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Stories of Change

VOL 1:

Fellows and their Journeys


Fellows and their Journeys
Ashoka was founded on the belief that social entrepreneurs are the most powerful force changing
the world. For almost 30 years Ashoka has been seeking out and supporting the best innovators
working to create systemic change to join the Ashoka Fellowship. But innovation happens at many
levels and Ashoka’s mission is to create a world in which many more people can enjoy the freedom,
self‑permission and support to make a difference – an Everyone a Changemaker™ World.

Though the world is still in need of visionary social entrepreneurs, changemaking is not limited to
them. Over the years of selecting, supporting and working with Ashoka Fellows we have realized
that one of the key determinates for the success of an initiative is community involvement and
empowerment. Successful social entrepreneurs mobilize their communities to create change, serving
as role‑models and facilitators for hundreds and thousands of others to become changemakers,
bringing us closer to a more empathetic, more equitable world, a world of changemakers.

In this eBook you will find the stories of 10 Ashoka Fellows. Each of them is an inspirational visionary
who has overcome significant obstacles to bring about the change they wish to see in the world.
And while these stories, focus on their personal journeys; each Ashoka Fellow also becomes a role
model for an entire community of changemakers who in turn fuel a movement that inspires an
Everyone A Changemaker™ society.

STORIES OF CHANGE
Stories of Change is Ashoka’s new electronic book series. Through these publications we will
share the stories of the changemakers in the Ashoka community: Fellows, Youth Venturers, staff and
partners. People who are producing system change solutions for social problems, inspiring innovation
and creating an Everyone A Changemaker™ world.

We hope you enjoy and share these stories. But most importantly, we hope these stories will inspire
you to continue creating change in your community.
Photo Credit: Garth Cripps
Table of Contents
Fellows and their Journeys...................................................................................................................1
Jürgen Griesbeck...................................................................................................................................3
Nicole Rycroft.......................................................................................................................................4
Sandra Aguebor......................................................................................................................................5
Bart Weetjens........................................................................................................................................6
Sunitha Krishnan.. ..................................................................................................................................7
Hany El‑Miniawy....................................................................................................................................8
Al Harris.. ...............................................................................................................................................9
Chetna Gala‑Sinha...............................................................................................................................10
Benki Piyãko.........................................................................................................................................11
Ursula Sladek.......................................................................................................................................12
Connect with Ashoka.. ........................................................................................................................13

Writer: Aliya Bhatia


Editor and Coordinator: Tom Dawkins
Layout: Aliya Bhatia and Rachel Land
Contributors: Karabi Acharya, Leah Fotis, Wil Kristin, Scott Rechler, Beverly Schwartz, Tyler Spalding
Cover Photo: Peter Dench

Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works


Photo Credit: Peter Dench
Jürgen Griesbeck GERMANY
In 1994, Colombian national football player Andres Escobar returned home to the city of Medellín
after accidentally scoring a goal on his own team during the World Cup. His first night back, he was
shot twelve times by one of many Colombians who blamed him for Colombia’s early exit from the
tournament. His friend Jürgen [www.ashoka.org/fellow/jurgen] was shocked – Of all endeavors, how
could football have been so lethal in a city that desperately needed sports to be a positive force?

And so, in that city of Medellín, then a crime magnet with upwards of 5,000 homicides per year,
Jürgen Griesbeck started Football for Peace. Jürgen’s football program had a different set of rules,
designed to break gender barriers, reward fairness, and keep kids out of gangs and violence. After
sweeping up 10,000 children into his program, Jürgen trained local leaders to continue the program
and moved on.

At his next stop in post‑reunification Germany, Jürgen used football to combat xenophobia and
racism. In time, he realized that there was no shortage of clubs that use sports to keep kids out of
trouble. Rather, the problem was that these clubs were scattered across the globe with no way to
share their experiences and insights. Therefore, Jürgen decided to create a platform to bind the world
of football together. He calls it streetfootballworld [www.streetfootballworld.org].

After channeling new causes, financial support, and partners to hundreds of thousands of children
whose common denominator is football, streetfootballworld is bringing its cultural transformation
full‑circle through a partnership with the FIFA World Cup. streetfootballworld has encouraged the
global football association to re‑conceive and even rename its corporate social responsibility strategy
to support social development.

