CNN Hero Yash Gupta was a freshman in high school when he began collecting used eye glasses to distribute to children around the world who couldn't afford them. Since then, his nonprofit organization Sight Learning has collected more than 26,000 eye glasses, giving them out in Mexico, Honduras, Haiti, and India.

In this episode, Yash talks about the Tae Kwon Do incident that sparked it all, what it was like driving around with his mom to collect the first glasses, and his quest to grow his nonprofit organization (NGO) while studying full time as a sophomore at the University of Southern California.

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Michael Browoski, an Australian teacher, arrived in Vietnam in 2002 to work at Hanoi's National University.  He never imagined who he'd begin teaching during his free time: shoeshining boys. Shortly after, he established the Blue Dragon Children's Foundation to help street kids, children with disabilities, children from rural families living in extreme poverty, and victims of human trafficking and slavery. Their aim is to rescue kids from danger, reunite them with their families when they can, and provide all the services needed for recovery and growth.

Michael Brosowski is a CNN Hero and has been awarded the UNICEF Zero Award and a Member of the Order of Australia for his impact in Vietnam. They have transformed the lives of more than 68,000 children in Vietnam.

Check out the show notes and links at: www.shinfujiyama.com

CNN Hero Anne Hallum was a political science professor at Stetson University in Florida when she was asked to take a group of students on a volunteer trip to Guatemala. It was 1991 and she was going through a difficult personal time of loneliness and loss. The trip to Guatemala was her first time out of the country--and that trip changed everything for Anne.

The hunger, malnutrition, and barren mountainsides haunted Anne. The trip inspired her to start the Alliance for International Reforestation (AIR). Anne and AIR worked tirelessly for the last two decades to improve human and environmental health in Guatemala.

They have planted more than 4.2 million trees throughout Central America.

Twesigye Jackson Kaguri is a CNN Hero and the founder of the Nyaka AIDS Orphan Project in Uganda. He is the author of A School For My Village: A Promise to the Orphans of Nyaka.

Jackson grew up without running water, electricity, or a hospital in his village in rural Uganda. He had to grow his own food and sleep on beds made out of banana leaves. Up against all odds, he earned the opportunity to study at Columbia University.  He returned to his home village years later and was overwhelmed by the plight of AIDS orphans. It was then that Jackson dreamt of the vision to build a school for AIDS orphans in his village in Uganda.

Check out the show notes and links at www.shinfujiyama.com

Sam Vaghar is the Co-founder and Executive Director of the Millennium Campus Network. He is often referred to as "a Man with a Plan." His organization hosts the Millennium Campus Conference each summer, gathering together thousands of youth activists from the world. Find out how he did it all and how he got Dr. Paul Farmer and Jeffrey Sachs to join his movement. Check out his work at www.mcc16.org

 

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Bill Morse is the founder of the Landmine Relief Fund (LRF). It’s an NGO that was created in 2003 to support a group of Cambodians who are dedicated to clearing landmines throughout their country. Bill works closely with former child soldier and CNN Hero, Aki Ra.   These guys have built 19 schools and de-mined 2 million and 900,000 square meters of land in Cambodia so far. They’ve educated tens of thousands of visitors about the issue in their Cambodian Landmine Museum. But With potentially 5 million more landmines still in the ground, they continue this dangerous work every day.   Show Summary & Notes

Siam Reap, Cambodia

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

Bill’s favorite Cambodia food

Angkor Wat Park

What Bill’s weekends look like

Bill’s life pre-Cambodia

What a de-mining mission looks like

The dark history behind the landmines

How Aki Ra started with sticks and pliers and no mine detector

Why Aki Ra was arrested and thrown into jail for clearing landmines

Bill’s thoughts on the role of foreigners in development aid

The most important thing Bill has learned from Aki Ra

Aki Ra’s unusual response when he was selected to become a CNN Hero

The inspiring story behind the first school Bill and Aki Ra built

Why encountering ego has been so challenging for Bill

How Bill finds consistent, recurring funding for his NGOs

Bill reveals his donor email strategy

How Bill leverages the help of interns

Bill’s strategy to address stress and burnout

The one leadership skill that Bill is currently working on

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Dr. James Tooley spent many years in the slums and rural villages of India, China, and Africa asking one question: Can education be run as a profitable business and still be driven by a humanitarian vision?   Whereas development experts insist that the path out of poverty lies in investment in public schools, Dr. James Tooley draws on his fieldwork to argue that small entrepreneurs and ultra-low-cost private schools are educating the poor.   He is the author of the bestselling book, The Beautiful Tree: a personal journey into how the world’s poorest people are educating themselves. He is a professor of education policy and the co-founder of OMEGA Schools, a chain of 38 low cost private schools in Ghana.  

Show Summary & Notes

How Dr. Tooley's journey began in a slum in India in 2000

His unexpected findings while doing household surveys in Liberia

The true and unexpected cost difference between public and private schools in developing countries

Did Malala go to a public or private school?

Why Dr. Tooley wants to take his vision to scale

Why Dr. Tooley’s Omega Schools charges daily tuition instead of monthly tuition

BRAC, Bangladesh

Dr. Tooley’s top 3 challenges running chains of low cost private schools

Marketing tips for low cost private schools

Dr. Tooley’s lowest moment and self-doubts when he opened his first school in Ghana

How Dr. Tooley responds to his critics

Scoring Points: How Tesco Continues to Win Customer Loyalty by Clive Humby

Sam Walton: Made In America by Sam walton

Losing My Virginity: How I Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way by Richard Branson

The Southwest Airlines Way by Jody Hoffer Gittell

Changing How the World Does Business: Fedex's Incredible Journey to Success - The Inside Story by Roger Frock

Why Dr. Tooley believes that arrogance is the enemy

 

The Rebirth of Education: Schooling Ain't Learning by Lant Pritchett

 

The Tyranny of Experts: Economists, Dictators, and the Forgotten Rights of the Poor by William Easterly

The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good by William Easterly

The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists' Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics by William R. Easterly

Equality, the Third World, and Economic Delusion by P. T. Bauer

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Conor Grennan left his day job in 2004 at age 29 to travel the world. At the beginning of his journey, he spent three months volunteering at a children’s home in war-torn Nepal. It was there that he discovered a harrowing truth about these children. Shortly after, he founded Next Generation Nepal, an NGO that's addressing the exact challenge he uncovered.   He’s the New York Times Best Selling Author of The Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal, the memoir that chronicles his amazing journey.     Show Summary & Notes

Conor’s reaction at the moment of the the 2015 earthquake in Nepal

Orphanage scams in Nepal

Who are these child traffickers? Are they locals or foreigners?

Complex challenges when reuniting children with their families

How Conor found his first mentors in Nepal

Conor’s hard-to-emulate routine when preparing and practicing for a speech

Conor offers relationship advice for aid workers

How Conor wrote his best-selling book so quickly

Conor’s reaction to Greg Mortenson and Three Cups of Tea