward the deaf community.
- Difference MakerA Canadian First Nation reclaims the telling of its own story
In Canada, one First Nations group is trying to reclaim their story by publishing their own children’s books and magazines.
- Difference MakerHow one teacher equips students to stop trafficking before it starts
Young people are most vulnerable to human trafficking. Mona Al-Hayani’s curriculum has trained thousands to recognize it.
- Difference MakerRussia’s peasant history, once submerged, is brought back into the light
When the Soviet Union industrialized, it destroyed much of Russia’s peasant life. Anor Tukaeva is helping to make sure that history isn’t lost.