【推荐1】Brenda Thomas’s heart became a shell when her 21-year-old son died in a motorcycle accident in September 2019, only one week into his senior year of college. But she has found something that helps her to deal with her grief.

She keeps “acts of kindness” cards in honor of her son. These folded pieces of paper are tucked in her purse at all times and always stored in the glove compartment of her car. Whenever she does a good deed for a stranger— which is about once a week— she passes along a card with a message written on it: “If you receive this card, then you must be a recipient of a random act of kindness.” At the top of each note is her son’s name, Trevor Paul Thomas.

Trevor was an athlete who played baseball at Allegany College of Maryland and Penn State Fayette. He was a loyal friend and a force for good, with a witty sense of humor and a big smile. According to his mother, one of Trevor’s best qualities was his compassion for others, no matter how well he knew them. He regularly shoveled(铲) snow off the driveways of older neighbors, delivered hot meals to those in need, and befriended classmates who struggled to fit in. It seemed a natural fit to launch a kindness campaign in his memory.

The Thomas family adopted the “acts of kindness” cards to mark what would have been Trevor’s 23 birthday. They hoped that these cards would encourage people to do a good deed as part of Trevor’s legacy. On each card, they included a mantra (箴言) that the family said best describes the way Trevor had lived his life: “Be somebody who makes everybody feel like somebody.”

Recently, while dining with her daughter Whitney in a restaurant, Brenda decided to pay for the meal of a mother and two children. The recipient of Brenda’s spontaneous (发自内心的) gift was Liana Arruda. She was taking her nine-year-old son and his five-year-old sister for dinner. She felt shocked and moved after the waitress handed her the card. She used it as an opportunity to teach her children about compassion and is now brainstorming ways to pass on the goodness. “I’m waiting to find the perfect opportunity,” she said. “I want it to matter, because it mattered to me.”

For the Thomas family, while there is still—and forever will be—a massive void(空虚感) in their lives without Trevor, committing to “living like him” has helped them turn their pain into purpose. “We’ll keep paying it forward in Trevor’s honor because it would make him so proud,” said Brenda.

【推荐3】When Zhi Yueying, then 19, went to the remote Niyang village in Yichun city, Jiangxi province, to work as a village teacher in 1980, villagers were doubtful if she was going to stay long.

Over the past four decades, Zhi has devoted herself to rural education. She is a recipient of Touching China awards that recognize the most inspiring role models in 2016. She was also awarded as a model poverty fighter by the government. Zhi has a profound understanding of the importance of education in the mountains. Over the years, she has taught the students and cared for them, since many of them were “left-behind” children whose parents migrated to other places to work. More than 1,000 students of hers have left the mountain area, and created a better life for themselves.

Located amid the mountains, the village was very poor and far from any town. Villagers had to hike in the mountains. “I arrived at the school in an early evening, and was shocked. I had known the conditions were poor, but the reality was worse.” Moreover, local people needed to go downhill to buy daily necessities, and transport them back in their hands or balanced across their shoulders. “I had never walked uphill on a mountain road before, so I walked much more slowly than others, sometimes I walked slowly behind too much and was scared to tears,” says Zhi. Sometimes she had to walk uphill by herself with a flashlight at night. The wild boars and rabbits sometimes frightened her and she enhanced her courage by singing loudly.

But she gradually got used to her life there. At the beginning, she found many local people valued their sons far more than their daughters, and would not like to let them attend school. Zhi went to their homes repeatedly and gradually persuaded them to send all their children to school. For those who could not afford the tuition, she spared her own money to help.

Zhi says seeing her students do well beyond the mountains is deeply rewarding. “My dream, the same as before, is to stay by the side of more children. I know poverty will forever say goodbye to the mountainous villages, to my students, and to myself,” says Zhi.

【推荐1】A tabletop bean seller in Accra, Ghana has grown her business into a popular fast-selling and highly profitable local restaurant in just under 2 years.

Once upon a time in 2019, Madam Evangeli who sold beans on a tabletop in Accra hadn’t even heard of selling food on the Internet. She started her business selling to only physical walk-in customers. A few months after she started the business, she got introduced to an online food delivery platform — Jumia Food. She was doubtful about it because she didn’t fully understand how the process worked and what the benefits were. After a few days of research, she decided to join as a vendor (小贩) and test the platform.

