When Canadian teenager Ryan was six years old, his teacher told him that in many parts of Africa, there was no clean water. She said that people often made themselves ill, and even died, just from drinking or bathing in dirty water.
What she said made Ryan upset. He decided to raise money for a well(井) so that people in Africa could have clean water. He did extra chores for his parents and raised $70 all by himself. Then he found out that it actually cost $2,000 to dig a well.
Most people would have given up at this point, but not Ryan. He was disappointed, but determined to raise more money. Finally he collected over $2,000. That money was used to dig the first of “Ryan's wells”.
Since then, Ryan has continued to raise money for more wells. In fact, Ryan has raised over
$1,500,000!
Ryan calls himself “a normal boy” and likes to play ice hockey when he's not in school or traveling around the world talking to other students about himself and his work. As for the future. He has said that he isn't exactly sure what he will choose to do. “Something along the lines of a lawyer or a teacher. Maybe a leader!”
