After watching an Oprah Winfrey special in 2004 about kids caring for kids, 12 year-old Kendall Ciesemer rushed upstairs, emptied her yearly savings ($360) into an envelope and sent it to World Vision – an organisation that adopts AIDS orphans in Africa. Exceptional, right?! But the story doesn’t end there…

Kendall Ciesemer
  Source: teenswithavision

Born with a rare liver disease known as biliary atresia, Kendall faced a life of surgery and uncertainty. In June of that same year, she was scheduled for a double kidney transplant. Instead of feeling sorry for herself, Kendall organised a group called Kids Caring 4 Kids and asked family and friends to donate to her cause instead of buying her gifts.

It worked. What started as a small gesture turned into a non-profit organisation that has raised over $680,000 (that’s about R5, 440, 000) to date!

Last year, Kendall appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show, with former president Bill Clinton and encouraged teens to move their empathy into action.

“It can start with people at your school. There are always people in school - even knowing who the loner in your science class is and asking them to be your partner. You can change their life. High school is a hard time . . . but that in itself is enough to make a difference.”