Mulla Nusruddin Mulla Nusruddin heard about a grand dinner being hosted by the new Emir in his palace. He turned up there in his usual shabby clothes. The guards did not who he was and would not let him in. Mulla came home, put on his best dress and turban, and went back to the…
Month: December 2020
089. Rigoberta Menchu: Working for the rights of indigenous peoples
Rigoberta Menchu Born in 1959, Rigoberta Menchú Tum is an indigenous feminist and human rights activist from Guatemala. Rigoberta has been championing the cause of Guatemala’s indigenous peoples during and after the Civil War (1960–1996) in that country. She has also been promoting indigenous rights internationally. Even as a teenager, Rigoberta was active in the…
088. Raging Grannies: Protesting with humour and songs for a better world
Raging Grannies The Raging Grannies movement began in 1987 in Victoria in the province of British Columbia, Canada. A group of senior women including teachers, businesswomen, artists, homemakers, librarians and other professionals started a protest against the threat to health and environment posed by the visit of US Navy warships and submarines in the waters…
087. Bryan Stevenson: Committed to equal justice for all
Bryan Stevenson America’s harsh criminal justice system, the mass incarceration of mostly black people, and the use of private prisons are well-known. In such a system, Bryan Stevenson, through his Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), has won reversals, relief, or release from prison for over 135 wrongly condemned prisoners on death row and won relief for…
086. Madam C.J. Walker: First Self-Made Female Millionaire in the US
Madam C. J. Walker She is said to be the first self-made female millionaire in the US and she was black. How could a black woman set up and run a big enterprise in America in the early years of the 20th century? That was the achievement of Madam C. J. Walker. She was born…
085. Edith Eger: Holocaust survivor who heals others
Edith Eger It was May 4, 1945. World War II was coming to an end and American forces were liberating the inmates of Nazi concentration camps. In an Austrian camp, a young American soldier noticed a small hand moving slightly amongst a number of dead bodies. It was that of Edith, a Jewish survivor. He…
084. Chuang Tzu story: How to transform a corrupt politician
One day, Yen Hui, the favorite disciple of Confucius, told his master that he wanted to go to Wei. He said, “The Prince of Wei is lusty and self-willed. He takes no care of his people and refuses to see any fault in himself. He pays no attention to the fact that people are dying…
083. Waldemar Haffkine: Created the world’s first vaccines for cholera and plague, saved thousands of lives in India
Waldemar Haffkine At the turn of the 20th century, Waldemar Mordecai Haffkine created the world’s first vaccines for cholera and plague and used them very successfully in India. Yet, one contaminated bottle of vaccine ruined Haffkine’s career. A Russian Jew by birth, Haffkine studied zoology in Odessa. He had to leave Russia because he took…
082. Anonymous donor pays off layaways at a Walmart store
Millions of people all over the world have been hit hard in economic terms by the pandemic. Since sales have been down even during the festival season, American supermarkets such as Walmart have revived the layaway scheme. Layaway works differently than shopping with credit cards or using installment billing plans. With layaway you make payments…
081. Favio Chavez and the recycled orchestra of Paraguay
Favio Chavez and the Recycled Orchestra Caterua in Paraguay houses one of the largest landfills in South America. The landfill receives more than a tonne of waste daily from Asuncion and the surrounding areas. More than 40,000 families live in the slum that has come up on the Cateura landfill. For most of the residents,…