Fahim was only 11 years old when he first met Alberto Cairo in 1993 in a hospital in Kabul, the Afghan capital. At the time, Kabul was caught in a bloody civil war (内战). After his left leg was blown off, Fahim went to the hospital to seek treatment (治疗). There, he met Alberto Cairo, who arrived in Kabul in 1990.

Over the next thirty years, Fahim has made many trips to the hospital. During those visits, the compassionate (慈悲的) treatment from Cairo deeply moved him. “He is a friend of the Afghan people,” Fahim said of Cairo. When Fahim decided to study medicine, it was Cairo who kept encouraging him. Today, Fahim works as a nurse and an anesthetist (麻醉师) in a hospital in Afghanistan.

In his early years in Afghanistan, Cairo was shocked by the great number of patients seeking treatment for wounds caused by the war. Each year, the rehabilitation centers (康复中心) treat more than 13, 000 new patients—most of whom, like Fahim, require lifetime treatment. At first, the treatment center only focused on war sufferers (受难者), but Cairo expanded (扩大) its treatment to include all people with disabilities in the country.

He made two decisions that have left a lasting impact. One was to employ former patients to work in the treatment center. The second was to organize an athletic group for people with disabilities. “My final goal is to let each patient go back to society and live with dignity (自尊),” said Cairo.

Debby Tewa comes from Arizona, USA. When she was very young, her home had no electricity. She couldn’t read at night. And her family cooked over a fire. When she was ten, she moved to a new home with electricity! She could turn on a light and use a phone. She liked it!

As she grew, Debby realized she wanted to learn about solar energy. Solar energy is made when people put solar panels (电池板) on top of buildings. The sunlight hits these panels and is turned into electricity.

Debby went to work for a company that provides solar energy for people’s homes. She believed it would be a good solution (解决方案) for people who had no electricity.

Debby thought of people in villages like the one she had lived in as a child. People there didn’t have any electricity. Solar energy would work well there because there’s a lot of sunlight in Arizona. Debby decided to help those families.

To get a family started, Debby helped them borrow money from a bank to buy the panels. And the good news is that there’s no cost for using the sun’s power!

Debby now often travels to other cities in Arizona and New Mexico to help people get solar energy. Debby loves her work very much and teaches people about solar energy.

Debby drives her truck from place to place. She feels lonely with no one riding along. But when she thinks about how exciting it’s for people to use electricity, she’s happy. Debby says she’s “lighting up people’s lives”.