A boy who makes a difference

One person can make a difference. Just ask Ryan Hreljac (pronounced hurl-jack), who is 15 and lives in Canada. Without his help, hundreds of wells that now provide fresh water for people in Africa, Central America, and India might never have been built.

Ryan is what you might call a water ambassador. He travels the world to tell people how they can help solve a big problem: the lack of safe drinking water in many developing countries.

"Everybody can do something," Ryan says.

Sometimes African-born Jimmy Akana - who is like a brother to Ryan - travels with him to explain how water changed his life. The story of the two boys is the subject of a new children's book, "Ryan and Jimmy and the Well in Africa That Brought Them Together," written by Herb Shoveller and published by Kids Can Press.

Ryan's efforts didn't begin in a far-off place, though, but right at home in Kemptville, Ontario. In 1998, when he was 6 years old, Ryan learned from his teacher that children in Africa often must walk miles each day to find water. Some even die from drinking bad water, his teacher said.

from the Christian Science Monitor