Readers Becoming Changemakers

Apoorvi is a young changemaker from India. As a teenager, she created the Happiness Project to eliminate the stigma surrounding
mental health and increase access to mental health resources in public schools. She and her team of like-minded peers developed a
Happiness Quotient to shine a light on student wellbeing and inform new ideas for creating happier classrooms. In learning peer activation, teamwork, and leadership, Apoorvi now aspires to pursue a career in public health or psychology where she can further put her changemaker skills into practice.

The Moo’s Project was the beginning of Ara's life-long changemaking journey.  As a young adult, Ara  started the Aha! Project, which is a social initiative that provides tools for creative and quality educational home for underprivileged children in rural areas in Indonesia. She is also co-leading the Everyone a Changemaker Movement with Ashoka by enabling young people to find their power to be  changemakers and create positive change to problems they deeply care about in their community.

In Ara’s own words, "It was not a norm for a young person, especially a little girl, in Indonesia to think of solving a social issue in their community, not to mention actualizing the idea into reality. Still, it was not impossible either. It takes empathy to realize a cause you deem worthy. It takes courage to be different and to make a difference. And it takes support from (at least) one person to move forward with the action." 

Rebecca is a changemaker from Kenya, activating her classmates at Tembea Girls’ Academy and community to be allies for the environment through education, advocacy and action.

Rebecca and her classmates share the urgency of protecting the environment and practical steps to take action, such as writing letters and petitions to government officials. Rebecca’s school was established by BEADS for Education, a nonprofit that aspires to enable young women like Rebecca to thrive through education and business development.

Rebecca’s mentor or sponsor, Cynthia Moss, the founder of Amboseli Trust for Elephants, inspires her to be compassionate and attentive for every living thing. Relentlessly striving for a better world, Rebecca says, “If I do succeed in my venture, the world will be beautiful. The cattle will be fat, the children well-nourished, there will be many more trees, the markets will be full of farmers’ produce and the wild animals will be many.”

Rhenan’s journey to changemaking began with cleaning the Brejinho stream, a tributary of the Araguaia River near his hometown in Brazil. This river protects the livelihood and vitality of thousands of communities, supplying water for farms, cities, and the surrounding ecosystem. As a teenager, Rhenan recognized the interdependence of people and the planet, and protecting both requires everyone to take action. He is now activating other young people to step up for environmental justice and protect ecosystems across Brazil.

When Amira was a teenager, she interned with CARE International to help with refugee resettlement in her hometown of Alexandria, Egypt. During her internship, she met dozens of families living in refugee communities and talked to women and children from countries like Sudan, Syria, Libya, and Yemen.

She leaned on her passion for art and painting to launch a social venture, Ohana, to provide art and culture workshops for young people. With the goal of building a more just and inclusive community for refugees, Amira and her friends create safe spaces for children to learn about each other’s cultures and express themselves through dancing, theater, drawing, and painting. Today, she is a graduate of Political Science. She says, “I want to change our cultural norms. To change culture, we can share art and traditions across communities. This is when real change happens — when you start to change people’s minds and perceptions.”