Ana Dodson and Peruvian Hearts

I was born in Cusco, Peru and my parents adopted me when I was a baby. During the summer of 2003, when I was 11 years old, my mother and I went on a homeland trip to Peru with other adopted kids and visited orphanages. I took children’s books in Spanish and teddy bears that I had collected for the children. The Hogar Mercedes de Jesus Molina is a small orphanage in Anta, Peru located in the hills outside of Cusco. I really wanted to visit the Hogar since it is near where I was born. When we went to the Hogar and had given the children the books and teddy bears, we discovered that the orphanage had never had visitors before. When we were leaving, one little girl named Gloria who I had gotten to know, hugged me and started to cry. She said to me “Ana, I know you will not forget about us and that you will help us in the future.” When I was a baby I could have been put in an orphanage, and the same situation that the children in the Hogar were in. My visit to the Hogar that day, and Gloria’s unforgettable words, really moved and inspired me to do something more to help. I have so many things in my life that I tend to take for granted. I have wonderful loving parents that support me in any way they can and I have a wonderful education. My visit to the orphanage made me realize that I wanted the girls to have what I have. I also realized that they needed more than books and teddy bears. I believed that if I tried I might be able to really help them.

When I formed Peruvian Hearts, I really wanted to give the girls a better education and improve their quality of life. Since then, I have collected substantial money and donations for the orphanage so that, unlike some kids living in orphanages, the girls have vitamins, school supplies, shoes and warm clothing, nutritious food three times a day, warm water for baths and clean water to drink. Peruvian Hearts has taught me that even when we see a situation that appears to be helpless, there is still hope. I know I can’t change the world in a day and I know I can’t do it by myself, but I believe that people working together really can make a difference. One of my goals is to inspire other kids to reach out and help others less fortunate than themselves. I believe that each person can change the world a little bit at a time. The motto of Peruvian Hearts is “changing the world one heart at a time.” I hope that Peruvian Hearts will make an impact on the  lives of other kids and help them believe that they can make a difference in the world. Every time a child helps another child, they perform a small act of peace. Each small act can help us create a more peaceful world.

This story is from the ebook Ripples of Difference. Download a copy at www.ripplesofdifference.org.

Littlest Hero's Project

My name is Felicia Reinhard and I am the proud founder and director of the Littlest Heroes Project. Oh yeah, I am 18 years old! How the Littlest Heroes Project came to be…

At just 18 and out of high school, I can honestly say that I have been through a lot. I was born drug addicted and was also premature. My parents passed away soon after I was born leaving me with little to no hope for my future. The first couple months of my life were very difficult as I struggled to get better and also waited for a family to take me in. Finally one day a miracle happened, and I got my lucky break. I was finally placed in the hands of two amazing foster parents. What seemed like a short time turned into years as they grew attached to me, and in return I adopted them into my heart as my family, and at 3 years old they told me they would adopt me. But it was not as easy as they thought. The court gave them a hard time asking them time and again if they really wanted me (and my non-related) sister they had been fostering, because we were black.  Finally after stating their case and winning, at the age of 3 I was officially adopted into the Reinhard family.

Because of my birth moms poor choices with drugs and other related problems, I have a lifetime of medical issues and consequences I have to face, but I remain positive doing things like taking pictures and giving back to other kids who are struggling, as a way of healing for myself. I have had a difficult childhood and I often think of the “what ifs” with my life but know that there is a reason I am here and a reason that my life has played out the way that it has and it gives me up for a bright future for me and everyone I am able to touch and meet.

started getting into photography in April, 2007 and took an instant love to it, and the rest is history! Only a few months after getting my first camera I started to become more and more serious about my work, and what I could do with my photos. For the past 3 years I have dedicated my life to giving back to children fighting all types of different illnesses in a variety of way….now I have extended that through my photography and through the Littlest Heroes Project. I myself have come from a past with many challenges but with hope and love surrounding me I have been able to keep a strong footing on ground that sometimes seems so rocky. I understand that I will have a lifetime of battles ahead of me but am now finding a better way to look at my life, and to live it to it’s fullest. I am now in the process of taking photography classes and am going to continue with it into college. I believe in always gracing this earth with your talents so that they reflect the inner you and help others. Through The Littlest Heroes Project I am doing that with not only every photo I take, but by pulling together my talents and spreading them across the country one family and child at a time!

SHARE - in Tanzania

My name is Shannon. Last summer I traveled with my family to Bukoba, Tanzania, to do volunteer work. Tanzania is on the East coast of Africa, and the town we stayed in, Bukoba, is very close to Rwanda. Now that you have an idea on the geography, let me tell you about what I did there.

This whole adventure all started out with my Girl Scout Gold Award project. My family and I have been volunteering internationally for the past summers, and this year we were finally going to be able to go to Africa, which I was SO pumped for. I personally think that it’s just the coolest continent, and I was so excited to be able to say that I had been to Africa. So my family and I were originally going to Bukoba to help with a project where we would install gutter systems onto roofs to collect rain water. This extra water would be given to goats in villages so that they could produce more milk, and the milk could be sold in the markets, raise money, etc. I wanted to make this my Gold Award project, but I read that I had to create a project of my OWN, and not use someone else’s.

So I contacted Smart, who was the man planning the trip to Africa. Since he lived in Bukoba, I asked him what some of the needs of the community were that I could fix. He gave me an enormous list, since Africa is a third world country and all, and the top two on the list were AIDS and Education. I obviously didn’t have that much experience with AIDS, thankfully! But one thing I did know was education. I had to first create flyers asking for children’s books and put them in mailboxes around the neighborhood. The results were incredible! I got over 1,200 books which we brought down with us on the plane to Africa. Once we got down to Africa, a classroom was donated by the Kiteyagwa Primary School – which was the school where the kids I would be helping went. The GCN volunteers cleaned, repaired, and painted the room, as well as add glass windows, a secure door, a bookshelf and signs.

Renovating the room was relatively easy – but the real challenge was to convince the parents to let their daughters join the SHARE program. Three separate parent meetings were held. Ms. Justina, the SHARE coordinator and head mistress of the school, first translated my introduction to the program, and then spoke about the virtues of educating girls. While most parents agreed, several declined, preferring their daughters to perform household chores instead. Today the SHARE room is a safe and secure learning environment, stocked with 1200 children’s books, games, and a laptop computer. The SHARE program is a huge success, with 50 eager young women, ages 9-16, learning to read English, exchanging ideas, and working together to build a better future. I have continued working on SHARE after I arrived back home, and have spent over 500 hours on SHARE. Fellow Ridge High School students (over 30) have also helped me to ship down 8000 more books back to Bukoba, Tanzania. There has been media exposure for SHARE in two different newspapers, and this summer I plan to open up two new SHARE branches in different schools. My family and I also hosted a fundraising party where we raised money to help for the shipping costs of the books.

For photos and more information, please check out the the website.

Cancer Awareness Club

 My name is Olivia, I live in Los Angeles, California and I am seventeen years old. Along with my best friend Hannah Adelstein, am president of the 501-c3 non-profit organization Cancer Awareness Club for Kids. Cancer Awareness Club was started by kids just like me four years ago. We raise money for kids with cancer to pay for medical expenses in their treatments that insurance does not cover. In November we had a fundraiser that raised 16,000 dollars, we were able to help around fourteen kids. We had a lot of recognition for the event in local newspapers. Our goal for Cancer Awareness Club is to help as many kids as possible, and in order to do this our goal is to have a club in every school in Los Angeles. The website for Cancer Awareness Club is www.cancerawarenessclub.org