Changing the World One Bar of Soap at a Time

I’m constantly amazed at the ingenuity of the human mind and the ability of one person with passion and purpose to make a difference in the lives of literally millions. Derreck Kayango was a refugee from Kenya (born in Uganda) who came to America. He was amazed and deeply disturbed at the amount of soap that American hotels waste every day (over 2 million bars. PER DAY!) He decided to take action. He formed the Global Soap Project which takes thrown out hotel soap and recycles it for shipment to countries that need it (where millions of children die each year due to lack of soap).

I found out recently that this guy actually goes to my church (when you go to a church of 11,000+ people, it’s not hard to understand why even a hero like this can slip under the radar). Well, Dereck also happens to be one of the ten finalist in this year’s CNN Heroes hosted by Anderson Cooper. (Click here to see his hero video). Whenever I start to feel like things are just too tough to over come. Whenver I’m discouraged, wishing I was closer to where I want to be in my career, I see stories like this and it changes everything. (It actually gives me a slap in the face to say, “What the hell are you complaining about?”)

I encourage you to watch the short video below and hear Derreck’s story. There are three key take aways I get from it:

1. Sometimes the biggest ideas come from the smallest, seemingly least significant places.
2. You can sometimes find treasure and value in things (or people) that others discard.
3. One person really CAN make a difference. It’s not just cliché.

I hope you’ll watch this video and be encouraged to take one small step in a direction to make a difference. If not in the whole world, maybe one person’s world.

After watching, take a moment to vote for Derreck to be CNN’s big winner.

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