Thanks to Jürgen’s work, the years since Escobar’s death have witnessed the World Cup become part
of the movement to ensure that sports are about nurture instead of vengeance.

3
Nicole Rycroft CANADA
Nicole Rycroft [www.ashoka.org/fellow/rycroft] went from being a human barrier between a logger’s
saw and the bark of a tree to using market incentives to make the last edition of the Harry Potter
series the greenest book in publishing history. Nicole began as a tree hugger of the literal sort,
stopping loggers from cutting ancient trees by standing between them and the forests. During one
particular iteration of her routine, she realized that physical intervention was only a tactic – It would
require a comprehensive strategy to protect the forest from fragmentation and charm loggers,
printers, publishers, and writers into changing their ways.

With that, Markets Initiative [www.canopyplanet.org] germinated, sprouted, and has grown as strong
as some of the moss‑bedazzled boreal beauties that Nicole works to preserve. After significant
progress in nudging printers to stock Ancient Forest Friendly paper, Nicole’s hard work achieved a
breakthrough nothing short of wizardry. [She collaborated with J. K. Rowling and publishers] to use
recycled paper in the 5th and 6th editions of Harry Potter, and then made the final edition the greenest
book in publishing history. This saved hundreds of thousands of trees and millions of gallons of water.

Wasting not a moment on celebration, [Nicole worked with Canada Geographic] and got their June
2008 copy printed on paper made with agricultural waste from wheat production. With this victory,
she proved that magazine paper – the highest quality form of commercial paper stock – could come
from waste materials. She is now working to change the machinery on North American paper mills
so that the “wheat sheet” and other alternatives to traditional paper can further substitute for
ecologically unsustainable printing stocks.

Slowly, the world is creeping towards Nicole’s dream – That our children will be in awe when they
hear that paper was once made from forests.

4
Sandra Aguebor NIGERIA
Even in countries with the most progressive declarations of equal rights, it is uncommon for a woman
to be the face of an auto repair garage. Nigeria was no exception – Until the 1990s, the entire country
had never seen a trained female in the profession. Sandra Aguebor [www.ashoka.org/fellow/aguebor]
made history as the first woman to complete her auto‑mechanic degree and don the matching coveralls.
Now, she is training underprivileged Nigerian women in the nuts and bolts of cars, equality, and life.

Sandra’s trainees in the Lady Mechanics Initiative [www.ladymechanicinitiative.org] are often school
dropouts or former prostitutes. With Sandra’s encouragement and the prospect of financial security,
they exchange their painted nails and fancy hairdos for grease‑stained uniforms and a tool kit. In
addition to learning and working in the garage, they are often blazing through the streets rallying other
women to take Sandra’s courses.

Sandra has also reached out to other sectors of society. She has crossed religious boundaries by
welcoming twelve traditionally‑garbed Muslim women into the Lady Mechanics Initiative for training.
She has also forged corporate and non‑profit partnerships to provide stipends and health insurance
to her students and their families. She appears regularly on television and radio, teaching women
of all trades basic mechanics so that a car malfunction does not become a catalyst for robbery or
sexual assault.

Sandra was once just a child with a fascination for engine oil. Now, after enduring insults through
school and opening her first garage with nothing more than cardboard for a roof, Sandra has broken
past the gender taboo into the world of auto mechanics. Her organization maintains a number of
prestigious corporate fleets and shares the wealth with the women in her program. She has challenged
the biases of her community, and her pupils look forwards to doing the same by opening their own
garages across Nigeria.

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Photo Credit: Sylvain Piraux
Bart Weetjens TANZANIA
The threat of death by mines in Africa has driven innumerable people from their farms and
communities. Until recently, humanitarian operations responded by sending mechanical detectors and
imported dogs to restore the land. It seemed that true healing was beyond reach: In the same breath
Africa cleared its mines, it became more indebted to Western technologies.

But starting in 1998, Belgian‑born Buddhist monk Bart Weetjens [www.ashoka.org/fellow/weetjens]


began de‑mining Africa with a smaller and much lower maintenance mechanism. Many years ago, he
quit military school out of disgust for war and gave up his childhood hamster business to prevent
the critters he sold from becoming snake‑feed at the local pet shop. In the same spirit of peace and
interdependence, Bart left his budding career in product development behind and promoted a more
sustainable solution to African de‑mining: HeroRATS [www.herorat.org].

