Rwandan musician Jean Paul Samputu travels the world as an international ambassador for peace and forgiveness. (Marilyn Jones)
8:00 am ET -Jean Paul Samputu lost his family during the genocide in Rwanda. But he overcame rage and resentment by learning to forgive – even for his father's killer.
People Making a Difference (View all)
- Change Agent Online course lets students give money away
- Change Agent Obama, George H.W. Bush celebrate the 5,000th 'point of light'
- Change Agent In a Mexican border town, a friend in the fight against AIDS
- Change Agent Operation Jersey Shore Vacation offers an oceanside respite to US military families
- Change Agent Reduce, reuse, recycle – and repair: New York's Pop-Up Repair shop
- Difference Maker Colin Flahive opened a restaurant in China that's a beacon of enlightened management
- Change Agent Planting mangrove trees pays off for coastal communities in Kenya
- Change Agent Cleaning up the global aquarium trade
- Change Agent New generation activists build bridges
- Change Agent Marga Fripp empowers women immigrants in the US
More People Making a Difference
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Change Agent Bank Andara, a bank for banks in Indonesia, grows micro businesses – and turns a profit
Bank Andara has partnered with 737 microfinance institutions in Indonesia, reaching nearly 1.2 million low-income clients with ‘one stop’ shopping for all their banking needs.
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Change Agent Solar kits bring clean light to Kenya's poor
Buyers make payments securely from home using their mobile phones, which also can be kept charged with the solar kit.
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Change Agent How better-trained farmers slow Brazil's deforestation
Imazon helps farmers formalize their land titles and trains them in improved farming techniques, like rotating crops and limiting overgrazing, to make their land more productive and reduce the need to cut down more rainforest.
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Change Agent Christine's Hope for Kids gives kids a chance to be kids
The nonprofit group Christine's Hope for Kids has given more than $300,000 in donations and in-kind support to groups in New Jersey and across the country that work with children.
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Change Agent Double win for Haiti: human waste into valuable fertilizer
The social enterprise SOIL provides clean facilities for families in Haiti while also supplying a local source of fertilizer to sorghum farmers.
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10 organizations that protect the environment
We tell you about 10 organizations that are working to protect and conserve the environment. All 10 of these organizations have four-star ratings from Charity Navigator and at least $13.5 million in total annual expenses.
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Change Agent 'Push-Pull' strategy helps end hunger and poverty for farmers in sub-Saharan Africa
Push-Pull techniques help African farmers increase productivity, strengthen soils, and protect staple foods from pests – all without expensive chemical fertilizers or pesticides.
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Difference Maker US college student Surya Karki builds schools back home in Nepal
Maya Universe Academy was born in 2011 out of the creative altruism of Karki and six other young people from all over the world.
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Change Agent Food hub links local produce with local buyers
Nashville Grown, a new food hub in Nashville, Tenn., is a model for making local food accessible beyond farmers markets.
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Change Agent In Cambodia, kids breakdance toward better futures
At Tiny Toones, a nonprofit group in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, youths learn to breakdance, as well as how to pursue goals beyond their limited circumstances.
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Change Agent Rooting corruption out of the system
The Partnership Against Corruption Initiative works worldwide sharing best practices and forcefully making the case for the advantages of corruption-free business transactions.
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Change Agent A tea shop in Atlanta sends young women in India to college
Katrell Christie uses profits from her Atlanta tea shop to finance college educations for orphaned girls in India.
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Change Agent How two plant geeks grew a 'paradise' in a blighted backyard
In 'Paradise Lot,' two inner-city residents write about how they transformed less than an acre of blighted yard into a thriving food forest full of mushrooms, gooseberries, silkworms, and more.
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Difference Maker David Hunt saves lives by teaching swimming in Cambodia
Drowning is the top cause of death for children in Cambodia over the age of 1, according to a recent report.
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Change Agent 'Food rescue' group teaches others how to do it
Forty percent of all food produced in the US goes to waste. Boulder (Colo.) Food Rescue picks up food, primarily fresh fruits and vegetables, from local grocers and transports it by bike to groups that serve hungry, homeless, and low-income people.
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Change Agent Historic US railroads inspire 21st-century solutions: the Millennial Trains Project
Over 10 days in August, the Millennial Trains Project will send 40 young Americans across the country by train, each rider with a specific, crowdfunded project to help build a better nation.
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6 international organizations that support jobs and businesses
Many organizations, both in the United States and abroad, seek to help entrepreneurial individuals and small businesses through microfinance and other means. Here are six organizations that support job creation and new businesses around the world.
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10 biggest US foundations and what they do
What are the 10 biggest foundations in the United States? Here they are in ascending order, based on their assets, along with a little bit about what social problems each addresses.
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Change Agent From a caged teen in a basement in India to literary fame
Salma is now the most famous female poet in southern India – and the subject of a new documentary film.
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Change Agent Scott Zabelski found T-shirts were a perfect fit for hurricane Sandy relief
He created and sold 'Restore the Shore' T-shirts and hooded sweatshirts – and raised more than half a million dollars for hurricane recovery efforts.
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