Here are six incredible people under 20 who have already
helped change the world.
Malala Yousafzai, 18
Born in Pakistan, Malala inherited her father’s love of
education. Like him, she became a campaigner against the Taliban’s efforts to
stop girls going to school.
In 2009, she started writing for the BBC Urdu service
about her concerns in the area.
She began to get death threats as she received
international recognition for her efforts to promote education in the region.
Malala was shot in the head on her way home from school
by members of the Taliban in 2013.
She survived the attack, which received worldwide
condemnation and sparked protests across Pakistan. In the aftermath, millions
signed a right to education petition which led to Pakistan’s first Right To
Free and Compulsory Education Bill.
She became the youngest
recipient of Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 and still campaigns for girls’ right to
education around the world with the Malala Fund.
Easton LaChapelle, 17
Easton LaChappelle made his first robotic hand at the age
of 14, using LEGO and fishing wire.
Later, he was further inspired when he met a
seven-year-old girl at a science fair. She had a prosthetic hand that only
opened and closed, but still cost $80,000 (around £52,000).
He made it his mission to help people like that little
girl and decided to create a functional prosthetic limb that cost under $1,000
(around £650).
Using 3D printing technology he’s already developed an
affordable and functional prototype.
So impressive is his work in the field, that NASA asked
him to work on their Robonaut team.
That’s right, he’s 17 and has already worked for NASA.
He’s also a really nice guy because, instead of keeping
the tech under wraps and making a load of money, he’s shared it with the world
so everyone can share, use and build on the design to help make it better.
Jazz Jennings, 15
Jazz Jennings was assigned male at birth, but for as long
as she can remember has known she was a girl.
With a supportive family behind her, Jazz has been able
to live as the girl she always knew she was.
Which would be a wonderful story in itself, but Jazz has
also been an active LGBT campaigner, talking about her experience as a trans
child.
And she now has her own reality show, I am Jazz,
detailing her life as a trans teen, giving hope and inspiring trans teens all
over the world.
She also thinks outside her own experience and has set up
the Transkids Purple Rainbow Foundation, which helps give emotional and
financial support to transgender youth, many of whom are homeless.
Mary Grace Henry, 18
When Mary Grace Henry was just 12-years-old she decided
to change the life of an underprivileged girl by funding her education.
She asked for a sewing machine for her birthday and
taught herself how to make reversible headbands to sell at school.
Soon, she made enough to put one girl through education.
But she didn’t stop there.
Since then she has made thousands of hair accessories and
has sent 66 girls in Kenya, Uganda, Paraguay and Haiti to school with her
programme, Reverse The Course.
When she won a World of Children award, she said:
‘Educating a girl can reverse the course of her life, change the course of a
community…and a country.’
Yash Gupta, 19
When Yash Gupta broke his glasses one day in a Taekwondo
class, he realised how much he relied them on.
With his glasses repaired, he read online that more than
12 million children do not have the corrective eyewear they need.
Having struggled for a short while without them, he
couldn’t comprehend how some kids went through their whole childhood without
seeing properly.
He decided to help bring that number down and, at the age
of just 14, he set up Sight Learning.
The organisation collects used glasses and donates them
to children who need them.
They’ve now given more than $1 million worth of glasses
to children around the world in Mexico, Honduras, Haiti, and India.
Anoyara Khatun, 18
Anoyara Khatun was forced to do domestic work when her
father died, when she was just five-years-old.
At the age of 12 she was sold to a tout and trafficked to
do domestic labour for other families.
But Anoyara’s spirit was not broken and, after returning
back to her home in West Bengal at 13-years-old, she campaigned against child
labour and trafficking with a local organisation.
Her efforts have helped hundreds of trafficked children
from the region return to their families.
She has also helped stop 35 cases of early marriage by
negotiation and pressure on the local government.
Her remarkable work has now been internationally
recognised and she has gone on to talk to the UN about the horrific
circumstances children like her face every day
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