While less glamorous and affectionate than machines or dogs, African Giant Pouched Rats have
an extraordinary sense of smell and store and find pockets of food in the model of a perfect mine
detector. They can detect mines and even tuberculosis with their sense of smell. With training, Bart
has turned these rats into heroes, heroes that are jumping continents as countries like Colombia
adapt Bart’s strategy for their own demining projects.

Bart and his organization APOPO [www.apopo.org] have found a way to keep the cycle of healing at
home at a minimal price with the fastest and even most harmonious result. Having gotten this far, Bart has
even begun to break through the Middle Ages stereotype of nasty, plague carrying rats by having his rats
send letters and take on a personality. Here’s to Everyone a Changemaker™, and every rat a Hero.

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Sunitha Krishnan INDIA
At first glance, no one would suspect that small and slight Sunitha Krishnan [www.ashoka.org/
fellow/sunitha] is the proud mother of thousands by day and a brothel‑buster by night. Resisting
societal pressures that lock child prostitutes into life‑long outcast, Sunitha is empowering sex
trafficking victims to win some of the first successful legal battles against Indian brothels. Sunitha’s
emphasis is on creating opportunities for these women to build new lives. Her organization
Prajwala [www.prajwalaindia.org] and its partners have taught Sunitha’s metaphorical daughters
to run everything from pizza parlors to printing presses. With her help, even those burdened by the
stigma of HIV have the opportunity to attain complete rehabilitation – and the ingredients to attract
a loving spouse.

The darker side of Sunitha’s work is dealing with the brothels and the authorities. Sunitha has
raided many brothels and quibbled with a number of two‑faced police officers, and as a result she
has her share of bruises and enemies. She has suffered beatings and a damaged eardrum, and six
of her colleagues have been murdered. But Sunitha’s history drives her forwards. For Sunitha,
it was not the trauma of rape in her childhood that led her into this risky business. Rather, it
was the unfairness of her family’s response: Instead of blaming the rapist, they blamed her for
the damage to the family’s name. Sunitha rebelled and became a social worker, determined to
liberate herself and all those trapped in the same situation. Wherever she goes, her infective energy is
bringing her fight to new frontiers.

Those who she has nurtured who go on to find a husband often marry at Prajwala. Those who she
saved who are adopted into a family have trouble giving up Sunitha as their surrogate mother. All
remain grateful forever for the second chance she helps them create. Sunitha – small, slight, unsuspecting
– wins new victories every day.

7
Hany El‑Miniawy EGYPT
Despite North Africa’s rich history in ancient architecture and the availability of local materials, many
of its rising architects look abroad for inspiration and resources. As a result, much of the region’s
newer construction is tied closer to the international steel and concrete markets than to the needs
of its own people.

Hany El‑Miniawy [www.ashoka.org/fellow/hany] was disappointed – How could architects worship


wealth and ‘The Foreign’ at the expense of lower‑income Egyptians and Algerians who live in
rickety shacks? Hany searched from the bank of the Nile to the back yards of industrial plants to
find a way to escape the costly noose of international construction markets. He eventually found the
solution in his expertise in chemistry and high‑tech modeling.

Hany develops the brick materials for low‑cost housing by mixing a pinch of industrial waste into
rediscovered local clays and rocks. Rice straw, cement dust, and iron ash fortify his bricks against
regional weather conditions and insect infestations. In this way, he reduces the cost of building
materials, waste from industry, and reliance on imports.

Hany teaches the local communities everything from pressing the bricks to overcoming the challenge
of installing durable ceilings. He is focused not only on teaching but learning from local practices
and traditions. Thanks to his constant interaction with the communities he helps, Hany’s housing
is low‑cost, safe, and replicable. For example, Hany’s direct involvement in a 1,000 home project in
Algeria snowballed into the creation of 3,500 additional units. By participating as labor in the building
of their own homes, the owners gain a sense of ownership and accomplishment as well as new
skills for future jobs.

