Research Hero Notes

Question 1- How did the hero's childhood affect the choices that they made?Evans Wadongo:•Grew up in a home where education was important (“Saving lives’”)•Both his mother and father were school teachers (About Evans Wadongo)•Only 1 source of light for him and his family to share, a kerosene lamp (“Saving lives’”)•Became frustrated with his poor school performance and homework (“Saving lives’”)•Developed eye problems from the smoke of the kerosene lamp (“Saving lives’”)•Evans home and school both did not have electricity (About Evans Wadongo)Derreck Kayongo•30 years ago, fled with his family due to the dictatorship of Idi Amin the former Ugandan military dictator. (“Recycling Soap”)•Witnessed mass torture and killings of people in his home town in Uganda (“Recycling Soap”)•“Coming home from school as a child, passing dead bodies for 10 solid years”- Derreck Kayongo (“Recycling Soap”)•Many children were orphaned, including a lot of Kayongo’s friends (“Recycling Soap”)•Him and his family fled their home, lost everything and sacrificed a lot (“Recycling Soap”)•They would visit refugee camps to see friends and family. People were struggling to survive and didn’t have basic needs People in camps were worse off than Kayongo and his family. (“Recycling Soap”)•Soap was not always available, people were falling ill and becoming so sick because they couldn’t wash their hands (“Recycling Soap”)

Question 2: What sparked the idea for your hero to help out their home community? Or community they know?Evans Wadongo “Many children drop out of school for the same reasons (listed under Q1) so they remain

poor for the rest of their lives. I was asking myself if there is anything that could be done to improve the situation.”- (Evans Wadongo “Saving lives’”)

While in college, at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Fiddled with a dorm experiment (“Saving lives’”)

Experiment involved the timing of LED Christmas lights. Then struck him, environmentally friendly light source could be used to light rural homes (“Saving lives’”)

While walking home, he stumbled upon a broken piece off solar panel. Able to light small number of LEDs (“Saving lives’”)

Derreck Kayongo When he first arrived in the US in early 1990s, stayed in a hotel. Noticed in his bathroom

the soap bar he used was replaced with a brand new one. Tried returning it but, but the concierge said it was hotel policy to provide a new one every day. (“Recycling hotel soap”)

Kayongo called his father to tell him what has happened and started to think “What if we took some of this soap and recycled it. Provide brand new soap and sent it to people back home who couldn’t afford it?” (“Recycling hotel soap”)

Magnus MacFarlene-Barrow In 1992 Magnus and his brother Fergus were at a local pub enjoying a pint, in the Scottish

Highlands. (“From beer-fueled brainstorm”) They just saw a news report about refugee camps in Bosnia. (“From beer-fueled

brainstorm”) Seeing images of the people suffering in the war-torn country shocked them. They both

had visited Bosnia as teenagers and remembered the warmth of the Bosnian people. (“From beer-fueled brainstorm”)

Began to think “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could do one small thing to help?” (“From beer-fueled brainstorm”)

Question 3: How did your hero get their project started?Evans Wadongo Evans family and friends subsidized his student loans for 2 years. (“Saving lives’”) An artisan helped Evans design the solar lantern, which he call MwangaBora, Swahili for “good

light” (“Saving lives’”) The nonprofit Sustainable Development for All-Kenya heard about Evans MwanagaBora,

immediately committed to help. (“Saving lives’”) Eventually brought Wadongo on as a partner and chairmen of the board. (“Saving lives’”)

Derreck Kayongo Transitioned his life and became a college graduate, a U.S. citizen, A field coordinator for CARE

international, and a private humanitarian aid organizer. (“Recycling Hotel Soap”) 2009 met a veteran hospitality executive, Vicki Gordan, and shared his idea of recycling old hotel

soap and shipping it to impoverished countries. (“Global Soap Project”) Vicki started making calls, assembled a team to support Derreck and his mission. (“Global Soap

Project”) Began his Global soap project in 2009 with the help of his wife, friends, and Atlanta-based hotels.

(“Recycling Hotel Soap”)

Magnus Macfarlane-Barrow His brother and himself took the week off from work. Collected food, clothing, medicine, and

blankets. (“From beer-fueled”) Loaded everything into an old Land Rover, drove to Bosnia to deliver it and returned to Scotland.

(“From beer-fueled”) When they got back home, they found an abundance of goods people continued to deliver while

they were gone. (“From beer-fueled”) After a lot of thought and prayer, Magnus quit his job, sold his home and dedicated himself to

helping people in need. (“From beer-fueled”)

Question 4:How do we define the personality traits of a hero?

Someone with a good heart and soul Somebody who puts the needs of others before their

own Taking the time out of their lives to do something good

for others and try to make a difference in their lives

Question 5:How does a hero reflect his/her particular culture and society?

