David Alton
UK

When China's previous distinguished Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Madam Fu Ying, returned to Beijing earlier this year, she said that she would never forget a British boy called Isaac.

Distressed by the news of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, which was the 19th deadliest earthquake of all time and which claimed the lives of 69,227 Chinese people, and left 300,000 people injured, Isaac wanted to take some action of his own to help.

So, young Isaac asked his friends and neighbors to sponsor him for every mile he walked from his home in Wales to London, raising money and drawing attention to the plight of the victims as he went: "An ambassador", said Madam Fu Ying, "will never forget that."

Isaac's story brings to mind another story – the story of a boy who is walking along a beach where thousands of dying star fish have been left high and dry by the retreating tide. An incredulous adult asks the boy, who is throwing the starfish, one by one, back into the water, why he is bothering: "there are simply too many; it won't make any difference" says the adult. "But it will make a difference to that one" retorts the boy.