Looking at his beautiful green lawns, Ed Adams can’t help smiling – thanks to a bit of bravery and a lot of hard work, he’s now enjoying the life that is just a fantasy for most of us.

Five years ago, Ed and his wife Laura, along with their three children, moved from their narrow house in the city to the a much larger and more peaceful property in the country. Having grown up on a farm, Ed, a video producer, longed for a more rural lifestyle. Then, in 2016, a new job came up for Ed in the US. They were about to set off when the whole deal was canceled. Although disappointed, it inspired them to buy a new home in rural north Buckinghamshire.

Soon, the whole family moved to their new home, Church End Cottage. They also came up with a plan to turn some of their extra space into an attractive home hotel to increase their family income, which meant lots of building work to create two extra guest rooms.

Besides, with all the building work, the garden had become a mess. To get it back into shape, he had to reseed all the lawns. In time the lawns grew back, but Ed admits keeping them clean and tidy is a big job, especially on top of his daily commute to work in London and the responsibilities of running the home hotel.

Now, there comes a cutting-edge robotic mower. Rather than spending hours working up and down, he is delighted to find he can relax himself while the mower does all the hard work. For Ed, who also has a dog and keeps chickens, the biggest attraction is being able to get so much time back. He says: “Instead of spending boring hours pushing the mower, I can take time to plant the flowerbeds or help out with the hotel. It also means I can spend more time with the kids.”

The nine woman of Bella Mondo win over yet another audience. The group is one of just a handful of all-women ensembles (乐队) in Ivory Coast.

It all started in 2007. Prisca Allou was a music student. A music producer came to see her. He said he wanted to make an all-female ensemble to keep a promise to his late mother.

Allou got on board and was charged with recruiting (招募) other members. “It wasn’t easy at first. Some parents were against it. You know, in Africa, the place of women is often seen as being either in an office or at home. That was the fixed image.” Allou spread the word and took out ads in local papers. Most of the girls she found were not professional players. “I just played some tamtam. I learned to play drums when I joined Bella Mondo.” The girls spent the next four years learning to play their instruments. Many gave up along the way, but eight of them soldiered on with Allou, and Bella Mondo was founded.

The band plays original songs and covers. Their music spans a wide range of styles: funk, reggae, pop music. They released their first album in 2013... and have performed in Paris, Dakar, Cotonou and, of course, here at home in Abidjan.

You can see them nearly every Thursday at this bar, the same place that gave the band its start years ago. “Oh yes, I was surprised at first. A woman singing, you see that every day, but an entire band, playing all the instruments and everything? It was extraordinary. I was dumbstruck. Bella Mondo is a great band.”

The women are now working on their second album.

It all started with a post on social media. Returning home from the grocery store, then 25-year-old Simone Policano felt compelled to help the elderly in her neighbourhood to practise safer social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic. With this in mind, she reached out to her friends via the social media, inquiring about existing volunteer opportunities in the state of New York. Unexpectedly, many responded to her post, expressing their interest to volunteer as well. As a result of that outreach, one of her friends, Liam Elkind joined Policano. They decided to start an initiative called Invisible Hands Deliver.

Just two days after conceiving(想出)the idea, Policano and Elkind had a website up and running. This site allowed the elderly and other at-risk individuals to make requests for groceries and prescription medicines to be delivered to them. Volunteers left the bags of groceries outside the doors. The webpage also included a call for volunteers, which gained more than 2,000 sign-ups within the first five days.

As the pandemic began to take its toll on New York in March 2020, Invisible Hands Deliver witnessed a massive outpouring of support from like-minded individuals in the community. Besides volunteering to deliver groceries for free, New Yorkers also reached out to translate the Invisible Hands flyers into over a dozen languages, enabling the organisation to reach out to more members of the community.

Following its success in New York and New Jersey, the organisation has expanded its operations to Philadelphia and there are plans to expand to other areas of the United States. Their acts of kindness have also inspired similar networks to sprout up worldwide. Invisible Hands Deliver is also supported by other organizations.

Helmed by a team of college students and recent graduates, Invisible Hands Deliver has shown that one is never too young to make a difference and give back to the community. In a time when the pandemic has forced people apart, the young are in a prime position to take advantage of technology and bridge the gap, bringing communities together.