Heal the World with Love, Part 1 of 2

Despite all the loss and grief inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic, people across the world have taken actions to spread joy, strength, and healing where it is most needed. In our two-part show, we want to highlight some of the noble children and teens who have gone above and beyond for the greater good. Two boys from India, Jashith Narang and Ayush Sankaran, took advantage of the precious lockdown time by developing a Smartphone app, called “Climate catastrophe – Earth in Dearth in only seven days.” Users can calculate their carbon footprint based on their daily activities. It also has two games; one is about deforestation and the other is about renewable energy. Their app won an award in the App Inventor Hackathon 2020, held by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Stephen Wamukota, a nine-year-old boy from Kenya, independently built two simple devices from wooden window frames; these contraptions help people wash and sanitize their hands, without worrying about frequently touched surfaces, like faucet handles and soap dispensers. His invention won him the Presidential Order of Service, Uzalendo (Patriotic) Award from His Excellency Uhuru Kenyatta. A 12-year-old boy from San Francisco, USA named Mizan Rupan-Tompkins invented a smart tool to help people avoid germs. He was inspired with the idea when he noticed his parents were struggling to open doors using their sleeves. He used a 3-D printer to make hook-like devices called, “Safe Touch Pro” in order to minimize interacting with high-touch-surfaces. High-touch-surfaces are objects people interact with frequently to get around, such as door handles, elevator buttons, and ATMs! A 13-year old Canadian boy named Warren Richmond made face shields for health care workers. My young friends, what’s a good deed that you plan to do? What can we do with our “Two Hands”?