A hero reflects his/her culture and society by being influenced to make a positive change for a better outcome of their community.

Evans Wadongo: Coming from a village in Kenya wanting to improve the conditions of the people who he lived with

and others around the world. (‘Saving Lives’) He wanted to improve the situation of kerosene smoke from the lamps so children could have a

better education and health. (‘Saving Lives’) So families could spend their money on food instead of gas to fuel the lamps. (‘Saving Lives’)

Derreck Kayongo: As a Ugandan native, wanted to help improve the health of the people from his village and others

too. (“Recycling Hotel Soap”) On a mission to combat child mortality around the world. Soap is the “first line of defense”.

(“Recycling Hotel Soap”) More than 2 million children die from diarrheal illness, deaths occur almost exclusively among

toddlers. (“Recycling Hotel Soap”) Issue was not the availability, it was the cost. Families could not afford to buy soap everyday.

(“Recycling Hotel Soap”)

Magnus Macfarlane-Barrow: Dislike seeing the images of people from Bosnia in refugee camps (From beer-fueled) Remembered the warmth he was given by the Bosnian people when he visited as a teenager.

(From beer-fueled)

Question 6: How does a hero represent his/her time period and geographical area?

A hero represents their time period by what actions they take and what they can do. If their a hero more in modern times their most likely to be representing changes for the future. And if they were a hero in the past the actions would be based on their resources at the time and abilities to do so.

Evans Wadongo Using solar technology to power his lamps. ( About Evans Wadongo) Finding a resource that is environmentally friendly. ( About Evans Wadongo)

Derreck Kayongo Using technology that sanitizes, heats at high temperatures, and chills the soap to make new

ones. (Recycling hotel soap) Testing the soap before its released to make sure its safe by testing for pathogens. (Recycling

hotel soap)

Magnus Macfarlane-Barrow Providing meals to children to help them strive for a better education. (From beer-fueled) Helping improve rates in attendance and academic performance. (From beer-fueled)

Question 7: How does the hero’s program work?Evans Wadongo: Use Solar, Save Lives makes solar powered lamps which go to poor communities. (‘Saving

Lives’) Joining the Sustainable Development For Al-Kenya (SDFA-Kenya), Evans became the founding

chairman. (About Evans Wadongo) SDFA-Kenya adopted ‘Use Solar, Save Lives’, main focus as it combines 3 aspects of education,

environment, and economic empowerment. (About Evans Wadongo)

Derreck Kayongo 300 hotels nation wide collect soap bars, producing 100 tons of soap. (Recycling soap) Volunteers across America collect the hotel soaps and ship them to a warehouse in Atlanta.

Saturdays, Atlanta volunteers gather there to clean, reprocess and package the soap. (Recycling soap)

They do not mix the soaps because they come with different ph systems, different characters, smells and colors. They are sanitized, then heated at very high temperatures, chilled and then cut into bars. (Recycling soap)

A batch is only released once deemed safe by a third party laboratory, once one of the batches samples has been tested for pathogens. (Recycling soap)

Magnus Macfarlane-Barrow Striving to break the cycle of poverty. (From beer-fueled) Feeding children a daily meal at school. The food is usually in most places a mug of maize-based

porridge. Giving students an incentive to continue school and helps keep them focused. (From beer-fueled)

Mary’s Meals partners with local residents who handle the cooking and serving of the food each day. (From beer-fueled)

Program operates more than 500 schools and child-care facilities in 15 countires. (From beer-fueled)

Question 8: How has these men made a difference in other peoples lives?Evans Wadongo: They are helping people to earn a living, and can now be able to sustain their families. (‘Saving

lives’) Children can now study, households are able to buy food with the money families save on

kerosene, and reducing hunger in communities. Reducing carbon emissions also. (‘Saving lives’) Villager Julia Dzame and her 3 children life will dramatically change. “I am so grateful for the

lights, my children will have light to read and I’ll have my own light to cook in the kitchen. No more sickness brought on by smoke.” said Julia. (‘Saving lives’)

Derreck Kayongo: The Global Soap Project has provided more than 100,000 bars of soap for communities in 9

countries. (Recycling soap) “When were distributing soap, I could sense there was a lot of excitement, joy and a lot of

happiness.” said Derreck. (Recycling soap) Kayongo personally delivered 5000 bars of soap to the Kenya Relief’s Brittney’s Home of Grace

orphanage. (Recycling soap)

Magnus Macfarlane-Barrow Mary’s Meals operates in more than 500 schools and child-care facilities in 15 countries. (From

beer-fueled) “I see the children’s faces as they eat their meal, knowing I can transform their lives and keeps

me motivated.” said Macfarlane. (From beer-fueled)