As a child growing in Jordan, we lived in extreme poverty, nine people living in one small room. The role models in my life were my own biological mother and later my American foster Dad and Mom, the late Dr. Robert and his wife Mary Darnell who were missionaries in the Middle East. They demonstrated to me that true significance in life is not by your educational achievements, career success, or how big is your stock portfolio, but your life is measured by the influence you make in lives of others, especially the poor and needy regardless of their race, color, ethnic or religious background. But seven years ago I had cancer and knew God was calling me to a new direction of my life, to fulfill a dream to serve disadvantaged children. So I quit my job and started Reaching Hearts for Kids (http://www.reachinghearts4kids.org), a ministry for poor and orphaned children, HIV/AIDS in Africa. We have grown to support children by providing shelter, food, clothing, medical care, and basic education in 10 countries worldwide. I do the work mostly alone in a small den in my small apartment. Our biggest project is in Ethiopia where we started building the first home for orphans in Ambo, Ethiopia, in 2007. We plan to build a model village of 10 homes, a school, a guesthouse for volunteers and a health clinic on a new land in Legedafu, 13 km north of Addis. The impact of one Good Samaritan investing in my life as a child now has ongoing ripple effects for generations. When we help kids, we are actually investing in lives of future world leaders, thus making this world a better and safe place to live for us and our children and grandchildren. Because I work alone the need for volunteers is great in the areas of development, writing, fundraising and technology and hope someone with these qualifications can volunteer and help us. Thank you.
-Norma N., 55-64, Beltsville, MD
I always felt that I had the need to change things around me, make the world better, bring people together and motivate them. I chose to start my lifetime dream by studying marine biology, so I can go in the right direction to help the creation of marine protected areas. I find oceans so important because we eat what's in the sea, but if it continues like this we will have no more fish in 50 years. Life in the sea is so important and amazing, we need to protect it! There are tons of potentialities in the sea regarding medicine, food and beauty. I'm now doing a master degree in marine ecology, working on deep-sea ecosystems (1km) and trawling impact on them offshore Vancouver Island in Canada. I do hope that government will take into account my project and that it will help regarding marine conservation issues. My lifetime dream is to bring together my passion for sailing and oceans, my passion for people and my goal to do my best for marine conservation. I found that a good way is to make documentaries about different topics to inform people and sensibilize them. I made one last year about Ecotourism in Cuba and I loved the experience. The Coastal Ecosystems Research Center will show our documentary in Cuba to inform people. People say I'm a dreamer... but I take actions to make it happen! I know who to have around me, how to take actions and make dreams possible. I do think that when a dream is so strong in your heart, it's all about destiny. Don't you think?
-Maeva G., 25-34, Victoria, BC
