World's best kids...

Yesterday I committed a positivity blog post FAIL. I completely forgot to mention the 99th birthday of a man who has done a tremendous amount to change people's behavior to the positive. Former UCLA men's basketball coach and all-time great person John Wooden celebrated his birthday yesterday. He grew up in the Midwest and used the values and morals of his upbringing to mold his players into men. The LA Times Sports blog has a brief post about the man, the myth and the legend.

Okay, now I can get onto today's post. The children I want to highlight today are definitely following in Mr. Wooden's enormous footsteps. I pulled a story from the BBC online on a 16 year-old Indian boy is making a difference in 800 of his neighbors' lives. Babar Ali has been called the youngest headmaster in the world. He is the first person in his family to get an education, and he is not about to waste a bit of it. Called a model student in the article, Babarreturns home and runs a school of his own in the afternoon. His pupils are 800 of the children in his village who are too poor to go to even the government-subsidized schools. He began teaching some of his friends when he was nine, and now his school has 10 fellow teachers and is sanctioned by local authorities who have given Babar awards for his work in raising literacy rates in the area.

Great Britain runs at least two contests which reward its children for making a positive impact in the community. Harry Moseley, from Sheldon, Birmingham, won the title of Britain's Kindest Kid yesterday. The nine year-old was one of five finalists in the competition hosted by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) and Five News, according the the CAF website. Moseley, who lives with an inoperable brain tumor, makes and sells beaded bracelets to fund raise for Brain Tumor UK. He decided to do his part after a hospital stay which parked him next to a 55 year-old man with the same affliction. Moseley has even launched an initiative that seeds bracelet-making clubs in area schools. Fifteen pence of each sale goes to the schools' funds while the rest goes to Brain Tumor UK. He received 1000 pounds in pocket money and 1000 pounds to donate to his charity. Ever the kind one, Harry plans on giving 200 pounds each to his brother and sister and using another 200 pounds for a wooden playhouse where he can make more bracelets.

Cambridge News reported on the Cambridgehire Young People of the Year award ceremony, which honored ten young people in their area for their selfless efforts. Sixteen year-old Sarah Bannister was named Young Person of the Year for her fundraising efforts for Crohn's disease despite her battle with it. Bannister is giving half of her 1000 pound prize to a Crohn's disease foundation. Cambridge News' article also gives snapshots of the other winners and what they've been doing to make the world a better place.

(Image courtesy of CAF)