【推荐1】Five-year-old Mustafa is smiling for the first time in ages. She did not receive a new toy or her favorite candy; rather, she got a wig (假发).

Mustafa had to go through painful procedures after being diagnosed with cancer at an early age. Her father expressed her sadness when she lost her hair after months of chemotherapy (化疗). “She saw children of her age jumping in playgrounds and spending hours styling their hair, while she couldn’t. Losing her hair made her hopeless, negatively impacting her response to treatment,” the girl’s father said.

Coming from a less fortunate family, Mustafa now sits in a humble hairdresser’s in Cairo, sliding her fingers through her new long hair as she looks in the mirror with fresh enthusiasm. Behind that smile and renewed confidence is Salam, from Egypt, who has been personally funding and designing free wigs for children with cancer to give them power to defeat their illness.

Salam took up his mission when he saw a viral video on social media of a young cancer patient who was excited at receiving a new wig. It was the moment when he decided to provide free wigs to children with cancer to lift up their spirits. “Many families can barely afford expensive cancer treatment costs, let alone costly cosmetic services that can play a huge role in restoring children’s confidence and giving them strength to continue their treatment,” said Salam.

As part of the self-funded initiative, Salam purchases the necessary requirements to make a wig, while his father helps design hairstyles to serve different children. So far, Salam has helped over 15 children walk out of his shop empowered with big smiles.

Despite the several challenges, Salam said making wigs gives him as much happiness as it does for his young customers. “Children need the emotional and moral support to go through this tough illness.” He added, “Losing their hair drives them to withdraw into themselves out of fear and embarrassment. I cannot help in their treatment, but I can help them get through it.”

【推荐2】In the far corner of the front yard of a large house in Florida rests an RV—Recreational Vehicle( 活动房屋式旅游车), shaded by trees as clothing on a nearby line sways(摇动) in the breeze. In this RV, National Geographic explorer Thomas Culhane lives with his wife, Enas, almost entirely off the grid—a lifestyle without depending on electricity supply.

Culhane began living off the grid in the late 1990s, when he went into the basement of his apartment building in Los Angeles and pulled the plug that delivered electricity. Even earlier though, he was first inspired by sustainable(不破坏生态平衡的) living during a trip in 1970 to visit his relatives. He was eight years old and worried that his stay in their small village was going to be miserable because his relatives told him they had no air conditioning or electricity— but they had plenty of fresh fruits from orchards (果园) and lots of cold drinks chilled by the icy stream from the ice caps of the nearby mountain. “This is amazing,”says Culhane.

He met Enas when she was living in an ecovillage in Portugal. Enas said she liked the feeling of being low impact, of being harmless to the earth. Culhane was attracted and fell in love with her. The couple got married, living on the same property(财产) that they currently have. They moved into their first home together—an RV which they immediately took completely off-grid.

Inside their RV, Culhane and Enas have hot showers, a working gas stove, a refrigerator, a washing machine and a big screen TV. They use gas created by their on-site biodigesters (生物煮解器) to cook on a gas-powered stove. They also use energy created by the biodigesters to heat their bath water. They feed the biodigesters using their own food waste— at no additional cost to the earth.

Sometimes on weekends, the RV is turned into a classroom. The couple host workshops to let the community members and students know living an off-grid life is getting easier and teach them how to respect and coexist peacefully with the environment.

【推荐1】I’ll be the first to admit that I am a technophobe(对技术有恐惧感的人). Who would have guessed that a website would help repay a 20-year-old loan?

I’ll always remember my last day at school. My best friend, Jenny, had organized a party in the Sixth Form Common Room.

Jenny asked me to go to the supermarket with her to buy all the snacks. “I'm really looking forward to this party, Stingy," she said. Everyone called me Stingy instead of Debbie because they thought I didn’t like to spend money. Actually, it was true.

“There’s lots of money in the kitty. Let’s go crazy!” Going crazy meant buying enough snacks to feed an army. It came to ￡19.90, which was a lot of money in 1982.

Jenny gave me a guilty(内疚的) look. “I've left-the kitty money in the common room. Can you pay and I’ll give you back the money?”

“Sure,” I replied, trying to look relaxed. “Neither a lender or a borrower be” was my motto(座右铭) but I didn’t want to look stingy. I gave ￡20 to the impatient shop assistant.

Well, the Party was a great success. So great that I completely forgot about my loan until I was flying to America the next day.   I was going to live with my uncle’s family until I started university.

I tried to get in touch with Jenny but her family had moved. My ￡20 was lost. Until...

I’d heard about a website called Friends Reunited which helped people contact old school friends.   My husband helped me log on and find my school. There she was, Jenny Frost.

I’m now married with a beautiful daughter called Debbie. Does anyone know how to get in touch with Debbie “Stingy” Jones? I still owe her ￡20!

We met two months later and the ￡20 was returned, plus interest(利息) of course. After all, I’m a bank manager now, so loans are my business.