Just when she added herself to the list on the Jumia Food website, the country was forced into lockdown (封城) in March 2020. Her customer base began to reduce rapidly since there were restrictions (限制) on movement and there were almost no customers around to buy from her. This became a problem since the business was her primary source of livelihood. She sometimes came to work to prepare meals only for a handful of people to buy.

She then remembered that she had listed on Jumia so the love story began. She started using the platform frequently and growing the business during the COVID-19 lockdown. A week later, the number of orders had increased three times and things were getting better. This continued for months as many of her customers now had a way to stay in the comfort of their homes or offices and still get their meals delivered to them safely. Sales started increasing rapidly. Madam Evangeli also has plans to open more shops in other parts of the city in order to support young out-of-work people.

Her life has been changed through the Internet. There are many more food vendors like Madam Evangeli who are benefitting from the power of the Internet. E-commerce (电子商务) is the future and it is important that every stakeholder (参与人) play their part in making sure that more lives are touched through the Internet.

【推荐2】I’ve always been the sort of person who hated being asked to answer questions in class, not because I didn’t know the answer (in fact I’m pretty clever, and usually do have the right answers), but because I didn’t like attention drawn to me. Besides, I don’t have a lot of friends. I get joked about a lot since I’ve always been a fat kid.

I’ve found a way to change all that.

It began when a teacher suggested I try out for the basketball team. At first I thought it was an absolutely crazy idea. Being fat, I just knew that I’d only embarrass myself. But because the teacher — a favorite with me — kept insisting I “go for it,” I decided to give it a try.

When I first started attending the practice sessions, I really didn’t have a good handle on the game of basketball. To be honest, I didn’t even know the rules of the game. Luckily, I wasn’t the only one “new” to the game, so I decided to do my best at each practice session. I was learning, and I was getting better — even if it was little by little.

And then it became more fun. And more inspiring. I practiced and practiced. Pretty soon the competitive part of me was winning over my fat-kid challenge. I began to forget that I was fat. I even discovered that my “size” wasn’t such a disadvantage at all; I could make a basket from right under the net and block at the same time! I never had so much fun!

Gaining self-confidence in playing inspired me to try out other things. I have gone from “hiding” myself to raising my hand. With my new and improved self-confidence comes more praise, some from teachers, and some from teammates and classmates. But these days, they also come from the face in the mirror — which is the person whose comments I value most. Best of all, I’m learning to really believe in myself.

【推荐3】“Dana, how are you feeling today?” I ask, my eyes clocking her dirty uniform, and the dark circles under her eyes.

“OK,” Dana mumbles (嘟囔).

“Have you eaten today?”

She nods. Another lie.

“Can I get you anything?” But what could I possibly get her? A bedroom of her own? A family with love?

“No, thanks.”

Repeated absence from school recently. She has worn out teachers’ patience. But I don’t want to send her back to class. What use is it knowing all the square numbers and all the grammatical rules when she has to work out how to wash, cook and decide between feeding herself or her younger sister?

“A biscuit?” I offer. It works and Dana takes the biscuit I hand her.

I remember the first time I met Dana, the day after she locked herself in the house when her mum abandoned the family. I remember thinking how young she was to have built such a high wall around herself and how on earth I could possibly break through. As a social worker, it is my job to knock down such walls no matter how.

I know it would take more than a biscuit to ease out one of her bricks. But I will try.

“How are you feeling?” I push slightly, hoping the biscuit might have softened her.

“OK,” she shrugs(耸肩). I’m about to change topics when her eyes rest on my arm.

“How does that feel, Mia?” Dana stares at me. The sleeve (袖子) of my blouse has rolled up, evidence of how deep I had put it into the biscuit can. A deep scar (伤疤) along my arm is obvious against my fair skin.

I roll my sleeve back down, “It’s from a fire. It hurt. But everything will be OK when you think it’s OK.”

Dana pauses (停顿) and picks up another biscuit. In that instant, I know something has changed in the room and we might actually be OK.