Overall, his program ADAPT and his collaboration with Ashoka’s Housing for All [www.ashoka.org/fec_
housing] has led to the improvement of the housing situation of over 100,000 Algerians and Egyptians.

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Photo Credit: Garth Cripps
Al Harris MADAGASCAR
While tagging sharks off the coast of South Africa, zoologist Al Harris [www.ashoka.org/aharris]
pondered a void in marine research. Just up the continent off the coast of Madagascar were some
of the world’s largest coral reefs, but they remained undocumented and vulnerable to insatiable
fish markets. To research and protect these magnificent waters, Al would have to start from scratch.
But, with neither money nor accreditation, he was at the mercy of foundations that expected him
to get a doctorate degree before they would fund his work. Rather than delay conservation with
five more years of education, Al launched an ecotourism business to enlist volunteers to collect
the data as they were enjoying the colorful underwater view of Madagascar’s reefs.

As Al’s findings confirmed, the reefs were suffering from global warming and over fishing. Self‑imposed
limitations were absent because of the amount of time it would take for a fishing village to see
positive results. Al’s company Blue Ventures [www.blueventures.org] began to fix this problem by
targeting one of the area’s eight‑legged cash crops: Octopi. By choosing to protect an animal that
could mature and replenish itself in just months, Al wasted little time building the local villages’
appreciation of seasonal no‑take zones. Within two years, twenty three additional villages embraced
their conservation scheme for octopi and Madagascar’s government adopted it in national legislation.

Beyond octopi, Green Turtles, and hammerheads, Blue Ventures has also taken some less photogenic
but arguably tasty animals into its protective flippers. It has started the world’s first sea cucumber
farming project to help the villages continue supplying the Orient with culinary delicacies without
completely depleting the species.

Now Blue Ventures and its network of seafaring communities are exchanging their conservation
knowledge with other islands including Fiji and Malaysia. They are also roping in fishing companies as
a new ally as they use their research to prove the benefits of conservation for both the sea and the
dinner plates that depend on it.

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Chetna Gala‑Sinha INDIA
City‑raised Chetna Gala‑Sinha [www.ashoka.org/fellow/chetna] responded to the plight of rural
women in India by creating a new bank specially catering to their needs. Surprisingly, the bank’s grand
opening was a flop. How could poor laborers afford to take an entire day off work to hike across
several villages to reach the bank and open their loan? The transaction costs and societal pressures
were too high.

Today, the Mann Deshi Mahila Sahakari Bank [www.manndeshi.org] is a powerhouse with over 60,000
clients, three fourths of whom have seen an improvement in their livelihoods since they took out
their first loan. It is run entirely by women. And, it is the first and only rural financial institution to
receive a cooperative banking license from the Reserve Bank of India. Widows who are normally
social outcasts in India were finally able to regain their dignity and even open their own schools.
Women once abused by their families have divorced and used the bank’s support to become
profitable seamstresses. Laborers caught in the grasp of moneylenders have broken free with Chetna’s
low interest loans and smart investments in buffalo and farming.

With the same knowledge of rural Indian society that got her bank off the ground, Chetna
established several supporting institutions. One has empowered over 5,000 women to break through
a major Indian taboo and become property owners to protect them from losing land in a divorce.
Another is the first business school for rural women, which teaches day laborers the skills to start a
successful enterprise and allows them to benefit from the agricultural value chain. Those participating
in the program have emerged as successful businesswomen and community leaders.

Similar to Muhammad Yunus’s work in Bangladesh, Chetna has inspired a ripple effect in women’s
empowerment across rural India. Institutions, credit unions, and other villages are taking their cues
from her work. As a result, education and financial empowerment are reaching women near and far.

10
Benki Piyãko BRAZIL
World‑famous musician Milton Nascimento visited Western Brazil when Benki Piyãko [www.ashoka.
org/fellow/benki] was in his early teens. Even at that age, Benki’s dedication to the Amazon inspired
Milton’s work: The musician’s next album featured a song named after Benki that marveled at the
potential of Brazil’s indigenous children.

Later, with the voice of a seasoned leader who had grayed his hair on the toils of community
advocacy, Benki toured Brazil’s conferences and universities to rally for conservation in indigenous
communities. Except that Benki once again did not require age to communicate his message – At the
time, he was only 16, and his maturity stunned his audiences and thrust him and his efforts into the
national spotlight.

