Aki Ra is one of Cambodia’s best-known demining experts. Taken from his family at a young age, he was trained by the Khmer Rouge to become a child soldier, serving the perpetrators who, as he had been told, had murdered…
When Tony Meloto first started working with the poor in the slums of Metro Manila, he often wondered why millions of Filipinos lived as squatters when there was no lack of land across the Philippines. Gawad Kalinga (GK), which Meloto…
The world is facing an aging crisis, but no country is aging faster than Japan.1 With more than 30 percent of its population above 65, it is literally the oldest country in the world. The land of the rising sun…
When he was only 18, Ho Hei Wah already had a desire to do something different with his life. The capitalistic world in Hong Kong did not interest him. Behind the city’s glamour and glitz, he saw a hidden world,…
Buddhism teaches that life is a continuous cycle of birth and death, that to be alive is to suffer, and that one can overcome suffering and achieve enlightenment through wisdom and compassion1. Compassion is what Dharma Master Cheng Yen embodies.…
“Doing good” is a calling for some, often anchored in faith. For others, it is compassion for the poor, sick, and disadvantaged that drives their work. The individuals featured in this book should inspire each of us to reach out…
Foreword North Asia South-East Asia South Asia
Ma Jun started his career as an investigative journalist on the environment desk. After years of reporting on environmental disasters and exposing pollution scandals, he realized that there had been a great deal of misinformation due to data discrepancies or…
EXTRAORDINARILY ORDINARY Asia—a region beleaguered by social problems. To start, 800 million people—or over two-thirds of the world’s poor—live in this part of the world.1 Intertwined with the causes and consequences of poverty are social problems such as health, sanitation,…