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Spotlight on Young Global Leader: Heather Fleming
Countries: Guatemala, Haiti, United States
Heather Fleming has been named one of the World Economic Forum's Young Global Leaders for 2010. Young Global Leaders are recognized by the World Economic Forum as "exceptional young leaders who share a commitment to shaping the global future."
Born on an Indian reservation in New Mexico, Fleming knows first hand the difficulties people face growing up without resources many take for granted, such as running water or electricity. Her experiences eventually led to the pursuit of a degree as a civil engineer and the start up of Catapult Design, a company she co-founded with Tyler Valiquette. Catapult Design "is a non-profit firm providing engineering and implementation support to the thousands of organizations in need of technologies or products capable of igniting social change."
Fleming has worked with other like-minded designers and engineers as a co-founder of Engineers Without Borders, D2M and as a co-leader for Appropriate Technology Design Team. These design and engineering companies provide low-impact solutions that benefit the world with inventions such as the "turbulent air" turbine, improvements to the Hippo Roller--a water barrel with handles that can be rolled and a fuel efficient cooking stove for Darfur refugees that uses less wood.
See Fleming talk about her passion for the work she does in this video.
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William Kamkwamba: Malawi's Boy Wonder
Countries: Malawi, United States
When I was fourteen, I was busy going to drama rehearsals, shopping at the mall and fighting with my brother. But when William Kamkwamba was fourteen, he built a windmill to bring electricity to his rural village in Malawi by studying pictures in a library text book and using whatever materials he could find.
Watch this video, from Yes! Magazine, for his truly inspiring story:
You can follow William's current projects on his blog and and support his work in Malawi by donating here.
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