The earthquake and tsunami that walloped Japan left much of its coastline ravaged, but left one thing intact: the Japanese reputation for honesty. In the five months since the disaster struck, people have turned in thousands of wallets found in the debris, containing $48 million in cash.
The group of altruistic technology professionals working under the name Apps for Good is now recruiting immigrants or unemployed youths from East and South London to develop phone programs relevant to their needs, and in the process teaching entrepreneurial skills and encouraging confidence.
At least 11 kids and their parents, refugees from Fukushima and other parts of Japan, are visiting Oregon this month and living with U.S. host families as part of a grass-roots effort to give them a break from the stress and health risks they had been facing at home.
The first memorial on the National Mall in Washington, DC, dedicated to a non-president, or a black American, opens today in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.
89 year-old Aaron Biber's barbershop has been a mainstay in his Tottenham neighborhood for 41 years, but it took one night of rioting to nearly destroy it. But some kindhearted strangers launched a fundraiser online to help restore the shop to its former condition.
Canadians of every political stripe continue to show their love and admiration for a national leader, Jack Layton, days after his death. Known as Smilin' Jack, he wrote a letter to the Canadian people expressing his hopes for the future and showing optimism even in face of death. His last words have resonated throughout the nation.
After a deadly cancer diagnosis, he dedicated his life to helping hundreds of kids from Haiti's slums. After nine months of treatment and recovery, he returned home determined to start living the life he'd always wanted: helping children from Haiti's poorest slums.
When one of China's most popular Internet portals started offering Open University–style lectures in English last October, eager Chinese netizens flocked to subjects that surprised most observers. Instead of Marketing, Computer or Robotics courses, two contemplative courses — one on happiness, the other on justice — trumped all others.
As a social studies teacher in a Boston public high school for 14 years, Stephen Banno has developed a curriculum called the "Love Course," that present ancient cultural wisdoms coupled with the latest discoveries in modern science to address issues concerning love in our contemporary lives. Students have reported that in small ways, they have transformed themselves, their friends, and the school around them.
Susanne Janson's life was shattered in 2004 when her two young daughters were killed in the tsunami that ravaged Southeast Asia. She found solace and healing by starting a new life in Thailand, where she has provided daily care to more than 100 children in need, as a way to turn disaster into hope.
When Sam Johnson first picked up a shovel and mobilized 10,000 fellow students to help clean up Christchurch's streets after last September's earthquake in New Zealand, he never imagined his efforts would turn him into an international star.
Judges of the Eye Remember photography contest in Canada had no idea Tara Miller had any vision problem whatsoever, let alone having only 10 percent vision in one eye. The blind commercial photographer won the contest with her stunning landscape entitled, Fortuitous Twilight.