Drew Barrymore has been in the spotlight since she was a little girl, thanks to the now iconic film E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, which led her to choose the life of a movie star over the life of a regular kid at the age of seven. Drew entered rehab at 13 years old, after becoming addicted to various drugs and alcohol, and never experienced what she calls a “normal childhood.” Now, she realizes her decision was a mistake.

Drew recently went on a trip to Kenya, where she supplied food and water to a local primary school through the World Food Programme charity, and had an eye-opening experience.

“I was really moved,” Drew says of the African children who simply craved a normal life. “I never went to school myself. I was doing a job and didn’t have a kid’s life. I wanted to learn more about why these kids were so passionate, walking so far and overfilling their classrooms.”

Drew couldn’t get over the fact that these children, who need so much help themselves, were willing to sacrifice their own happiness for that of others. As a child actor, who grew up without much guidance, she was touched.

“It’s amazing to me that the kids mention professions which involve helping others, that they are naturally philanthropic,” Drew explains to the Conde Nast Traveler magazine. “People can feel unconfident about sending money into the void of a charity. But when you find something like this that speaks to your heart, it gives you the courage to look beyond your own problems and take the first small steps to try as an individual to make an impact. “

We’re glad Drew has turned her life around and is flourishing as an adult. She inspires us to do more!

–Leigh Blickley

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Serena’s teaching “life lessons” to students in Kenya!

Tennis star Serena Williams, 28, may have found a new career… as a teacher! Serena has been taking a brief break from her impressive tennis career recently to open up schools in Africa, and today she taught the first class of her second secondary school that just opened it’s doors! “I don’t know who was more nervous, the kids staring at some strange woman that came from far away or me, never having teaching experience teaching these adolescents life lessons,” Serena confessed in her blog on GlobalGrind.

“My goal is simple,” she continues. “Give these kids something to hope for and smile about. Something that they can believe in without fear. Give them a chance they would have never had. Give them an education.” And the kids responded to her in an extraordinary way! “Kids ran in the streets with palm branches chanting my name saying, ‘Yes we can Serena! Yes we can!’”

Serena’s new secondary school is located in Wee, Kenya. With the help of the Build African Schools Organization and HP, the school will serve 250 to 300 children between the ages of 15 and 18, and it will provide three bathroom facilities  in a area where the closest electric outlets and showers are located three hours away in the city of Nairobi.

For Serena, “there is no greater victory than watching the reaction, and seeing the fruitage of the kids we get to help.”

— Lindsey DiMattina