Benki holds the hereditary role of community leader in the border region where Brazil meets Peru.
He has united the indigenous regions to resist Peruvian loggers who cross into Brazil and illegally
harvest their forests. The regions use Benki’s methodology to inventory their lands and then temporarily
refrain from using scarcer resources like wild game and bees. The people he trains to implement
the inventory strategy also serve as an indigenous police patrol that has persevered in the face of
death threats in their quest to seal the border against Peruvian loggers.

The results of Benki’s efforts have lived up to the impression he left on his audiences in his youth.
Through his nonviolent but highly perceptive strategies, he and the peoples of the border have replanted
one fourth of their deforested land. He has also established a school for environmental education
that teaches indigenous communities about their surroundings and the best tools for conservation.
Through his connections and high‑tech public advocacy, he has extended his work to the national
level. Benki has lived up to Milton’s lyrics and preserved both the resources and the spirituality of
his people.

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Ursula Sladek GERMANY
As Chernobyl rained radioactive waste on playgrounds across Europe, Ursula [www.ashoka.org/usladek]
lay stuck in bed with a broken leg, unable to physically restrain her children and keep them indoors.
She and the rest of her town spent days worrying about problems as simple as the safety of their food
supplies as they waited for government action. None came.

At a time when ‘green’ was still a color and not a creed, Ursula filled the void with a campaign called
Parents for a Nuclear‑Free Future [www.nuclear-free.com]. Parents for a Nuclear‑Free Future fought
nuclear power by using energy‑saving competitions to reduce the town’s need for such power in
the first place. Next, Ursula began to move the power sources closer to the town to reduce energy
inefficiency. She and her organization restored decaying hydro‑electric plants and even retrofitted
swimming pools to produce thermal power. But when all her efforts could not convince the utility
monopolies to include environmental incentives in their contracts, Ursula set out to convince the
town to ditch the power company. Her organization published a 400‑page long study on the benefits
of localizing energy production, got pro‑bono support from fifteen of the country’s best advertising
firms, and eventually raised the financial capital and popular support to buy back the grid.

The company she founded [www.ews-schoenau.de] to localize electricity production revolutionized


the meaning of public ownership. Citizens of her town now produce their own electricity at home
and sell what they save to the energy grid. Because of the short distance between the plant and the
bulb, this electricity loses little potency as it travels the power lines and is three times more efficient
than centralized production. With this model, ninety five percent of the power from Ursula’s company
is renewable – None is nuclear. As more cities from Germany and abroad replicate her model, she
has gotten that much closer to a world where her children will radiate only out of joy and not out of
nuclear contamination.

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Photo Credit: Tirbhuvan Tiwari
ABOUT ASHOKA

Connect with Ashoka


We hope you have enjoyed the stories in this publication and we invite you to join our online
communities and become part of the Ashoka community.

CHANGEMAKERS.COM
Changemakers is Ashoka’s community of changemakers, a platform for those wishing to make a
difference and the organizations that wish to engage with them. Changemakers open‑sources social
change ideas by hosting competitions and conversations that matter.

ASHOKA IS SOCIAL!
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Ashoka was founded on the belief the social entrepreneurs are the most powerful force for changing
the world. Our investment in leading entrepreneurs is deliberate – we support the best innovators,
who we believe will achieve the greatest impact for systemic social change. These entrepreneurs
also serve as role‑models and facilitators for the next generation of social leaders, building an
Everyone A Changemakers™ world.

We believe that the synergy between a passionate “who,” an innovative “what,” a sustainable “how,” and
a community of changemakers can and will change the world.

SUPPORT OUR WORK!


Ashoka would not exist without an amazing network of supporters around the world. Join this community
by becoming an Ashoka Member [www.ashoka.org/membership].
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Photo Credit: Janet Jarman
The most significant historical event of our time is the
emergence of social entrepreneurs as the dominant
force for social change around the world and the
newly competitive citizen sector they are creating.
These extraordinary individuals solve critical social
issues on a global scale from every area of need. They
inspire others to adopt and spread their innovations—
demonstrating to all citizens that they, too, have the
potential to be powerful changemakers.

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